Fraud accused Ruel Reid (left) and Professor Fritz Pinnock.
Former Education Minister Ruel Reid and Professor Fritz Pinnock are pressing ahead with their challenge of the Financial Investigations Division Act under which they were arrested on fraud allegations, in 2019.
Senior attorney Hugh Wildman made the disclosure today after Chester Crooks the chief parish judge for Kingston and St Andrew declined to dismiss the fraud case against the men.
Wildman had argued before Crooks late last year that the case against ex-Senator Reid and Fritz Pinnock, who is president of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), should be dismissed as the FID Act doesn’t empower the body to make arrests.
Former Education Minister and Senator Ruel Reid to stand trial for fraud. (Photo: JIS)
Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks has ruled that the fraud case involving former Education Minister Ruel Reid and his co-accused is properly before the court and should proceed to trial in due course.
As a result of Crooks’ ruling in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court today, the matter was set for case management on July 27.
Hugh Wildman had previously argued before Crooks that the case against ex-Senator Reid and Fritz Pinnock, president of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), should be thrown out.
Wildman’s ground for the application was that his clients were arrested by officers of the Financial Investigations Division (FID), which, he argued, has no jurisdiction to do.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) on Thursday selected Loretta Lillios as Director of the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau (IEB). The MGC’s four commissioners voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Ms. Lillios, who has been with the MGC since 2014, serving first as Deputy General Counsel and then as Chief Enforcement Counsel/Deputy Director of IEB. Most recently, she has served since September 2020 as Interim Director of IEB.
As Chief Enforcement Counsel and Deputy Director, IEB, Ms. Lillios’ work focused on protecting the public interest and ensuring the integrity of legal gaming in Massachusetts. She has been responsible for overseeing suitability investigations of applicants for gaming licensure, monitoring the ongoing suitability of corporate casino qualifiers, and overseeing the preparation of enforcement actions involving licensee noncompliance with gaming requirements.