St. Ann Paralegal Clerk Georgia Messam Gets Prison Term in $27m Property Fraud Case

Georgia Messam, a paralegal clerk based in St. Ann and a Justice of the Peace, has been given a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in connection with a real estate fraud case valued at more than $27 million.

Police said the case against Messam followed detailed work by detectives attached to the Fraud Squad and the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Specialized Investigation Branch. Their investigation resulted in her conviction and sentence over her role in the property scam.

Messam, 53, was a Justice of the Peace for Kingston and St. Andrew and was employed as a paralegal clerk in Village Green, St. Ann. She was sentenced on Thursday, May 14, in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court.

The matter centred on allegations that Messam defrauded a St. Catherine businesswoman during a property deal. According to reports, between April 2018 and April 2019, the woman placed more than $27 million into Messam's bank account for the purchase of real estate.

The money was expected to be delivered to the relevant attorney-at-law at the firm where Messam worked. Instead, Messam did not turn over the funds. She also produced a false letter on the letterhead of the attorney's office representing the purchaser and sent it to the seller's attorney.

That document gave what purported to be an irrevocable professional undertaking that the outstanding portion of the purchase price would be settled. Acting on the forged letter, the seller's attorney transferred the title for the property to the businesswoman.

The deception came to light when the seller later sought to receive the proceeds from the sale. A complaint was then made to the police, and investigators launched a probe.

Messam was formally arrested on Tuesday, February 8, 2023. She was charged with fraudulent conversion, unlawfully making available a device or data for the commission of an offence, and engaging in a transaction involving criminal property.

She made her first appearance in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court on Thursday, February 16, 2023. After multiple court dates and after failing to make restitution as promised, Messam pleaded guilty to all charges on Thursday, March 19, 2026.

For fraudulent conversion, the court imposed two years and six months' imprisonment at hard labour on the first count, along with two years and three months at hard labour on each of the other five counts.

On the charge of unlawfully making available a device or data for the commission of an offence, she received two years and three months' imprisonment at hard labour on each of the four counts. For engaging in a transaction involving criminal property, she was sentenced to two years and six months at hard labour. The sentences are to run at the same time.