By: Staff Writer
June 11, 2024
Former Premier of the British Virgin Islands, Andrew Fahie, is seeking to have his sentence for drug trafficking to the US delayed again until August 5
This would be the third such delay with this time Fahie’s lawyer, Theresa Van Vliet, filing a motion citing a scheduling conflict as the reason for the postponement, proposing the new date of August 5 from the previously determined June 25.
The previous two times, Vliet had asked for more time to prepare.
Fahie has also been involved in pre-sentencing activities, including an in-depth interview on March 5, 2024, and preparing objections to the Draft Pre-sentencing Investigation Report, which is now due by June 7, 2024.
The former Premier’s trial and the subsequent developments continue to spark debates around governance and ethical conduct in the territory.
Fahie, who was found guilty in a Florida federal court in February 2024 for conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering is said to be attempting to broker a deal for a lighter sentence which will see him turn evidence against other suspected drug traffickers around the Caribbean.
Fahie’s co-accused, Oleanvine Maynard, the former Managing Director of the BVI Ports Authority, is said to have conspired with Maynard’s son Kadeem Stephan Maynard in Miami in a 2022 indictment.
The trio agreed to allow large amounts of cocaine to pass through the BVI’s ports as part of a multi-million dollar deal the trio made with an informant of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who was posing as a drug trafficker at the time.
Maynard admitted guilt over her role in the plot and agreed to testify against Fahie in exchange for a lighter punishment.
Maynard’s son Kadeem was sentenced on November 20, 2023, to serve 57 months in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to a single count of conspiracy to import cocaine.
The most serious charge for which Mr Fahie was convicted — conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine — can bring a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $10 million fine, according to the 2022 indictment.