Former British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Fahie was reportedly sentenced to 11 years in prison Monday for his role in a plot to make Tortola a major stopover for cocaine bound for the U.S. mainland.
The court had not yet posted details of Fahie’s sentencing by late Monday, but the Miami Herald reported prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence. Neither prosecutors nor Fahie’s attorney replied to requests for information.
Fahie, who turns 54 Wednesday, was caught in an undercover sting operation where U.S. federal agents posing as representatives of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel offered vast sums of money if Fahie and other BVI government officials arranged for cocaine-laden cargo ships to layup in Tortola for a few days twice a month, according to court records.
Fahie, vowing an appeal, claimed to have had only a minor role in the plot and said the U.S. federal agents behind the sting were the real ringleaders, planning the scheme and recruiting Fahie’s co-defendants, former BVI Ports Authority Executive Director Oleanvine Pickering Maynard and her son.
Fahie said he only went along with the drug smuggling deal to gain information that he planned to later turn over to BVI authorities. The jury was not convinced and found Fahie guilty Feb. 8 on all charges: conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, attempted money laundering, and foreign travel in aid of racketeering.
The sting found Fahie and co-defendants agreeing to import 6,000 kilograms of cocaine a month. The drugs would come in twice-monthly shipments of 3,000 kilograms — 6,614 pounds — that would be parked off the coast of Tortola to gain legitimacy. 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 and friends, prosecutors said. If the eight shipments made over four months were real, Fahie expected to be paid roughly $56 million for helping transit 24,000 kilograms of cocaine. On top of the $56 million, Fahie asked for $500,000 to spread around as bribes.
Several of Fahie’s friends and family sent letters of support to the court in June and July, asking South Florida District Court Judge Kathleen Williams to show leniency in her sentencing. They said Fahie was well known for his honesty, compassion, and charity.
Fahie’s wife and two daughters wrote in July asking the judge to note Fahie’s dedication to community. The former high school teacher played piano in churches, helped youth summer camps, coached basketball teams, and helped steer young people away from drugs and other trouble, they said.
“For example, I have seen him help children averting the pressures of being succumbed to the streets with drugs and gang violence, and have saved many lives with his heart for education and children’s futures,” Fahie’s family wrote. “In conclusion, Andres Alturo Fahie is a respectable, trustworthy, intelligent, honorable man who is more than just a politician, but a husband, father, leader, and friend.”
The characterizations were at odds with more than 8,000 minutes of secretly recorded audio tape that prosecutors said showed Fahie as an enthusiastic participant in the cocaine smuggling plot. Fahie bragged in the recordings about a long history of illegal actions and bemoaned not being compensated properly, prosecutors said. At one point, Fahie was recorded offering to help supply illegal weapons.
U.S. authorities had investigated both Andrew and Sheila Fahie two decades ago for potential money laundering — funneling questionably-obtained cash into Miami via couriers — but no charges were filed. It was one of several investigations from U.S. and BVI authorities into construction contracts for the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island.
Fahie’s codefendant, Pickering Maynard, was also recorded speaking with undercover U.S. agents in the cocaine plot. She told the agents, whom she believed to be international drug runners, Fahie was a “little crook.”
Fahie was elected to public office in 1999 and, in February 2019, was sworn in as premier, the BVI’s highest elected office. Prosecutors said Fahie asked the men he believed to be narcotics manufacturers if they were police, saying it had taken him 20 years to get to where he was and didn’t want to lose it in 20 minutes. It was one of the moments prosecutors pointed to when preempting Fahie from claiming he’d been entrapped. If Fahie didn’t want to go along with the plan, the men posing as drug runners said he could simply say no. Fahie did not. Instead, he asked for bribe money and private flights for himself and his family.
Fahie and Pickering Maynard were arrested separately April 28, 2022, on the tarmac of a Miami airport after inspecting what they believed to be a cash downpayment aboard a private airplane. Pickering Maynard’s son, Kadeem Maynard, was arrested the same day in St. Thomas for his role in the plot, which included plans to bribe BVI Customs, airport, and law enforcement officials. Fahie planned to bribe other officials himself, prosecutors said.
Pickering Maynard, 62, was sentenced to more than nine years in prison after pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine. Money laundering and racketeering charges were dropped as she agreed to testify against her former boss, Fahie. Kadeem Maynard pleaded guilty in May 2023 and was sentenced in November to just under five years in prison. Fahie claimed to have no knowledge of an alleged side deal Maynard had worked out to supply the BVI with cocaine.
A day after the arrests, the British government released its report on potential for corruption within the BVI government. The Commission of Inquiry said the potential was vast and advised that London take direct control, dissolving the locally elected officials. Instead, a deal was struck with the new premier to make reforms.
