American businesswoman sues Gleaner, USVI news entity for US$240m
/ Our Today
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American businesswoman Antiellia Sterling has launched two major defamation lawsuits—one in Jamaica and the other in the US Virgin Islands, amounting to some US$240.5 million—after media reports claimed she was missing along with a rental vehicle in Montego Bay.
The reports stem from a December 23, 2021, Gleaner article headlined ‘Vanished into thin air: Rent-a-car company fuming after American, car go missing’.
The piece, along with a video segment aired the same day, stated that Sterling and a rental car from Sixt Jamaica were unaccounted for. The story was widely picked up by other media outlets locally, regionally, and internationally, including the Virgin Islands Consortium.
A follow-up Gleaner article on December 29, 2021, reported that the vehicle had been recovered by police in St Mary, but noted ongoing disputes over payment for the rental. Sterling, however, has consistently maintained that she was never missing and says she only learned of the reports while actively conducting business in Jamaica.
“I was here doing business when I heard that I was missing,” Sterling said. “Several of my business deals fell through after the article came out. This lawsuit serves to vindicate me and restore my good name.”
In February 2022, another news outlet published her account of being held at gunpoint and left stranded, and how the “missing” narrative damaged her reputation and disrupted her business operations.
In Jamaica, Sterling has filed a US$31 million lawsuit against The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited. According to filings in the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica, the media house has not responded to the claim, and Sterling is awaiting a default judgment.
In the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, Sterling is suing the Virgin Islands Consortium for damages for alleged libel, slander per se, negligence, and emotional distress. Court documents show the Consortium has also failed to respond, and Sterling has filed a motion for default judgment.
Her USVI motion claims that the false reports caused “significant harm” to her reputation, business operations, and emotional well-being.
She is seeking a total of US$209.5 million in damages across multiple counts, including: libel & libel per se, slander & slander per se, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, assault and slander by implication and libel by implication.
She is represented by Marcus Greenwood in the case in Jamaica.
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