KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Police have charged an attorney and several other people with several counts of money laundering as investigators continue their probe into a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme that allegedly involves convicted drug dealer in the United States.
Law enforcement authorities earlier week raided the offices of 55-year-old attorney Dawn Satterswaite and charged her and three relatives of the convicted drug dealer following Tuesday’s 16-hour operation carried out by the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA) and the Financial Investigative Division of the Ministry of Finance (FID).
Her attorney, Anthony Pearson told reporters that his client is being investigated for what local law enforcement officials believe is her ties to admitted Jamaican drug dealer, Andrew Hamilton, a former member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, who pleaded guilty in the US state of California to drugs, money laundering and firearm-related charges. He will be sentenced next February.
The Assets Recovery Agency, through the court, had been able to obtain an order freezing Hamilton’s assets and has sought to have them forfeited to the State.
According to court documents, the agency said between 2002 and 2009 Hamilton used the proceeds of his criminal lifestyle to acquire property and other assets in Jamaica with a cumulative value of J$429.5 million.
The agency also claimed that Hamilton had the properties registered in the names of close friends and family members, including his mother and children.
