Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Businessman and environmentalist Gary Aboud used threats and intimidation to force financial consultant Lawrence Mollenthiel to accept liability for a failed $10 million offshore investment, a High Court judge has found.
Justice Devindra Rampersad made the finding on Monday as he dismissed a lawsuit by Aboud, his wife, Merylle Mahabir, and her sister, Natalie Mahabir, seeking to recover losses on investments in the Cayman Islands-based Kijani Commodity Fund.
The judge upheld a counterclaim by Mollenthiel and his company, Investment Designs Limited. They alleged Aboud and an associate coerced Mollenthiel into signing a document accepting liability during a four-hour meeting at his office in 2017. Aboud was ordered to pay Mollenthiel $25,000 in damages for false imprisonment.
Aboud said he planned to appeal. “There is truth and the truth shall set us free. The matter is being appealed,” he said.
The trio invested through Mollenthiel and his company between 2011 and 2015. They said they chose him because he provided financial services to Aboud’s mother-in-law, former independent senator Dianna Mahabir-Wyatt. Aboud invested $10 million in February 2012; his wife invested $644,000 in two instalments in 2013. Natalie Mahabir said she invested US$297,000, despite losing US$63,344.16 on an earlier scheme recommended by Mollenthiel.
The relatives said they later learned the money had not been transferred to Kijani as promised. Cayman Islands authorities seized the fund in June 2015 over concerns about verifying its assets, and it was later liquidated.
In 2020, the trio sued Mollenthiel and his company, alleging fraudulent misrepresentation, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of trust, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Aboud relied on a September 2017 document in which Mollenthiel purportedly agreed to repay his investment.
Mollenthiel denied liability, saying he had acted only as an intermediary insurance investment broker and had not managed the fund. He denied misappropriating the money and said the investors knew their investments carried risks. He also said he signed the document under duress and undue influence.
Mollenthiel alleged Aboud and associate Ishmael Ferguson, also known as “Abdullah”, came to his office with a cutlass and prevented him from leaving for almost four hours. He said threats led him to sign because he feared for his safety and his family’s.
Aboud admitted attending with Ferguson, a longtime friend who helped him collect debts. He denied threats or intimidation but did not call Ferguson to testify, saying he did not consider it necessary.
Justice Rampersad found that the trio had signed application forms with binding terms and that the forms outlined the usual investment risks. He rejected their attempt to hold Mollenthiel and his company liable for Kijani’s collapse, saying there was no evidence they had been deprived of the ability to consult or conduct due diligence.
The judge also criticised Aboud for not calling Ferguson, whom he described as an “obvious witness” who could address whether threats were made, whether a weapon was present and whether Mollenthiel was free to leave.
Although Mollenthiel did not report the incident to police, the judge noted that he later raised concerns in messages to Aboud and his lawyer. “Taking the evidence as a whole, the Court considers the second defendant’s account of coercion more probable,” he said.
The judge found no evidence Aboud had acted for his wife and sister-in-law, and said he must bear responsibility for the document alone. The trio was ordered to pay Mollenthiel’s legal costs.
The trio was represented by Gregory Delzin, SC, and Dianne Mano. Mollenthiel and his company were represented by Vivek Lakhan-Joseph and Raphael Morton-Gittens.
