Jack's pal takes a hit...
B.C. Securities Commission
BCSC-known promoter Garner gets stiff 87-month sentence
2003-03-27 21:05 ET - Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
In a major shock on Howe Street, promoter Kevan Garner, the former partner of John (Jack) Purdy, has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison despite his extensive co-operation with Miami authorities after pleading guilty in the Operation Bermuda Short money laundering sting. Mr. Garner was sentenced Tuesday to 87 months in prison, after Assistant United States Attorney Richard Hong, the lead prosecutor, declined to argue for a downward departure from strict federal sentencing guidelines.
The sentence is the equivalent of 7-1/2 years, as Mr. Garner served three months in jail before he pled guilty and made bail. Mr. Garner, currently on bail release, faces a surrender deadline of May 27 to start his sentence.
"It was a pretty tough shot in the chaps," Mr. Garner told Stockwatch. "It was shock and awe."
Mr. Garner spent three days on the witness stand in February, including rigorous cross-examination, testifying against Mr. Purdy, who was acquitted by a Miami jury. Mr. Purdy faces a related second trial in July.
Although the sentence was much longer than many expected, given Mr. Garner's guilty plea and full co-operation, Judge Moore of United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida had little leeway, as the prosecutor failed to support defence arguments for a lighter term. Neither Mr. Hong nor defence counsel Bruce Fleisher could be reached for immediate comment.
Mr. Garner was arrested in Aug. 14 as a top target of Operation Bermuda Short, a joint RCMP-FBI undercover sting operation which resulted in 23 separate U.S. grand jury indictments against 58 individuals, including 20 Canadians.
The unprecedented Bermuda Short operation featured two separate ruses and sets of targets. The first and largest operation, resulting in 20 indictments against 52 individuals, was a sting which lured targets to agree to bribe fictitious corrupt mutual fund officials in return for multimillion-dollar investments in penny stock promotions.
The second, much smaller operation, resulting in three indictments against six individuals, was a money-laundering sting in which an undercover FBI agent and an undercover RCMP officer posed as fictitious agents of the Colombian Cali cocaine cartel to lure targets to agree to launder millions of dollars of dirty drug money.
These targets, in descending order of apparent priority, include controversial former Vancouver lawyer Martin Chambers, Bahamian banker Michael Hepburn, Mr. Purdy, Mr. Garner, Harold Jolliffe, who also pled guilty and testified against Mr. Purdy, and Ronaldo (Ron) Horvat. Messrs. Chambers, Hepburn, Purdy and Horvat remain presumed innocent until proven guilty.
In a March 6 court filing, defence lawyer Mr. Fleishman made two key objections to the sentence calculations in Mr. Garner's presentence report. In the U.S. federal court system, a complex formula of sentencing guidelines plays a crucial role in determining the sentence of a convicted party, with various factors taken into account in a strict framework.
"As to page 14 paragraph 39, defendant objects to the two level increase, since the defendant was already given a 6 level increase in paragraph 38, under specific offense characteristics," states the filing.
"As to page 14 paragraph 40, defendant objects to the two level increase in that that the offense did not involve sophisticated laundering."
Aside from being snared in Bermuda Short, Mr. Garner is well regarded in Vancouver as an active charity fundraiser. "I've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the hungry and homeless," he told Stockwatch. Mr. Garner co-founded or otherwise aided such charity fundraisers as Arts Umbrella's sandcastle contest, the Taste of The Nation antihunger campaign, Food Runners, which delivers restaurant and grocery store surpluses to the Food Bank, and Kiwassa Neighbourhood House's hot-breakfast program, according to a recent mention by Vancouver Sun society columnist Malcolm (Mac) Parry.
Mr. Parry notes that before gravitating to penny stock promotion on Howe Street, Mr. Garner's food-service career included managing the Hotel Vancouver lobby bar, along with the former Roof and Timber Club, and the Hart House, Le Grec and former Dufour and Co. restaurants.
bmudry@stockwatch.com |
