Hon Fahie appeared before Magistrate Judge Melissa Damian to answer to the charge of Interstate and Foreign Travel in Aid of Racketeering.

He pleaded not guilty.

Racketeering, by legal definition, is a pattern of illegal activity carried out as part of an enterprise that is owned or controlled by those who are engaged in the illegal activity.

Co-accused Kadeem S. Maynard also appeared in court on the same day to answer a similar charge and also pleaded not guilty.

Former BVI Ports Authority Managing Director Oleanvine Pickering-Maynard is scheduled to appear in court today, November 17, 2022, to answer to the same charge.

Sting operation

The trio was arrested on April 28, 2022, following a months-long sting operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which alleged in a criminal complaint that they agreed to arrange safe passage of cocaine through the [British] Virgin Islands in return for payments of millions of dollars in cash.

Fahie and Pickering-Maynard were arrested at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport where, according to court filings, they thought they were meeting members of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel to get $700,000 in cash. Maynard was arrested the same day on St Thomas on a trip to arrange his first shipment of cocaine, as well as pick up a satellite phone and $30,000 in bribe money, prosecutors have alleged.

Pickering-Maynard and her son remain in federal detention in Miami, while Hon Fahie is free on $1M bail, confined to his daughters’ Florida apartment and under 24/7 GPS monitoring.