MIAMI, Florida – Former premier Andrew Fahie sat expressionless in a Miami courtroom this afternoon as a federal judge sentenced him to a little over 11 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine through Virgin Islands waters and into the United States.
The 135-month sentence followed a roughly two-hour hearing where United States District Court Judge Kathleen Williams called Mr. Fahie’s actions an attempt to “tip the British Virgin Islands from a renowned tourist destination to a haven for narcotrafficking.”
When a government official uses their position to personally profit, the judge added, “It’s a violation of trust; it violates public safety. It is the ultimate betrayal.”
Nevertheless, Judge Williams also acknowledged evidence that the former premier had helped people in his community in “becoming doctors, becoming lawyers, receiving MBAs, and essentially finding their way to a better life.”
“For reasons we’ll never understand,” she added, “Mr. Fahie lost his way and became involved in this scheme.”
Although the judge acknowledged that Mr. Fahie’s conviction was the result of a US government sting operation, she also noted that the “consequence of what was to happen was quite real.”
Back to prison
After the sentence was handed down, Mr. Fahie, dressed in khaki prison garb, turned briefly to his wife Sheila Fahie and two daughters, who sat with two rows of supporters.
He then exchanged brief words with them and his lawyers before United States Marshals ushered him through the paneled side door of Courtroom 11-3 and back into custody.
Mr. Fahie, who has maintained his innocence, is expected to remain in prison as he starts the process of appealing the unanimous jury verdict rendered against him during a February trial overseen by Ms. Williams.
The 11-year sentence was higher than the 10-year minimum term that Mr. Fahie’s defence attorneys had sought, but it fell far short of 19 years that prosecutors requested during the Monday hearing.
The sentence also calls for five years of supervised release and a $400 fine. Mr. Fahie’s legal team asked that he be allowed to serve his sentence at a prison in Florida, and the judge agreed to consider the request.
‘Extremely severe offence’
During today’s sentencing hearing, Assistant US Attorney Kevin Gerarde argued that a 19-year sentence would be fitting for the “extremely severe offence” committed by Mr. Fahie.
Adding that the ex-premier effectively “took the BVI and sold it to the Sinaloa cartel,” Mr. Gerarde said 19 years would show respect for the law and deter others from committing similar crimes.
He also suggested that the 10-year sentence requested by prosecutors would be incongruent with the punishment received by Mr. Fahie’s co-conspirators, former BVI Ports Authority Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard, who pleaded guilty and received sentences of nine and nearly five years, respectively.
Appeal attorney
But Mr. Fahie’s appeal attorney Richard Della Fera reiterated Mr. Fahie’s intent to appeal his conviction.
“This cocaine never existed,” he told the court. “It was never a question whether it was moved or never moved. It never existed.”
In asking the court for the minimum sentence, he said, “We’re dealing with a fantasy constructed by a confidential source.”
Mr. Della Fera also noted how Mr. Fahie has been spending his time while incarcerated: mentoring other inmates, coordinating and assisting Spanish speakers learning English, teaching guitar and music classes, helping inmates trying to obtain their GED, and participating in church services and counseling.
Such activities are consistent with Mr. Fahie’s history of “helping those less fortunate than him,” Mr. Della Fera said.
He added that his client was doing it all without reward because “that’s the kind of person he is.”
Reference letters
Mr. Della Fera also described five letters of reference Mr. Fahie submitted to the court over the weekend, requesting the judge consider them in her decision.
One of the letters — which was signed jointly by Mr. Fahie’s wife Sheila and two daughters, Kedisha and Khadija Fahie — described the former premier’s “dedication” to a political career that was “not wrapped up in titles, but indulging in the well-being of the people and their families that created a community.”
His wife also recalled her husband’s previous career as a math teacher and principal at Elmore Stoutt High School.
“I have watched him help so many children not just with schooling, but with the struggles that burden them in life,” she wrote. “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.”
Other letters in support of Mr. Fahie came from West End resident Duncan Williams, a Dominica national who retired in 2019 after a 34-year career as a VI police officer; Dr. Peache Brewley, a doctor who said Mr. Fahie helped her get a scholarship; Dr. Rosalind Toulson, a retired Delaware judge who described herself as a “foster mom” to children Mr. Fahie introduced to her; and Shakiel Humphrey-Toulson, a student who said Mr. Fahie helped him immigrate to the US.
The letter writers asked Ms. Williams to consider Mr. Fahie’s character and commitment to public service.
Sentencing recommendations
Prosecutors had previously asked Ms. Williams to set the “base offence level” for Mr. Fahie’s crimes at 38 under the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines — a level that itself could have carried a sentence of 19 years or more.
In recent court filings, Mr. Gerarde had argued that the 38-level should be increased by six levels: two because the crime involved an abuse of trust and four more because Mr. Fahie allegedly took a leadership role in a conspiracy involving at least five people. Those increases, he stated, would set Mr. Fahie’s final “offence level” at the maximum of 43. That level carries a life sentence, according to the guidelines.
In contrast, defence attorney Theresa Van Vliet challenged that narrative, arguing in a motion filed in June that Mr. Fahie’s base level should be set at 38 but that he should receive a “minor role adjustment” of four levels, reducing his base offender level to 34, which carries a 10-year sentence.
In support of her recommendation, Ms. Van Vliet argued that the 2022 drug conspiracy was led not by Mr. Fahie but by a US Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source who pretended to be a drug trafficker named Roberto Quintero.
Mr. Fahie, she argued, played a smaller role than the Maynards.
2022 arrests
Mr. Fahie was arrested in Miami on April 28, 2022, after an elaborate sting operation carried out by the US DEA.
As part of the sting, undercover operatives posed as members of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, asking Mr. Fahie and the Maynards to help facilitate the “free passage” of cocaine through VI waters on the way to Puerto Rico, according to prosecutors.
During Mr. Fahie’s trial in February, jurors heard clandestine recordings of Mr. Quintero — in reality, the DEA confidential source — explaining that the cartel’s cocaine would be concealed as waterproof construction materials.
In exchange, Mr. Fahie expected to receive an initial $500,000 in cash and a cut of the proceeds from future drug sales, prosecutors said during his trial.
However, Ms. Van Vliet stressed that no drugs or money changed hands, though sham currency was shown to the former premier on a plane parked at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport shortly before his arrest.
Appeal expected
Discussing the planned appeal last month during a radio interview, Mr. Della Fera said that he believes multiple errors were committed before and during Mr. Fahie’s February trial.
If judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit agree with him, Mr. Fahie’s case could be either dismissed entirely, resulting in his release from prison, or sent back for retrial.
“I’m confident that either one of those two options is going to come to reality,” Mr. Della Fera said July 24 during a nearly hour-long interview on “Da Morning Braff” show on Tola Radio.
Mr. Della Fera said that while he’s still reviewing the case, the “errors” he has identified so far fall into three broad groups.
Those include pre-trial motions involving the background of Mr. Quintero; evidence that Ms. Williams did not allow to be shown to the jury; and concerns that the jury was not unanimous in its verdict, the lawyer said.