The sentencing date for the former managing director of the BVI Ports Authority, Oleanvine Pickering-Maynard has now been pushed back as the trial for former premier Andrew A. Fahie continues to face repeated delays. Photo: VINO/File

Mr Fahie at the time Premier of the Virgin Islands (VI) was arrested in Miami on April 28, 2022, and slapped with drug and money laundering conspiracy charges among others, by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Photo: GIS/File

Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in a report on January 15, 2024, indicated that Ms Pickering-Maynard, who heads the prosecution’s list of witnesses, will now be sentenced on February 22 instead of January 18. Fahie’s trial has seen several delays and is now scheduled to begin on January 22, pending the outcome of several motions filed by the prosecution and defense. 

CMC previously reported that Fahie’s defense attorney, Theresa M. Van Vliet, previously objected to what she described as the prosecution’s ‘eleventh-hour’ motions and contended at the time that the motions raised crucial issues for the first time.

Those issues she said, include the intention to present expert testimony and seek a jury instruction on foreign law in one instance. The delayed trial now means that Justice Williams will hear arguments relating to the motions ahead of the trial date on January 22.

Pickering-Maynard to testify against Fahie 

Mr Fahie at the time Premier of the Virgin Islands (VI) was arrested in Miami on April 28, 2022, and slapped with drug and money laundering conspiracy charges among others, by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

He allegedly conspired with Pickering-Maynard and her son, Kadeem S. Maynard for amounts of cocaine to pass through the VI’s ports as part of a multi-million cocaine deal he allegedly made with an informant of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who was posing as a drug trafficker. 

Mr Fahie is facing possible life imprisonment if convicted on those charges brought against him by the US government.

Pickering-Maynard is expected to offer critical testimony against Fahie, after accepting a plea agreement, which gives her a chance at a reduced sentence for her role in the cocaine conspiracy.