Attorney seeks footage from lodgements to Moulton White account
Published:Wednesday | February 22, 2023 | 1:17 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Cash deposits totalling $661,000 at Sagicor Bank’s Liguanea branch in St Andrew on September 21 and 30 last year to the account of Alysia Moulton White have proven so puzzling that her attorney, Matthew Hyatt, has requested of the court video footage to identify the depositor.
Moulton White, the former vice-president of group marketing at Sagicor; her sister Tricia Moulton, the bank’s former Liguanea branch manager; Malika McLeod, a personal banker; and Tishan Samuels, a client care officer, are facing fraud charges relating to an alleged $65 million swindled from clients’ accounts.
Among the charges are conspiracy to defraud, larceny as a servant, breaches of the Cybercrimes Act, and making unauthorised withdrawals from customers’ accounts.
When the matter was called up in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday, Hyatt said that he has written to the Fraud Squad to access the footage but he was directed to ask the court’s permission.
Hyatt and Bert Samuels are representing Moulton White.
When the matter was adjourned, Hyatt told journalists that the prosecution was on a fishing expedition as it relates to his client.
“In comparison to a $65-million fraud, that [$661,000] is very small, and so we are saying, there is a portion of money that entered her account, she has no knowledge of that money whatsoever, and so we have requested disclosure of the video footage of the banking hall … so we can see who it is [deposited] those sums,” Hyatt said, adding that his client is innocent and eager to clear her name.
He said Moulton White is anxious, given the circumstances, and remains faithful to God.
Hyatt declined to comment when asked if his client was aware that the funds had been deposited to her account.
Her sister, Tricia Moulton, the court was told is no longer living in the rented St Andrew apartment as was disclosed when she was arrested.
Moulton now resides at her own home in St Catherine.
Her attorney, Orville Morgan, confirmed the new place of abode as parish judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague sought to identify the nearest police station, prior to imposing stricter bail terms and conditions.
Attorney-at-law Rita Allen-Brown, who represents Samuels, asked the court to be mindful when imposing stricter conditions.
“These defendants would also need to be working and to seek work and so some of these conditions, Your Honour, may interfere with [this] … ,” Allen-Brown told Cole-Montague.
The judge, however, imposed the tighter bail terms as recommended by the investigator after reviewing the allegations.
Peter Champagnie, KC, represents McLeod; however, he was not present in court on Tuesday, with another attorney acting on his behalf.
The court was told that several documents and statements are outstanding in the matter and March 31 was given for partial disclosure to be made.
The matter will again be mentioned on April 27 and the defendants’ bail was extended until then.
As conditions of their bail, all the defendants were ordered to give their fingerprints to the police, report to the nearest police station on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and surrender travel documents, with stop orders placed at all ports.
Moulton White is the holder of a Canadian passport. However, despite Hyatt trying to persuade the parish judge that his client had a delicate matter to attend overseas, Cole-Montague requested that it, too, be surrendered as she deemed the allegations against the accused women serious.
“I would love to see what this delicate situation is … . Is there a specific period in which she wants to address that? Because I am uncomfortable at this time to have the defendant in possession of her travel document,” Cole-Montague said after examining Moulton White’s affidavit.
The parish judge told Hyatt that if the need arises for travel over a specific period, then the court will reconsider.
Moulton, McLeod and Moulton White were charged last year, while Samuels was arrested earlier this month.
Investigators attached to the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigations Branch have alleged that over the period August to October 2022, the women conspired and defrauded the US foreign currency accounts of about six Sagicor customers.