Former BVI Premier Sentenced to Jail in Port Drug Smuggling Scheme
The former Premier of the British Virgin Islands, Andrew Fahie, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for his role in a scheme to use the BVI port of Tortola to smuggle thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States. Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida sentenced the former premier to 135 months in federal prison after he was convicted at trial of cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracies.
Fahie and the former Managing Director of the BVI Ports Authority, Oleanvine Pickering Maynard, were arrested in Miami in April 2022. They had arrived in the United States thinking they were picking up a $700,000 cash advance as part of their smuggling deal.
The U.S. court convicted the former premier as part of the conspiracies where he agreed to facilitate the safe passage of tons of Colombian cocaine through BVI ports headed to Miami. Prosecutors charged that 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, Maynard, and the port director’s son, Kadeem Stephan Maynard, participated in a series of meetings with the purported Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker to broker the arrangement. Fahie and Maynard agreed to secure licenses, shield the cocaine-filled boats while in BVI’s ports, and bribe other BVI government officials and employees. Prosecutors said 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 Maynard would get a percentage of the millions of dollars in cocaine sales.
Maynard pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to import cocaine while the money laundering and racketeering charges were dropped in exchange for her testifying against the premier. During the court case, she called the former premier “a little crook,” while he was caught on tape bragging about his role in smuggling cases. He had been a prominent politician since 1999 and served as premier between 2019 and 2022. During the trial, his lawyers contended he was being politically framed. He said he had a minor role and that Maynard was the one responsible for getting the licenses for the ships smuggling the cocaine.
Kadeem Maynard was arrested in St. Thomas and pled guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine. He received 57 months in prison for his role in assisting the plot while his mother was sentenced in June to 112 months in prison.