Source : Loop
The former managing director of the BVI Ports Authority, Oleanvine Pickering-Maynard, was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison for her involvement in a drug trafficking scheme with convicted former Premier Andrew Fahie.
Oleanvine, her son Kadeem Maynard, and Andrew were all arrested in April 2022 after months of plotting a scheme that aimed to bring shipments of up to 3,000 kg of cocaine at a time into the port of Tortola.
They believed they were communicating with a member of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel, who offered them half a million dollars and 12 per cent of the profits in exchange for using the port to legitimize the shipments before continuing to the United States.
However, the individual turned out to be an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who met Maynard and later introduced them to Fahie.
Oleanvine agreed to plead guilty and to testify against the former premier in exchange for a reduced sentence.
In addition to her prison term, Oleanvine, who is 62 years old, will also serve five years of supervised release.
The sentencing took place in a Miami courtroom earlier this week, presided over by United States District Judge Kathleen Williams.
The accused admitted in court that she helped Andrew orchestrate a Hollywood-style drug and money laundering conspiracy to smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine through the territory’s waters and conceal the proceeds.
Judge Williams imposed a sentence lower than the recommended range of 11 years and three months to 14 years.
Kadeem, received a 57-month sentence in November 2023. The former premier has not yet been sentenced and is scheduled to appear in court on August 5, 2024.