Olint boss guilty
Published:Friday | September 24, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
David Smith, the head of the failed multimillion-dollar foreign-exchange trading club, Olint Investment, started serving a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) yesterday after pleading guilty to four of 30 fraud-related charges.
Smith's decision to plead guilty to two counts of money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to defraud means prosecutors in the twin-island state will not pursue the remaining charges against him or his wife, Tracy.
"Now the TCI situation is over," his attorney, Oliver Smith, told The Gleaner.
The attorney said he will consulthis client to determine whether to appeal the jail time.
According to the attorney, the Olint boss' decision to enter a guilty plea was motivated by the fact that his wife would not face criminal charges.
David Smith was arrested and charged by the TCI police last July after months of investigations into the operations of Olint TCI.
Investigators in the TCI raided his office and seized several documents.
More legal woes
But that was just the start of Smith's legal woes as, last month, United States prosecutors in Florida unsealed a 23-count indictment against him.
His attorney said yesterday's guilty plea in the TCI might have "some bearing" on their approach to the case in the US.
"It may cause us to think how we gonna proceed on the other cases, for practical reasons, but for technical reasons it will have no bearing," the attorney said.
Jamaican authorities have not brought criminal charges against the Olint boss despite the foreign-exchange club being started locally before it was shut down by the Financial Services Commission in 2006.
Yesterday, Smith's attorney said a statement addressing funds outstanding for club members would be issued shortly.