KINGSTON, Jamaica — A 53-year-old justice of the peace (JP) has been sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment following her involvement in a multimillion-dollar real estate scam.

The accused, Georgia Messam, served as a justice of the peace for Kingston and St Andrew and worked as a paralegal clerk in Village Green, St Ann.

She was accused of defrauding a St Catherine businesswoman of more than $27 million during a property transaction.

Reports are that between April 2018 and April 2019, the businesswoman transferred over $27 million into Messam’s bank account to purchase a property.

The understanding was that the funds would be passed on to the appropriate attorney-at-law at Messam’s law firm.

However, Messam failed to hand over the funds to the attorney and fraudulently issued a letter drawn on the letterhead of the representing attorney’s office to the seller’s attorney.

This forged letter provided an irrevocable professional undertaking that the balance of the purchase price would be paid. Relying on this fraudulent document, the seller’s attorney transferred the property title to the businesswoman.

When the seller subsequently attempted to collect the proceeds of the sale, the fraud was discovered.

A report was made to the police, and following a probe by the Specialised Investigation Branch (SIB), Messam was formally arrested on Tuesday, February 8, 2023 and charged with fraudulent conversion, unlawfully making available a device or data for the commission of an offence and engaging in a transaction that involves criminal property.

Messam first appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday, February 16, 2023.

After several court dates and failing to make restitution as promised, she pleaded guilty to all charges on Thursday, March 19, 2026.

On Thursday, May 14, the court sentenced her to two years and six months’ imprisonment at hard labour on the first count of fraudulent conversion, and two years and three months for each of the remaining five counts.

On the charge of unlawfully making available a device or data for the commission of an offence, the JP received two years and three months’ imprisonment at hard labour on each of the four counts.

For the charge of engaging in a transaction involving criminal property Messam got two years and six months’ imprisonment at hard labour with all sentences running concurrently.