Former BVI Premier Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Import Cocaine into the U.S.

MIAMI - Former British Virgin Islands (BVI) Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie was sentenced yesterday to 135 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams after having been convicted at trial of cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracies for agreeing to facilitate the safe passage of tons of Colombian cocaine through BVI ports headed to Miami. In exchange for his assistance Fahie would make millions, which would be funneled through different businesses or smuggled back to the BVI to hide the money's source.

According to evidence introduced at trial, during March and April 2022, Fahie, Managing Director of the BVI Ports Authority Oleanvine Pickering Maynard (O. Maynard), and the Port Director's son, Kadeem Stephan Maynard (K. Maynard) participated in a series of meetings with the purported Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker to broker the arrangement. Fahie and O. Maynard agreed to secure licenses, shield the cocaine-filled boats while in BVI's ports, and grease the palms of BVI government officials and employees. 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 O. Maynard would get a percentage of the millions of dollars in cocaine sales.

In April 2022, Fahie and O. Maynard were arrested in Miami as they prepared to pick up a $700,000 cash advance on their deal. K. Maynard was arrested in St. Thomas.

O. Maynard and K. Maynard previously pled guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine and were sentenced by Judge Williams to 112 months and 57 months in prison, respectively.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division, announced the sentence.

DEA Miami Field Division investigated this matter. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs assisted. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Gerarde and Sean McLaughlin prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabrielle Charest-Turken is handling asset forfeiture.

Members of the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force carried out this case and prosecution. HIDTA was established in 1990. This program, which is made up of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, fosters intra-agency cooperation among law enforcement agencies in South Florida and involves them in developing a strategy to target the region's drug-related and violent crime threats to public safety, as with the opioid epidemic, fentanyl, and the cocaine threat to our nation. South Florida HIDTA uses funding provided by the Office of National Drug Control Policy out of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and sponsors a variety of law enforcement initiatives that target the region's illicit drug and violent crime threats to our community.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.govor at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.govunder case number 22-CR-20191.

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