DAVID SMITH, the Jamaican who headed the collapsed investment scheme, Olint, was yesterday sentenced to 30 years in prison by the United States District Court in Orlando, Florida.

Smith, who was accused of defrauding thousands of customers of more than US$220 million, was convicted after pleading guilty to 18 counts of money laundering, four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. US District Judge Mary Scriven handed down the sentence after hearing three hours of legal arguments and victim testimony, which was emotional at times.

Assistant US Attorney Bruce Ambrose told Judge Scriven that the government proposed a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Smith, who was previously sentenced to just over six years in prison in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he also pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges, will be returned there in upcoming days to serve that sentence after which he will be brought to the United States. The 30-year sentence will run concurrent to the prison time in the Turks and Caicos Islands, which means he will spend 24 years in a US prison.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Smith, 42, apologised to the judge, then turned around and looked at a packed courtroom as he extended his apology to his victims and family. “What I did was inexcusable,” the newspaper reported Smith as saying.

Smith, who is married with several children, asked for leniency and said he wants a second chance at life. “I am not a terrible person,” he said.

Yesterday, Smith’s attorney Oliver Smith, said his client was in good spirits despite his sentence. “We expected a sentence within that range and there are other options to explore. My client is in good spirits because we expected a sentence in that range and there are good options down on the road,” Smith told the Observer shortly after the verdict was handed down about noon yesterday. He, however, declined to reveal what his options were.

The 30-year sentence, meanwhile, was immediately seen by Jamaican investors in the failed investment scheme as a blow to their hopes of ever being refunded the millions of dollars they invested in Olint.

“The Association of Concerned Olint Members sees the sentence meted out to Mr David Smith as the final blow to any hopes of direct or indirect co-operation from the former Olint boss in the recovery of our money. Three years ago, after his initial arrest Mr Smith made a public commitment to Olint members to return 100 per cent of our money within nine months, if allowed so to do. However, unlike other well-known persons in similar positions, Mr Smith has never been accorded an opportunity to actively work on repaying his members,” the group said in a statement late yesterday.

“Our understanding of the published plea bargain is that David Smith was providing them with valuable information that would lead to the recovery of substantial amounts of our money. To date, we have had no word from the district attorney on the additional money, if any, that has been recovered as a result of David Smith’s cooperation,” the group added.

In the meantime, the Jamaican Olint investors urged the governing Jamaica Labour Party, which it alleged along with the Opposition People’s National Party benefitted from Olint’s contributions, to “flex whatever muscles it has on behalf of the victimised citizens of Jamaica who are now at the mercy of the United States District Attorney” in being refunded their money invested in the failed scheme.

Smith’s conviction was originally seen as good news for the Association of Concerned Olint Members in Jamaica. “It is only in cases where there are no victims that US agencies such as the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and FBI, among others, are permitted by law to seize and keep the assets of convicted criminals,” said spokesman Godfrey McAllister earlier this year. “In the pending case against Mr Smith there are victims that all identified funds will go to if Mr Smith is convicted.”

In March, the United States Department of Justice had sparked a glimmer of hope for the thousands of Jamaicans who lost hundreds of millions of dollars to Olint when it asked “any person who (is) believed to be a victim and wishes to submit a claim for restitution may contact the US Attorney’s office through a special e-mail account”. However, just over a month later the attorney’s office said US-based investors in the Olint entities would get the first bite when the funds are released. The federal government also announced it was extending the deadline for Olint investors to submit claims for recovery of their funds, portions of which are frozen.

In court yesterday, local doctor Christopher Walker spoke on behalf of his father, an 86-year-old who sat through the proceeding in a wheelchair, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Walker began to choke up as he explained how his father worked hard for his family so that in his final years, he would have no worries, the newspaper reported. The elder Walker reportedly invested his life’s savings — about $1.5 million — with Smith’s group.

Walker, according to the Orlando Sentinel, described how distressing it was to see his father cry over the situation and worry about what will happen to his wife. “I have never before seen my father cry,” Walker was quoted as saying. “That is something I can never forget.”

Another victim, Mark Allen, described how his family had to sell their home and move to a rental property because of the financial loss. Today, he works 60 to 80 hours a week, the newspaper reported. Allen helped other family members and friends invest with Smith. Collectively, they lost about $800,000, he said. “By the grace of God we survived,” he said.

Smith, whose ponzi scheme extended across the United States and the Caribbean and had about 6,000 investors, admitted in his plea agreement that Olint was a massive ponzi scheme, whereby he paid returns to investors not from profit but from their own money or that paid by subsequent investors.

These funds, transferred to his own personal bank accounts, reportedly enabled Smith to live a lavish lifestyle. Among his expenditures included political contributions, gambling, a down-payment for the purchase of a Lear jet and sponsorship of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.

A raid by authorities in Jamaica forced him to shut down his business here and relocate to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Jamaican Government assisted with information in the case which was investigated by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service, and the FBI.