1. Morris Richardswas a well-known builder in the Mandeville area while his wife Grace was a retired librarian. The two had for years operated a business on South Race Course Road which sold household chemicals. They did not show up for church one Sunday morning. After church some members started calling the couple and getting no response, they went to their home – the car was in the driveway – they knocked on the door – and getting no response, decided to call the police. When the police came, they found the couple – both hanging from the ceiling of their home, a note left on their dining table read – “I CANNOT GO ON ONE MORE DAY WITH THE NOOSE OF FINSAC AROUND MY NECK”.
2.    Another gentleman living in Cherry Gardens – he knew the day they were coming to throw him and his family out of their home, but he said nothing to his wife and daughter. He got up the morning – went to the gas station and purchased a can with gasolene. Came back home. His wife and daughter were both in the front of the house. He went to a back room – sprinkled the gas all over the room and lit a match and stood there when there was a “boom”. The wife and daughter were lucky enough to run out of the house and were not hurt.
3. Harold Ramsay – a developer/hardware owner from Mandeville was advised by his doctor and his attorney not to attend the Enquiry because he had a heart condition and they knew he could not withstand the stress. He lost 17 properties. He was CUSTOMER OF THE YEAR for two years straight at his bank in Mandeville. When he realized he was losing ALL his life’s work he asked his wife not to give him any more food. He refused to eat. He just laid in his bed and died within a few days.
4.  Another lady who was a manufacturer of mattresses. She called me one morning crying because the bailiffs had shown up to throw her out of her home, just like they had come to ours. When I showed up there to give her moral support – she was standing outside her house, the urine was literally running down her legs and the people who had come to throw her out of her house stood laughing at her. AS A MATTER OF NOTE – HOMEOWNERS WERE NOT ADVISED WHEN THESE HOODLUMS WERE GOING TO SHOW UP.
5.    Mr. Mario Hernandez– a windows manufacturer has been paying on his account and when Jamaica Development Foundation informed him he had a balance of US$12,000. He was able to borrow the funds from family members overseas. He called me on the morning he was on his way to Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation to pay off his loan.  About a couple hours later I got a call from his phone number. When I answered the phone with a “hello” I got no response from him. I called his name and when he finally answered – he was crying. He told me “I went down to JRF and I gave them the check for the US$12,000. They took the check and he is waiting for a receipt. They came back and told him he owed additional enormous amounts for interest charges.  Mr. Hernandez died of a heart attack within a couple of weeks thereafter. His young wife died within a few months after his death – leaving a young child orphaned.
6.    Mr. Mal Levy was owner of several plazas, including the Bankhouse Mall in Mandeville. He realized he was fighting a losing battle with his debts, with the bank and FINSAC, and decided to leave Jamaica to live in the U.S., to give his family a better life. He returned to Jamaica a few months later to attend the funeral of a friend. On his way from the funeral he stopped at a friend’s bar to visit with him. He was shot and killed as he stepped out of his car. The family returned to Jamaica to bury him and  returned to the US. His wife was very distraught over his death. She returned to Jamaica when she thought she was in a better place after his death. She never made it back to the U.S.  She died shortly after she got back to Jamaica. One of their sons died within months after that. It was really taking a toll on their entire family. The pressure of how they have been running several SUCCESSFUL businesses and these are their benefits.
7. Sidney Barnes– Mr. Barnes did not testify at the Enquiry because he did not know he was Finsac’d.  He had no loan. It wasn’t until 2012 when JRF sold his property and the new owners came and threw him out of his home and business that he went to the Titles Office to get a copy of his title.  They advised him at the Titles Office that his title was not there as ALL titles of finsac’d properties were removed from the office.   However, after some amount of searching he got a copy of his title only to realize that the loan of US$120,000 that he borrowed in September 1988 and repaid in full directly to his bank by cheques from his vendors in January 1989, the loan on his title was not registered until June 1989 – 6 months after he  repaid the entire loan.
8.    Mr. Mescheck Willis, a handicapped man in his 70s. Mr. Willis was not able to complete his education but he and his wife used to buy and sell products and he would leave Kingston to go to the country to sell. He was doing very well for a person with limited education – to the point where he purchased a beautiful home in Patrick City. He had reached a point where he could hire a helper to come to his home to take care of his kids. With one of his sons attending University of Technology. While he and his wife travelled to sell, he was able to hire a taxi to transport his kids to and from school.

Mr. Willis went to the bank and borrowed J$140,000 because he was getting orders from hotels to make curtains and pillows etc for the hotel. Mr. Willis used his house valued at J$11 million as collateral. The bank manager at the bank that he had dealt with called him one day telling him that he was being transferred to another bank and he thought it would be good if Mr. Willis transfer his account to the bank he was moving to, and Mr. Willis agreed. It wasn’t a few months later that Mr. Willis received a letter from Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation regarding him owing J$11million for loan he supposedly took out using his home as collateral. Mr. Willis was shocked – and of course where would he get J$11mil. His wife, under the stress developed a life-threatening disease and died within a few months.

I personally wrote 2 letters to Andrew Holness asking him to assist Mr. Willis to acquire a decent small home.  I personally visited Mr. Audley Shaw’s office while he was Finance Minister to ask him to assist Mr. Willis. Mr. Shaw’s response was that “…if he assisted Mr Willis others are going to expect him to assist them…” Needless to say THERE WAS NO RESPONSE FROM Mr. Holness. It reminds me of the saying ‘MAN TO MAN IS UNJUST, BLACK MAN TO BLACK MAN – TEN TIMES WUS…”

Mr. Willis ended up living in places – cannot be called a home – he had no doors. He had to hang sheets etc to make doors to give them some form of privacy, and using a pit latrine.  Mr. Willis is in his late 80s and should not be living alone. But there is not enough space for one of his kids to live with him. The gentleman who took loans on Mr. Willis titles has not been imprisoned.