Media Release
September 2nd, 2021
Florida Jury awards record US$269+ million-dollar judgment in conspiracy trial. Co-conspirators in USA, Barbados, Canada, & UK
MIAMI, Florida - A jury in Miami, Florida found for the plaintiffs in a Civil RICO lawsuit and awarded substantial damages, which were trebled under RICO to a final amount of US$269,706,228.74 – a record amount for this type of lawsuit.
The jury considered and accepted evidence showing an international conspiracy and corrupt activities by persons in the United States, Barbados, Canada, and the United Kingdom:
"a coordinated and systemic racketeering scheme employed by a person named Iain Deane and various co-conspirators to intimidate, threaten, defame, defraud, and extort (the elderly victim) Mrs. Knox into a forcible sale of her shares in Kingsland Estates Limited for a price that was far below market value."
When defendant Iain Deane (now deceased), his estate, and co-conspirators failed to respond to the case filed in Miami courts in 2014, Deane and his co-defendants defaulted and admitted the truth of the facts stated in the Plaintiffs’ complaint.
By law, RICO cases require a high burden of proof upon the plaintiff that can only be met with accurate, credible evidence that firmly establishes the truth. Not only did the jury determine that this threshold was well met, but the trial judge also concurred.
In an order released August 17, 2021, Circuit Court Judge Mark Blumstein determined the case was based upon “well-pled factual allegations… concerning a systemic racketeering scheme employed by Iain Deane and various co-conspirators”. The judge authorized the recovery of the damages from various defendants and co-conspirators in the ongoing case that has been before the Miami courts since 2014.
Attorney Michael Dribin, a partner in the Miami law firm of Harper Meyer who represented the Plaintiffs during the two-day jury trial, said of the judgment:
"It is good to know that at long last, a jury of ordinary men and women was able to see the injustices that were imposed on the Knox family and were ready to say that these injustices needed to be recompensed in the only way possible—an award of significant damages.”
The case (Kathleen I. Davis et al v Estate of Iain Deane, et al.) concerns the Plaintiff’s ownership of 1/7th shares in Kingsland Estates Limited, a Barbados corporation with land and business holdings that at one time were valued at about 1 billion US dollars.
Witness testimony and documents considered by the jury included evidence showing threats, harassment, and violence against Knox family members and their witnesses, fraud, fabrication of evidence, obstruction of justice, bribery of police, and other corrupt activities by business, lawyers, politicians, government officials, police, and others (including judicial officials) in four countries – with a purpose to steal, defraud and deny the Plaintiffs the proper value of their shares.
The jury also heard evidence that some of the stolen funds were transferred and money-laundered internationally between the United Kingdom, Barbados and other offshore havens. Some of the documentary evidence seized in a 2018 search of a defendant’s home in the United Kingdom shows the participation of banking officials and lawyers in these illicit transfers.
The lead Plaintiff, Kathleen I. Davis, daughter of the original Kingsland shareholder Marjorie Knox who passed away in 2017 at 95 years old, said of the jury verdict:
“My mother was born in 1922 at Kingsland in Barbados, in the very parish where our ancestors had been slaves. She worked at Kingsland from age 17 and spent her whole life on her lands until 2008 when she was forced to flee Barbados at 86 years old due to threats and violence intended to force her to sell her shares in Kingsland Estates.”
She never saw the results of her decades-long fight for justice. But this Jury Award has vindicated that my mother's fight was righteous and justified.”
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For further information and to contact the plaintiffs and other sources, journalists can contact info@kingslandscoop.com
On Background:
Miami Jury Trial Evidence
Over the course of two days, the Miami Jury heard testimony from witnesses and considered affidavit and documentary evidence - including some of the documents seized in a 2018 search of defendant Iain Deane’s home in the United Kingdom.
The evidence before the jury also detailed the contributing acts and names of various co-conspirators in the United States, Barbados, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Evidence also showed that a Barbados corporation, Classic Investments Limited, was central to the devaluation scheme and conspiracy to intimidate and terrorize the victims.
Full transcripts of the trial, exhibits and additional supporting materials are available to journalists and the public for online downloading by clicking here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fzoq3i6t93fqj9t/AADawQZp-qfyBqZ0DdSxC3Yfa?dl=0
Further evidence and information detailing co-conspirators and their acts in United States, Barbados, Canada, and the United Kingdom will be released shortly.
Court Documents Available for Downloading
Final Judgment On Damages:
GG018001 Estate of Iain Deane - Judgment.pdf
Complaint:
GG015366 GG Third Amended Complaint 2 25 2019.pdf
Trial Transcripts:
GG018500 JudgeMBlumstein_Trial Transcript - Day 1.pdf
GG018501 JudgeMBlumstein_Trial Transcript - Day 2.pdf
Witness Affidavit Entered as Exhibit:
FF 005098 Best Affidavit Evidence Miami Trial.pdf