(Jamaica Gleaner) David Smith, head of the failed foreign-exchange trading scheme Olint, is in United States custody today after he was handed over to American authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) on Thursday.
On Thursday, his attorney, Oliver Smith, said that the Olint boss, who is facing a 23-count indictment on fraud charges in Florida, was en route there, but could not confirm, up to late afternoon, if he had arrived.
“The expectation is that he should be here shortly, if he is not here already,” said the attorney, who is in Florida to represent Smith.
Oliver Smith said he was also expecting the US District Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Florida to inform him of a court date “between now and next week”. At the initial court appearance, he said David Smith will plead not guilty and “then we’ll see what happens from there”.
Questioned whether his client will fight the charges, the attorney said: “There is no expectation either way.
“We haven’t gotten disclosure yet, we haven’t gotten discovery, we don’t know the strength of the case against him, so it would be a little bit premature and unfair to my client to predict what we may or may not do without seeing the evidence,” he told The Gleaner from Florida.
Prison term
At the time he was handed over to US authorities, David Smith was serving a six-and-a-half-year prison term in the Turks and Caicos Islands after pleading guilty to four of 30 fraud-related charges.
Five weeks before he began serving his prison sentence, prosecutors unsealed a 23-count indictment in the US District Court in the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, charging Smith with four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and 18 counts of money laundering to conceal specified unlawful activity.
