Andre Motta and his two companies, Master Core Limited and Dreams De La Island Limited, were recently blocked by the Supreme Court from dealing with their assets of $30 million, in connection with a lawsuit brought by a retired American couple over the alleged abandonment of their retirement home project in St Thomas.

Justice Althea Jarrett made the order in late July, during a pretrial hearing.

The order states, “As an interim preventative measure, the defendants—whether by themselves, their servants and/or agents, or otherwise—are restrained from disposing of, transferring, charging, diminishing, or in any way dealing with their assets…and from withdrawing or transferring any funds from their accounts in respect to the sum of $30 million or any part thereof until such further order of the court.”

The couple, John Tomlin, 62, and Constance Tomlin, 57, filed a lawsuit against Motta and his companies for breach of contract.

They complained that they paid over $64 million in November 2022 for what was supposed to be a 10-month construction project in Mezgar Gardens, St Thomas. However, Motta allegedly abandoned the project, leaving the house just six per cent complete and riddled with poor workmanship.

The Tomlins had planned to move into their retirement home by April 2023 and rent their overseas property to defray mortgage costs. Instead, the project’s failure has forced them to remain abroad, incurring ongoing expenses, while losing out on an estimated US$2,600 per month in rental income.

In December 2022, the couple installed surveillance cameras on the site, which confirmed that no construction had resumed. They also reported overgrown vegetation and termite infestation, which they attributed to Motta’s continued neglect.

In a separate order made in June 2025, the court directed Motta and his companies to disclose the full details of how the $64,166,500 was spent. They were also required to disclose whether any portion of the funds is held in their names, by nominees, or in accounts either locally or overseas.

Additionally, the defendants were ordered to pay into court $10 million, said to represent the surplus paid above the value of work completed to date. This figure was determined in a quantity surveyor’s report prepared by Davidson & Hanna, chartered quantity surveyors, dated March 26, 2024. However, the defendants have failed to comply with both orders.

According to court documents, the Tomlins signed the agreement in June 2022 after Motta allegedly presented himself as a seasoned and capable contractor, offering an attractive proposal for the project. However, problems reportedly emerged shortly after excavation began in August 2022.

The couple claims Motta became increasingly unresponsive, failed to deliver progress updates, and routinely missed scheduled site meetings without notice. By April 2023, they said, only two per cent of the work had been completed, despite repeated attempts to get updates.

They eventually hired a project manager to oversee the stalled works, but allege that Motta was hostile and uncooperative, instructing his workers not to engage with the manager.

Reports from both the project manager and consultant engineers from WholeWorks Services, draughting and building technologists, concluded that the completed works were “materially faulty, defective, and/or substandard”. Among the issues identified were deviations from the approved architectural and engineering specifications, which led the project manager to issue two stop-work orders.