AG moves to enforce $37M judgement against “Melly Mel” in US

…says, “Even if we have to get $1 per day, they will get it”

On Tuesday, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall announced plans to initiate legal proceedings in the United States (US) to enforce a $37 million judgement awarded in his favour against US-based Guyanese social media influencer Melissa Atwell-Holder, widely known as “Melly Mel”.

The judgement stems from a civil libel case Nandlall filed in the High Court, in which he secured a default judgement against Atwell-Holder in August.
“This judgement will be transmitted to my team of lawyers in the United States of America with firm instructions from me that the judgement be registered and be enforced in the United States of America. Guyana’s judgement is equally enforceable as any judgement obtained in the United States of America,” Nandalall stated in his “Issues in the News” podcast.

“This must be a learning experience for all of us who believe that we can be in a foreign country and do what we like, say what we like and libel people as we wish, and we are somehow immunised and insulated from the laws of this land. Guyana is part of the modern world, and there is no legal system in the modern world that is so incapable of protecting the rights and freedoms of the people who live in that society.”
Despite having been sued and losing multiple civil court cases in both Guyana and the United States, Melissa Atwell-Holder has continued to boast on social media about being “untouchable” due to her residence in the US.
She has also claimed that she owns no assets that could be seized to satisfy any judgements against her.
Nandlall, however, emphasised that, regardless of her claimed lack of assets, pursuing enforcement of the judgement in the US is a matter of principle while adding that Atwell-Holder must not be allowed to openly disrespect the judicial system without consequence or to operate under the belief that her actions carry no accountability.
“I always say that the law may be slow, but law is not an ass. The arms of the law are very long.
… I don’t necessarily want anything from it. The lawyers from America will take their pay. Even if we have to get $1 per day, they will get it because the law must never be allowed to appear incapable and impotent to address an illegality,” Nandlall said.
“She will come out and say she doesn’t have a cent in her name and doesn’t own any property in her name. And that may be so, but this judgement will ensure it remains like that because any cent that goes into her bank account or anywhere that she has money or property, this judgement will be enforced against that money or that property.”
In addition to the $37 million judgement awarded to Nandlall, Atwell-Holder lost another civil case in September, this time to Balwant Singh Hospital, which resulted in a $35 million judgement against her. She has since filed an appeal in that matter.
That same month, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, dismissed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit Atwell-Holder had filed against fellow social media personality Rhonda Bobb.
Meanwhile, Public Utilities and Aviation Minister Deodat Indar also has an ongoing $50 million libel lawsuit against Atwell-Holder pending in the High Court.
Atwell-Holder, who has amassed a huge following on social media, is known for posting sensational allegations against public figures, often citing unnamed sources. Her posts frequently include screenshots of messages from individuals who ask to have their identities concealed.
However, many of her accusations have been easily debunked over time. Despite her repeated claims of possessing substantial evidence to support her allegations, such evidence has consistently failed to materialise during legal proceedings.
Nevertheless, Atwell-Holder has continued her unrestrained online commentary, showing little sign of scaling back her controversial social media activity.
“This individual boasts on a regular basis that these judgements will never affect her. That these judgements in Guyana cannot be enforced in America. She was even saying at the time that she cannot be sued in Guyana because she’s not in Guyana and she’s not making these publications in Guyana. Obviously, she’s ignorant of the law. So just as she learned that you will not have to be in Guyana to be sued and don’t have to be in Guyana for a judgement to be granted against you, she will also learn that these judgements are not as impotent as she thinks they are,” Nandalall reiterated.
On November 22, 2024, Minister Anil Nandlall filed a $100 million lawsuit against Melissa Atwell-Holder over what he described as libellous content posted on her Facebook page.
In addition to seeking monetary damages, Nandlall also requested a court injunction to bar Atwell-Holder from publishing further defamatory statements, as well as an order compelling her to remove the existing posts.
According to Nandlall, the posts in question falsely portray him as a thief, a murderer, and as someone unfit to hold public office or practise law.
“She accused me of a number of wrongs. She accused me of committing a number of crimes, including stealing, murder. She accused me of betraying my colleagues at Cabinet. She accused me of divulging confidential information about my colleagues to her,” Nandlall said.
“I’ve asked her to make public how it is that I communicated this great volume of information to her. I asked her to name any person through whom I am sending this information. I asked her to produce any evidence that I transmitted any type of information to her. Obviously, she was unable to do or produce any of these things.”
Nandlall noted that notwithstanding her failure to produce evidence to support her claims, the libel continues. Nonetheless, Nandlall noted that Guyana continues to advance cybercrime legislation to deal with bullying across cyberspace.
“Even as I speak of this matter, she continues to libel. I instituted legal proceedings, and during the course of the proceedings, when I made the proceedings public, she continued to libel me.”
“When the Parliament is reconvened, we will present the new cybercrime amendments that we have already prepared and are in keeping with the protocol established by the United Nations. We have said that before, but that will come soon. So, nobody can accuse us of enforcing laws that don’t meet international standards. The laws that we are going with are laws that have been approved by the United Nations and supported by 180 countries across the world,” the Attorney General related.