Bent Street man accused of $2M house lot scam remanded

A Bent Street, Georgetown man accused of swindling a woman out of $2 million by promising her a house lot was on Wednesday remanded to prison after appearing before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Allister Michelle stood before the court and pleaded not guilty to the charge of obtaining money by false pretense. The allegation stems from an incident on March 6, 2024, in Ruimveldt, Georgetown, where he allegedly deceived Yonnette Joseph into believing he could secure a house lot on her behalf, a claim the prosecution said he knew to be untrue.

Appearing virtually, Joseph told the court that Michelle should not be granted bail, pointing out that he has been on the run since 2021. She accused him of habitually defrauding people and using his knowledge of the legal system and police operations to stay a step ahead of law enforcement.
Supporting the victim’s claims, the prosecutor said that that Michelle had been difficult to apprehend and agreed that bail should not be an option in the circumstances.
Michelle, however, disputed the allegations. He said the amount in question was exaggerated and that there had been an agreement between him and Joseph. According to him, he already repaid her $500,000 and had her banking information to continue further payments.
Joseph rejected this, saying no such arrangement existed. She revealed that Michelle’s wife had approached her privately with the $500,000 and pleaded that her husband not be arrested. She also showed the court a printed version of a wanted bulletin previously published in the media, confirming that Michelle had long been sought by the authorities.
“I don’t like to see people go to prison,” Joseph told the court, “but he’s slippery… he dodges the police and even uses different names.”
Michelle insisted he was willing to repay the debt and said he could begin at the end of the month. He added that he currently holds two government contracts and could afford to repay $100,000 monthly.
Magistrate Azore was not convinced and she questioned whether Michelle planned to use public contract money to repay private debts and insisted that at least half of the sum owed would have to be repaid upfront to even consider bail.
With that, she refused bail and adjourned the case to August 20.