‘I am not a thief’

Shirley Pinnock-Barclay’s* husband was sceptical, but she convinced him to shell out almost $1 million to purchase a plot of land they saw being advertised on social media as part of a new housing development.

Barbara Gonzalez* paid down $1.1 million for three lots in the same ‘development’, one of which she gifted her daughter as a surprise Christmas gift last December. The other lots were for herself and her brother.

Antoinette Rivera* and her husband simply wanted to build their dream house when they paid down $825,000 for two lots, each said to be 6,000 square feet.

The payments, in all three cases, were made to the real estate start-up firm Newstar Home Buyers Limited for lands in the proposed development in Coral Spring Mountain, Trelawny, documents obtained by The Sunday Gleaner have revealed.

Pinnock-Barclay, 34, who is self-employed, admitted that she and her husband are currently “not on good terms” because of the $955,000 deposit they made in September last year and January this year.

They are now living with other family members. The money, she said, came from savings they had stashed away to get a home of their own.

“He wasn’t fully convinced with the person [selling the lots] and I was telling him to stop being negative. I forced him,” she said, referring to her spouse.

The three women are among an undetermined number of people who turned over millions of dollars to Newstar and its chief executive officer (CEO), Demar Sparks, for a stake in the project, bank records and other receipts show.

It is believed that at least 30 persons made deposits, totalling almost $25 million.

Sparks and his company are now under investigation by law enforcement, following a flood of complaints from depositors, after Newstar failed to honour its obligation.

Some have had their deposits refunded, while others, including Pinnock-Barclay, Gonzalez and Rivera, have been waiting months to get back their cash.

RED FLAGS

According to investigators, there are several red flags which suggest that the proposed development was in trouble from the outset even as the company was still collecting deposits.

As an example, it is still unclear whether Newstar owns the property it sold to depositors for between $1.2 million and $3.2 million per lot with an option to make a one-time down payment of $355,000 and then fork out an additional $29,000 per month until completion.

The Sunday Gleaner has confirmed, too, that local and state authorities stepped in last December and shut down exploratory construction work at the Coral Spring site because Newstar did not have a mandatory environmental permit, which is a breach of the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act.

Further, four sales agreements signed by depositors and perused by this newspaper had no folio and volume numbers, a unique set of digits used to identify a registered property and its legitimate owner.

Other depositors made similar observations.

The concerns were enough to trigger separate investigations by the police in Trelawny and St Ann and a flurry of demands from depositors for a refund.

“Mr Sparks is of interest to the police and we are seeking to have audience with him,” a police investigator in Trelawny confirmed.

But in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner on Friday, the Newstar CEO conceded that there are challenges with the proposed Coral Spring development, but rejected accusations of impropriety.

“I am not a thief, I’m not a fraud and I’m not a scammer. I don’t want anyone’s money. I work for what I want,” Sparks declared.

“Yes, this particular transaction did not come out successful. We are getting rid of all the residual remnants of this matter totally to get on with business and make everybody happy. That’s what we are about.”

Sparks said company records indicate that between 20 and 25 people made down payments, but he did not indicate the total sums collected.

However, he said more than half the money has already been refunded and blamed “financial setbacks with the bank” for the missed self-imposed June 30 deadline to return approximately $14 million to 10 depositors.

That should be done by August 30, he said.

Sparks said, too, that his attorney, Lorenzo Eccleston, has contacted the Trelawny police and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency on his behalf and there was no indication that they had an interest in him.

Eccleston declined to comment for this story.

The Newstar CEO also questioned the basis for a police investigation, arguing that the transactions were between a limited liability company and its clients.

DIFFERENT RESPONSES

Sparks and his company secretary, Kareen Hemans, gave different responses to the specific question of whether Newstar owned the Coral Spring Mountain property at the time the company was collecting down payments for the proposed project.

“No, we didn’t own the land, but I think Mr Sparks could explain to you about it,” Hemans told The Sunday Gleaner on Friday.

Sparks, in his response to the same question, insisted that his company had “open and undisturbed” possession of the property.

He said the land was “acquired” from the Government through one of the various methods allowed by law, but declined to give details.

“There are different ways to acquire government land and I don’t want to talk out our trade secrets. If we use one of those ways to start the application, then you can be on the land and then you proceed with the application for the lot.”

According to his account, the site of the proposed housing development was “showing up to us as an unregistered property” based on research conducted by a team of surveyors hired by the company early last year.

This was the reason the sales contracts had no folio or volume number, he explained.

But Newstar soon found itself in a legal tussle after another company came forward and claimed an “equitable interest or right” to the property through an undated notice, Sparks acknowledged.

Sparks declined to name the entity, citing legal advice, but confirmed that his company was served with court documents in January this year.

So why collect deposits from the public if ownership of the property was not settled?

“You would have to speak to Mr Sparks about that,” Hemans responded.

Sparks said the decision to start advertising the proposed project was based on the result of research conducted by the surveyors.

SENSE OF BETRAYAL

Pinnock-Barclay recounted the joy she felt at the thought that she could soon become a first-time homeowner.

“Oh my God, I felt so good,” she stated.

Now, she, like her counterparts, feels a deep sense of disappointment and betrayal.

Gabriella Hernandez* said she paid over $1.6 million to Newstar last November for a quarter acre of land in the proposed Coral Spring Mountain development, which came to her attention through a Facebook advertisement.

Hernandez, 38, who is self-employed, said she is aware of persons who borrowed money in order to make their deposits because Newstar indicated that the cost of the lots would almost double after November 30 last year when a special sale promotion was set to come to an end.

“I am disappointed in him and I think he should be punished for what he is doing because it’s misleading and it’s dishonesty,” she charged.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez, 46, a Jamaican nurse residing overseas, has not yet told her daughter about the fiasco.

“I don’t want to disappoint her. I was hoping to get back that money so I could pay down on something else,” she said.

The Trelawny Municipal Corporation was the first to take action against Newstar when it issued a stop order on December 1 last year, halting exploratory work at the proposed Coral Spring subdivision, Falmouth Mayor Colin Gager confirmed.

The order indicated that the project was being undertaken without an environmental permit.

A cessation notice issued two days later by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) raised the same issue.

“As of the time of this enquiry, no approvals have been granted by the agency for any development activities by Newstar Home Buyers Limited in Coral Spring Mountain in the parish of Trelawny,” NEPA said in an email response to questions submitted by The Sunday Gleaner on Friday.

* Names changed to protect identities.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com