The case against seven persons who have been charged with money laundering is scheduled to go into its preliminary inquiry phase tomorrow morning in the #1 Magistrate’s Court of Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie.
But a new, 8th defendant has just been added today, and is expected to be present in court tomorrow.
This afternoon, Dean Fuller and two companies that he represents as a director, Omni Networks and Fultec Systems, joined the 1.5 million dollar money laundering case.
Fuller appeared in the Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Aretha Ford, where he was arraigned on one count of money laundering. He was offered bail.
According to his attorney, Michael Peyrefitte, his bail is to be the same as those of the others who are accused in the case. But, unlike the others, Fuller did not post bail, and he was allowed to leave the court without doing so.
Peyrefitte said that Fuller’s case is linked to the Coyes’ case, but his client has not yet received his disclosure.
The money laundering case has been making the rounds in the Magistrate’s Court and since it began, other accused persons have been charged and added to the case.
According to the Court Book, Fuller’s money laundering activities date from October 2007 to January 2009. Again, unlike the others charged, Fuller’s Court Book does not disclose a specific amount of money that he is accused of laundering.
On December 31, 2008, the Financial Intelligence Unit moved in on the Coye family and removed some 1.5 million dollars from their Johnson Street home. They were hauled off to the Eastern Division Police Station and eventually brought to court and charged with the offence of money laundering. They were each offered bail of fifty thousand dollars. Their passports and travel documents had to be surrendered to the court and the condition of their bail required that they sign in at the Magistrate’s Court once per week until the case is concluded.
The persons facing charges in the money laundering case are American national, James Gerou, brother and sister Jude and Melonie Coye, along with their parents Marlene and Michael. Also charged in the case is Ernest Raymond, Jr., a friend of the Coyes.
The Coyes operated the money transfer business MoneyGram, which was located at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Mahogany Street. After they were charged, police went back to their place of business and put padlocks on the doors.
As recently as June 19, police charged the MoneyGram messenger, Athlee Matute, with money laundering of the 1.5 million dollars that was recovered from the Coye’s home on December 31, 2008.