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WASHINGTON DC – High profile Jamaicans soon to be sentenced in the US .
Monday, 23 May 2011 07:45 News Americas Hits: 102 . . .News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C.,
1. This summer will mark the court sentencing of at least three high profile Jamaican nationals in the U.S. Popular Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton is set to be sentenced on June 23rd. Banton, born Mark Anthony Myrie, will be officially sentenced some five months after he was found guilty on conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine.
He has been behind bars ever since the jury delivered a guilty plea.
His sentencing date approaches as his defense team of David Markus continues to petition the court to have other the gun charges against him dropped.
Banton, 37, will appear before Judge James S. Moody Jr. at a 30 minute hearing in Tampa. He faces a maximum of life in prison.
2. On July 22, newspaper owner, Karl B. Rodney, will know his fate in a Washington, D.C. Court for lying to congress. He will face Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. The offense of making a false statement carries a penalty fine of $250,000, a maximum of five years in jail and three years of supervised release.
Rodney, 73, admitted in a plea deal before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan that as founder of the related, Carib News Foundation, he misled several congressional staff about who paid for the travel expenses on the Private Sponsor Travel Certification Form submitted to the Ethics Committee in connection with the 12th Annual Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference held in Antigua and Barbuda from November 8-11, 2007. The plea deal with federal prosecutors spares his wife, Faye Rodney, from any prosecution.
Rodney is the only person to have been charged in the scandal, which prompted an ethics inquiry of several lawmakers including Congressman Charles Rangel. In March 2010, Rangel stepped aside as Ways and Means Chair. In November 2010, the Ethics Committee found Rangel guilty of 11 counts of violating House ethics rules, and on December 2nd, the full House approved a sanction of censure against Rangel.
3. And on August 11th, the once rich and powerful Olint founder, David A. Smith, is set to be sentenced. Smith is slated to appear before Judge Mary S. Scriven, U.S. District Court in Orlando, Florida. Smith had been set to be sentenced also in June but the date was rescheduled.
Smith copped a plea deal in Orlando, FL by admitting to four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and 18 counts of money laundering. According to the plea agreement, for more than three years, Smith executed a Ponzi scheme to defraud over 6,000 investors located in the Middle District of Florida and elsewhere out of over $220 million.
The wire fraud counts carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not more than three years. In addition, for each count of wire fraud, the fine may be assessed at twice the amount of gross gain or loss. The money laundering counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater, and a term of supervised release of not more than three years.
Meanwhile, accused Ponzi schemer, the once flamboyant Antigua-based businessman, R. Allen Stanford, is set to now face a September trial.
dem too wikked
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