Volume No. 2 Issue No. 9 - Monday August 6, 2007
Saint Lucian faces 135 years in jail
MINISTER OF PLANNING, AUSBERT D’AUVERGNE, SAYS
‘I FEEL RESPONSIBLE’
Saint Lucian citizen, Marcus ‘Christopher’ Alcindor, a Civil Engineer and son of former Minister of Agriculture in the John Compton UWP administration of 1974-1979, Mr. Christopher Alcindor, will be sentenced to prison in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, on 26 September this year, on several criminal charges, including loan fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
Another Saint Lucian, Ms. Cheryl Denny, originally charged on the same counts, was acquitted in directed verdicts by the court before the Grand Jury began its deliberations.
Mr. Alcindor and Ms. Denny are the brother and cousin of Saint Lucian citizen, Antonia Alcindor, whose brother was killed some years ago on a drug-run gone bad in Martiniquan waters.
The two are also the first cousin and sister respectively, of Minister of Planning, Mr. Ausbert d’Auvergne, who testified in further court hearings on the case in Atlanta, on 27 February, 2007 when he was already Minister of Planning in the new UWP government. Mr. Alcindor faces a minimum of 135 years in prison.
The ringleader in the criminal case was Mr. Phillip Hill of Florida, who, along with Marcus Alcindor of the Alcindor-Williams Group, defrauded the victims involved of an estimated 200 million United States dollars.
Mr. Hill was taken away to prison immediately on March 14, 2005 when the Grand Jury found him guilty on all counts, and he is expected to serve a prison term of no less than 200 years.
Several big-shot lawyers were also involved in the scam. Lawyers Christopher Halcomb of Cumming, Georgia, and Andrew Wolf of Alpharetta, Georgia, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and will be sentenced to long prison terms in July 2007.
Another criminal of the gang of nineteen found guilty was Mr. Riley Graham, who is presently serving 200 years on a conviction of the distribution and selling of cocaine, crack cocaine and money laundering in the United States.
Mr. Graham was also found guilty along with Mr. Alcindor, and will be further sentenced on 26 September, for what is expected to be an additional 135 years.
Saint Lucia’s Minister of Planning, Mr. Ausbert d’Auvergne, in testifying before the Federal Grand Jury on February 27, 2007 was asked why he was a witness in the case.
He was asked whether he had been involved in some way, or had knowledge of the criminal activities that Messrs. Alcindor and Graham were engaged in. Mr. d’Auvergne answered in the negative, but explained that he had appeared as a witness at Mr. Alcindor’s request, and that he felt ‘responsible’ for Mr. Alcindor’s unfortunate situation, since he (D’auvergne) was responsible for introducing Mr. Riley Graham to Mr. Marcus Alcindor!!!
On 9 June 2005 a Federal Grand Jury found Mr. Riley Graham guilty of the distribution and selling of crack, crack cocaine and money laundering in Detroit, United States. Mr. Graham, also known as ‘The Bruiser’ among numerous other aliases, has also been charged for attempted murder of witnesses.
During the case, it was found that Mr. Riley Graham used to send large sums of his dirty money to ‘an associate in Saint Lucia.’ Part of the Federal Grand Jury’s Report reads as follows: ‘These (cocaine) candles were not only shipped from California to Michigan, but to Tennessee, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
The drug proceeds were then shipped back in candles or wire transferred in large amounts via Western Union to and from Michigan, California, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Saint Lucia, West Indies, for the purpose of promoting the on-going drug distribution activities.br>
The investigation likewise revealed, as part of the plan to hide his money, that Riley Graham had various members of his organization transport or wire large amounts of drug money to an associate in Saint Lucia, West Indies, in an effort to build and develop the first casino resort on the island of Saint Lucia!!!’
Riley Graham established several businesses in the United States that were used as fronts to engage in the distribution and the selling of crack cocaine, cocaine and money laundering activities.
Two of these companies were Paragon Construction Management Services and Genesis Limited. In Saint Lucia Mr. Ausbert d’Auvergne was the owner/manager of Paragon Construction Management Services and Genesis Limited.
Says the Federal Grand Jury Report: These businesses set up by the convicted criminal Mr. Riley Graham, were primarily shell companies that were established by the members of the conspiracy to promote their cocaine trafficking by disguising and concealing the interstate transportation of multi kilograms of cocaine sent in packages by air express or in concealed compartments inside an 18-wheeler truck, from California to Michigan and Tennessee.
Further these businesses were used to disguise and conceal the transfer of cocaine proceeds from Michigan and Tennessee to California by the same methods, in order to pay for the purchase of more kilograms of cocaine, and to promote the ongoing cocaine distribution.
Additionally the members of the conspiracy would assert the existence of these various business enterprises and schemes, in an attempt to explain a legitimate source for their drug income, to obtain assets by false and fraudulent means, and to invest their drug proceeds.
It was further part of the ways and means of this unlawful conspiracy for RILEY TROY GRAHAM, etc., to wire transfer large amounts of drug proceeds (via Western Union Wire Transfer Services) to and from Michigan, California, Tennessee, Georgia and Saint Lucia, West Indies for the purpose of promoting the ongoing drug distribution activities. The members of the conspiracy would use numerous individuals to wire transfer the drug proceeds primarily from Michigan and Tennessee to California, where members of the conspiracy would pick up the money at Western Union offices.
Additionally rather than have a large amount of money sent to California in one Western Union wire transfer, the members of the conspiracy and others would be instructed to break the money into smaller amounts of $1,000 and $5,000 in order to minimize any suspicions of the Western Union employees, and to avoid Western Union employees from filing currency transaction reports with the government.
It was further part of the way and means of this unlawful conspiracy for RILEY GRAHAM and others to transport and to wire transfer large quantities of drug proceeds to an individual in Saint Lucia, West Indies, in an effort to build and develop the first casino resort on the island of Saint Lucia, in order to conceal and disguise the ownership and the source of the illegal proceeds, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1956(a)(I)(A)(I),(B)(I) and (h).
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