Drug trafficking accused Guyanese Peter Morgan yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the US, an admission that could likely see him spend at least the next 10 years in jail.
Morgan, a well-known local businessman and a former race car driver, stood silently before US Eastern District Judge Edward R. Korman who explained the implications of his plea to conspiring to import five or more kilos of cocaine into the US. Morgan’s guilty plea comes on the heels of a similar plea by Guyanese Roger Khan, who is now awaiting sentencing.
According Capitol News’ Gordon Moseley, who was in court at the time of the guilty plea, Judge Korman told Morgan that by pleading guilty he was giving up all rights to an appeal. Morgan was told in detail that he did not need to plead guilty even if he is guilty as the US justice system allows him a fair trial. However, he informed the court that he understood what he was doing and that he was doing it in a sound mind and was not threatened.
Judge Korman explained to Morgan that for the charge of conspiracy to import cocaine he faced a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life. But by pleading guilty, his minimum sentence could be much higher under the sentencing guidelines.
The drug dealer told the court that he fully understood what he was doing. His attorney Allan Futerfas explained that the plea deal was drawn up last week and that he and his client went over the deal on a number of occasions. When asked to explain what he did, Morgan told the court that between December 2001 and August 2003 he conspired, with David Narine, to get cocaine in and out of Guyana and that he was fully aware of his actions and his conduct. He said agreed with Narine to import cocaine into the US.
The plea was then accepted by the judge, who will announce a sentencing date in the future.
There were no relatives or friends of Morgan in the New York court yesterday.
Morgan, 42, was facing a three-count indictment which accused him of conspiring to import, possess and distribute five kilogrammes of cocaine between December 2001 and August 2003.
He was nabbed in March 2007 in Trinidad by Trinidadian and US authorities while he was in-transit at the airport. He was extradited to the US on August 23, 2007, after he withdrew a last-ditch appeal he had made in the Port of Spain Appellate Court. Morgan had initially attempted to have the extradition order made by Trinidad Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls on April 30, 2007, reversed. His lawyers had appealed but this was dismissed in the High Court and then a new appeal was filed.
According to one of the charges Morgan faced, some time between October 1, 2001 and August 31, 2003, he knowingly and intentionally conspired with David Narine, Susan Narine, Hung-Fung Mar and other persons unknown, to traffic in cocaine by importation. The second charge, which he did not plead to, alleged that some time between December 1, 2001 and August 31, 2003, he trafficked in cocaine by importation.
David and Susan Narine, along with William and Savetree Narine, were charged since in 2003 with conspiracy to import and conspiracy to possess narcotics in the US. However, it is not clear what has happened to their cases as there has been no public information on them since last year.
Earlier this year Morgan had argued that the only reason he and his relatives travelled with large sums of foreign currency was because he benefited from favourable exchange rates using Guyana dollars to purchase foreign currency, which was then used to pay overseas suppliers of his company, Morgan Auto Sales.
In the memorandum filed through Futerfas, Morgan had said that for almost 20 years he used market fluctuations to trade for profit in currency, as the unusual economic conditions in Guyana forced most businessmen in this country to pay vendors in other currency. He claimed that his business, which was established in 1991, utilised the New York bank account of Sabena Manufacturing, established by his father James Morgan at the JP Morgan Chase Bank way back in 1985. Since the establishment of that bank account, Morgan and his relatives made over 60 trips to the US, carrying large sums of US and Canadian dollars along with British pounds totalling millions of dollars, all of which were declared.
The JP Morgan Chase Bank account has since been closed by US authorities and the proceeds given to the state.
It was the same bank account that Morgan’s sister Sabrina Budhram and her husband, Arnold, admitted to using to launder money for Roger Khan and others. The account was in the name of Morgan’s father, who is currently serving time in the United Kingdom for a drug offence. According to the prosecution in the Budhram matter, the account was used to launder money from drug pushers in Guyana. The Budhrams have pleaded guilty to certain aspects of money laundering, with Arnold being sentenced to three years’ probation while his wife is serving a term of one year and a day.
