Photo: Alex Staroseltsev / Shutterstock
Federal prosecutors in Miami, Florida have charged three people, including British Virgin Islands (BVI) Premier, Andrew Alturo Fahie, and Managing Director of the BVI Ports Authority, Oleanvine Pickering Maynard, with cocaine trafficking and money laundering crimes for allegedly conspiring to smuggle tons of Colombian cocaine bound for Miami through BVI ports, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.
The Port Director’s son, Kadeem Stephan Maynard, has also been charged.
In exchange for their participation, the defendants would make millions, which would be funneled through different businesses and bank accounts to hide the money’s source, the Justice Department said.
According to the allegations contained in a criminal complaint affidavit, during March and April, Fahie, Oleanvine Maynard, and Kadeem Maynard participated in a series of meetings with the purported drug trafficker to broker the deal. Fahie and Oleanvine would secure the required licenses, shield cocaine-filled boats while in BVI’s ports, and grease the palms of a potentially problematic government official, says the affidavit.
They discussed bringing 3,000 kilograms of cocaine through a BVI port as a test run, followed by 3,000 kilograms once or twice a month for four months. Fahie and Oleanvine would get a percentage of the cocaine’s sales, allegedly amounting to millions of dollars.
Fahie and Oleanvine were arrested last week in Miami. According to the allegations, they were here to pick up a $700,000 cash advance on their deal. The third defendant, Kareem Maynard, was arrested in St. Thomas.
Fahie and Oleanvine made their initial federal court appearances on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman. They are scheduled for pretrial detention hearings this week in federal magistrate court in Miami.
Criminal complaints contain mere allegations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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