By: Staff Writer
June 30, 2023
Former British Virgin Islands Premier, Andre Fahie, will have to face Federal Prosecutors by himself as his co-defenants change their plea to guilty to cocaine trafficking to the United States.
Oleavine Maynard, former Comptroller of Customs in BVI and her son, Kadeem Maynard, both of whom were travelling to Miami, Florida with disgraced Fahie have changed their pleas to guilty as they face the US Justice System and its full force.
From l-r: Kadeem, Fahie and Oleavine.
Fahie, 51, and Maynard, 60, along with her son, Kadeem, 32, were charged with conspiracy to import a controlled substance (cocaine), conspiracy to engage in money laundering, attempted money laundering, and foreign travel in aid of racketeering.
The mother and son had initially denied allegations that they had been integral players in a plot by Fahie to allow cocaine to flow through the ports of the BVI en route to their final destination on the U.S. mainland. Approached by a confidential source of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Fahie reportedly agreed to accept cash payments in exchange for ensuring that the illicit shipments were not intercepted or disturbed by government officials. Fahie got Ms. Maynard’s cut of the deal and according to prosecutors, would have added up to over eight million for each 3,000 kilogram shipment under the bogus proposal made by the DEA’s confidential source.
They face the possibility of life in prison and $10 million in fines if convicted on all counts. The arraignment date of Pickering Maynard was yet unclear Thursday.
The trio was arrested April 28 following a months-long sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which alleged in a criminal complaint that they agreed to arrange safe passage of cocaine through the British Virgin Islands in return for payments of millions of dollars in cash.
The feds say they have many hours of audio-recorded conversations with Fahie and the Maynards. The Fahie team says it needs time to wade through these to determine what is on those recordings.
Opposition parties had made much of his arrests and his links to the government in the run-up to the elections, calling for the start of a new era. The electorate thought otherwise and gave Wheatley’s coalition a narrow majority.
Fahie is currently on a one million dollar bond and living with his daughter in South Florida awaiting trial while the Maynard’s remain imprisoned.
Both former government officials face lengthy prison sentences if convicted.