A British Virgin Islands premier was acting like the fictitious CIA agent Jason Bourne when he was approached by a Mexican cartel member about using his ports for shipping cocaine to the United States, a defense attorney said Thursday at the politician’s drug-trafficking trial in Miami.
Andrew Fahie then took role-playing as Bourne even further when he agreed to accept millions in bribes from the trafficker so the BVI premier could uncover whether the smuggler was out to destroy him on behalf of the British government that controls the Caribbean territory, his lawyer said during closing arguments.
“Mr. Fahie was concerned that the British didn’t like him,” his attorney, Theresa Van Vliet, told jurors. “Mr. Fahie knew that someone was trying to remove from his position as premier.” Jurors, however, didn’t buy the Bourne defense.
The 12-person Miami federal jury found Fahie guilty of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States along with three related money laundering and racketeering charges after a two-week trial.
Jurors deliberated for only four hours before reaching their decision on the BVI premier’s fate. Fahie was arrested in April 2022 in Miami following a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation. He faces up to life in prison at his sentencing on April 29 before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.
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