Ex-British Virgin Islands Premier Sentenced in Miami

In Miami for the Seatrade Cruise Global conference, Fahie was arrested in April 2022 with Oleanvine Pickering Maynard, managing director of the BVI Ports Authority, in Miami after the pair agreed to facilitate the transportation of cocaine from Colombia through BVI ports to Miami.

Fahie was found guilty of working with undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents posing as drug dealers in a conspiracy to use territorial waters to traffic a multi-kilogram cocaine shipment.

DOJ officials said Fahie and Maynard agreed to facilitate the transportation of 3,000 kilograms of cocaine as a trial, with subsequent deliveries planned once or twice monthly for four months. Fahie was expected to receive a share of the profits from the sale of the cocaine, officials said.

Fahie attempted to “tip the British Virgin Islands from a renowned tourist destination to a haven for narcotrafficking,” said U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams, quoted in BVI Beacon report. Fahie’s 11-year sentence was higher than the 10-year minimum term his lawyers had sought but was less than the 19 years prosecutors had requested.

During the Miami hearing Williams acknowledged Fahie had assisted people in his community in attaining higher education and entering the medical and legal professions. His attorneys say the ex-premier will appeal his sentence.