Once the most powerful elected official in the British Virgin Islands, former Premier and Finance Minister Andrew Fahie could soon plead poverty and ask for the assistance of a public defender in the appeal of his cocaine smuggling and money laundering conviction, according to court records filed Thursday.
In earlier court filings, Fahie’s lawyers had said he was having trouble raising money to pay an appeals attorney, which can cost $35,000 minimum and run up to $200,000 or more in complex cases.
Fort Lauderdale attorney Richard Della Fera, who represented Fahie after his February conviction, paid the $605 appeals filing fee himself Thursday, saying it was part of his duties. Della Fera said he did not want Fahie to lose his opportunity to appeal over $600 but also asked the court to allow him to leave the case. Fahie’s attorney at trial, Theresa Van Vliet, also asked the judge to sever her from the case but said she’d be happy to help Fahie find appropriate appellate counsel.
Della Fera said it could take 18 months for the details of Fahie’s appeal to be filed, rebutted, heard, and potentially resolved. Getting transcripts alone would take 60 days, he said.
Undercover officers had amassed some 8,000 minutes of secretly recorded audio tape that prosecutors said showed Fahie as an enthusiastic participant in a cocaine smuggling plot that would have briefly parked thousands of kilograms of narcotics on Tortola — were the scheme real. 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, according to court filings.
U.S. authorities had investigated both Fahie and his wife, 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.
The nature of Fahie’s appeal of his smuggling conviction was not yet known. If filed, it would be heard by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
At trial, Fahie, 54, 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. Fahie was sentenced Aug. 5 to 135 months imprisonment, followed by five years supervised release.
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.
After his conviction, Fahie sought leniency, claiming the undercover agents and his co-defendants, former Ports Authority Executive Director Oleanvine Pickering Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard, were the real ringleaders. Both Maynards pleaded guilty and are now serving prison sentences.
