Federal prosecutors refuted Andrew Fahie’s claim to be only a minor player in a massive cocaine smuggling conspiracy by naming people the former British Virgin Islands leader directed and intended to bribe, as well as spelling out the $56 million he sought to collect for himself.
If the scheme were real and not a U.S. federal agent sting, Premier Fahie planned to bribe BVI Customs Commissioner Wade Smith, then-Deputy Ports Authority Chairperson Roxane Sylvester, and instruct subordinates to bribe other law enforcement and port officials, prosecutors said in a June 28 court filing.
“The defendant personally recruited at least two accomplices in the cocaine importation scheme — Roxane Sylvester and Wade Smith,” prosecutors told the court in their filing.
“… [T]he defendant agreed to bribe Wade Smith so that the cocaine laden vessels would pass through the BVI without being searched. After the defendant discussed the plan to bribe Wade Smith, one of the first calls he made the following morning was to Wade Smith,” the filing states. “The defendant described Sylvester as 110 percent his and that she could be trusted.”
Investigators secretly recorded more than 8,000 minutes of Fahie and co-conspirators Oleanvine Pickering Maynard, the then-Ports Authority executive director, and her son Kadeem Maynard. All three were arrested April 28, 2022, and later convicted — the Maynards on conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine and Fahie on cocaine and money laundering charges.
The plan was far larger than five kilograms of cocaine, prosecutors said in their objection to Fahie’s call for leniency at his sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 5.
Prosecutors said Fahie and the Maynards leapt at the chance to work with people they believed to be representative of the Sinaloa drug cartel, also known as the Blood Alliance, to import 6,000 kilograms of cocaine a month. The drugs would come in twice-monthly shipments of 3,000 kilograms — 6,614 pounds. Most of the narcotics would be shipped to Puerto Rico after a few days, then on to Miami and eventually New York, according to court records.
Each shipment of cocaine would generate $78 million in revenue, and roughly $7 million of that would be paid to Fahie, prosecutors said. In the eight shipments that would be made over four months, Fahie expected to be paid roughly $56 million for 24,000 kilograms of cocaine shipped to the United States.
On top of the $56 million, Fahie asked for $500,000 to spread around as bribes. One of his first calls was to Wade Smith at Customs, prosecutors said. The content of the phone call was not revealed but BVI officials put Wade on leave in August 2022 for unspecified reasons. In February 2023, police searched Wade’s home and in December 2023, local media reported he had been arrested. BVI police declined to confirm his arrest, saying only “a Senior government official” was arrested for breach of public trust in relation to an investigation within Customs.
Representatives of the Royal British Virgin Islands Police Force did not respond to questions about Wade’s arrest or if Sylvester had been charged with any crime Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said Fahie pressed Sylvester into accompanying Pickering Maynard to Miami in April 2022 by offering her cash. The women were to be sent to Miami as couriers for the $500,000 in bribe money, prosecutors said.
“The defendant, Oleanvine Maynard, and Kadeem Maynard were undoubtedly participants in the crime. Beyond these three participants, Roxane Sylvester also participated in the criminal activity. At the defendant’s request, she agreed to accompany the defendant’s $500k payment that he would use to pay bribes in the BVI in furtherance of the cocaine importation scheme,” according to court records.
Sylvester was detained along with Pickering Maynard but later released.
Two other men involved in the plot were a smuggler known only as Tattoo in court filings and a Senegalese man named Baye Cisse, who had helped Fahie in the past. Fahie had offered to help import weapons from Africa, if needed, prosecutors said in their charging documents, and said Fahie owed money to someone on the continent.
Fahie and Cisse exchanged voice messages, prosecutors said, with Cisse approving the cocaine plot.
“The defendant and Cisse planned to meet in St. Martin so that the defendant could pay him $133,000,” according to court records.
Other likely participants in the scheme were not individually named in recent court filings. In addition to Customs employees, prosecutors said ground crews and tower control employees at the Terrance B. Lettsome Airport were also on the bribe list, particularly someone identified as Kadeem Maynard’s “handler.” Both Maynards were said to have control of the airport staff and planned to distribute $30,000 in bribes to them.
The plan also called for shell companies to be set up to disguise shipments’ true content and origin, as well as hide proceeds, meaning other people in positions of trust would be involved. Money paid to one government official or employee would eventually go to pay off others, prosecutors said.
“The bribes paid to corrupt the high-ranking Customs officials would inevitably trickle down to the common Customs employees who would be tasked with searching vessels carrying goods into the BVI. The defendant’s participation in the scheme further undermined the public’s trust in the BVI government,” prosecutors said. “In addition to arranging ground control and tower control, Kadeem arranged for his “people” to come and collect the suitcases carrying the defendant’s $500,000 and Oleanvine’s $200,000.”
Attempts to reach Wade Smith and Roxane Sylvester were not successful as of Wednesday evening. Prosecutors did not reply to requests to further identify Baye Cisse.
