Less than a month before his scheduled trial on cocaine smuggling and money laundering charges, former British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Fahie has asked a Florida court for more time to press U.S. prosecutors about the identity of their confidential informant.
Fahie requested the July 17 trial date be pushed back to at least Nov. 1.
In addition, Fahie also sought to know what former Ports Authority Managing Director Oleanvine Pickering Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard told prosecutors. While Fahie maintains his innocence, the Maynards pleaded guilty June 12 to a single count of cocaine smuggling conspiracy. They’ve agreed to tell prosecutors all they know, according to court documents.
The Maynards had been held in a Florida detention center after the trio were arrested April 28, 2022. Fahie, however, made bail 46 days later. He later received permission to broaden the conditions of his house arrest when a judge allowed him to leave his daughters’ Miami apartment for dental procedures and to visit his lawyer.
Fahie’s attorney has filed a series of sealed motions, hidden from public view, asking the court to compel prosecutors to reveal the names of people who recorded more than 8,000 minutes of audio tape on which Fahie allegedly gleefully agreed to the drug-running plot.
The government’s refusal to turn over their secret source’s name, and information on potential payment they received for their services from federal officials, hinders Fahie’s ability to adequately defend himself, his attorney argued Tuesday.
The issue of the confidential source’s identity, transcription of the tapes, and multiple terabytes of evidence extracted from Fahie’s digital devices and other data has been a point of contention since at least October 2022. Prosecutors delivered the most recent batch of tape transcriptions June 9, according to court records.
Prosecutors said the tapes contain Fahie agreeing to make Tortola a major transshipment point for cocaine while setting up shell companies to hide the proceeds. Allegedly thinking he was dealing with international drug cartels and a terrorist organization, Fahie was said to have both bragged about previous misdeeds and complained about not being compensated well enough.
Fahie was first elected to public office in 1999. He was investigated for money laundering in 2003 but faced no charges. In 2019 he replaced Orlando Smith as premier, the BVI’s highest elected office. U.S. federal investigators called Fahie “corrupt to the core.”
Fahie faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
