Michael Hilton

Michael Hilton is the lawyer in Sand heists and property rights in the Caribbean (Summer School) who investigated the 2008 stolen-beach case in northern Jamaica. He was called after an entire beach was allegedly removed by trucks and later reasoned that the missing sand was too large to hide and had likely been spread somewhere visible.

Hilton’s role makes Illegal Sand Mining a proof and enforcement problem. The case involved holes and trenches, suspected resort use, helicopter inspection, sand forensics, police sampling, witness intimidation, dropped charges, and later settlement without admission of guilt.

Connections

• Jamaica, Sand Scarcity, and Sand Theft Externality - resource case.
• Pascal Peduzzi and United Nations - global sand-shortage expansion.
• Small-State Enforcement Capacity - enforcement constraint exposed by the case.