British Virgin Islands Ex-Premier Andrew Fahie Drug Trafficking Trial Shifted From July to November

Eight days after his co-accused Oleanvine Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and agreed to cooperate fully with federal prosecutors, British Virgin Islands Ex-premier Andrew Fahie filed a successful motion for more time to prepare for his trial.

His lawyer Theresa Van Vliet Fahie filed an unopposed motion on June 20 asking for his trial date to be shifted from July 17 to November, giving his legal  team an additional five months to prepare.

Van Vliet told the court that the prosecution also acknowledged that between now and mid July is insufficient time to address the accused’ filed pre-trial issues.

On June 12, the Maynards pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States in a Miami federal court as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

The two face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in a federal prison and have agreed to “cooperate fully” with federal prosecutors in Fahie’s case.

Oleanvine Maynard, the former British Virgin Islands Ports Authority Managing Director and Kadeem Maynard along with the ex-BVI Finance Minister Fahie were arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration Agents (DEA) on April 28, 2022.

They were charged with conspiring to import more than five kilos of cocaine into the United States and conspiring to launder $700,000.

The female Maynard and Fahie were detained at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Florida on April 28, 2022.

While thirty-two-year-old Kadeem Maynard was arrested in St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, and later deported to the United States mainland.

After spending more than a year in federal custody the Maynards changed their pleas.

Meanwhile, Fahie, the ex-First Electoral District Representative and Chairman of the Virgin Islands Party, is currently on one million dollars bail – $500,000 cash and $500,000 surety –  lives in his daughters’ two-bedroom apartment in Florida and wears an ankle monitor.

The trio were arrested during a DEA sting spanning meetings in the BVI, United States Virgin Islands and the United States.

The DEA affidavit stated that the informant posing as a member of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel met with Maynard and her son Kadeem in March 2022 on Tortola and St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.

The discussion focused on using the territory’s ports to ship thousands of kilos of cocaine from Colombia to Miami and New York via Puerto Rico; each kilogram would be sold for between US$26,000 and US$38,000.

And for looking the other way, they would receive a percentage of the monies made from the sale of the narcotics. According to court documents, the ex-Ports  Authority Managing Director explained the payouts will be hidden in shell companies and she would easily process the paperwork “so you can come into the territory for a couple days, and then move on.” While Fahie agreed to the arrangement for ten percent of the proceeds.

“You see my premier, he’s a little crook sometimes,” Maynard told the DEA confidential source, according to the affidavit.