The Supreme Court has ordered that $105 million in properties owned by a Manchester businesswoman, her son and her sister be forfeited to the State.

The order was handed down on Monday against 61-year-old Eva Mae Sterling who was convicted for money laundering, her son, Nicholaus Chang and her sister, Marline Ledford.

 

The three were arrested five years ago following a local and international probe.

 

Eva Mae Sterling last month pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in a transaction involving criminal property.

 

She was fined $300,000 or nine months' imprisonment on one count, and 12 months' imprisonment – suspended for 24 months – on the second count.

 

Her son and sister pleaded not guilty. 

 

A statement from the Financial Investigations Division (FID) says as part of a plea deal with Sterling where she admitted liability for the crime, the prosecution offered no evidence against her son and sister.

 

The court discharged them without trial. 

 

Five parcels of land comprising more than 600 acres in St. Catherine, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth and St. Mary were forfeited.

 

The properties were purchased between 2012 and 2014.

 

The FID says local and international investigations revealed that between 2011 and 2014 Sterling and her son laundered $228 million from drug trafficking.

 

According to the FID, the money was used to purchase properties and invest in their businesses.

 

The three were arrested and charged in 2017 by detectives from the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch who referred the matter to the FID in 2017.