Self-confessed drug trafficker Barry Dataram is in plea negotiations with US authorities as it relates to his five-count indictment that accuses him of conspiring to import at least 150 kilogrammes of a substance containing cocaine, according to documents seen by this newspaper.
Consequently Justice Edward R Korman with consent from both government and defence has rescheduled the status conference that was slated for this Thursday.
“Because the purpose of the delay is to allow discussions to take place that could eliminate the necessity for a trial and for the exchange and review of discovery material, I find that the considerations underlying the Speedy Trial Act are outweighed by the interests of justice and the time is excluded,” the judge said in a status report last Tuesday and which was seen by this newspaper.
A letter to the judge from Brenon Peace, United States Attorney, on behalf of both parties asked that Thursday’s conference be scheduled for June 14th.
“The parties have exchanged some discovery material, which will require time for defence counsel to review and discuss with the defendant, and are currently engaged in discussions concerning the potential for a disposition short of trial,” Peace said in his letter to the judge.
Dataram was remanded to prison on January 27 by Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom when he made his first appearance. However, according to documents seen by this newspaper, the information contained in counts four and five is hidden, along with some information in the other counts. The indictment was sealed and ordered unsealed the same day Datram, a US citizen, attempted to enter the country.
The first allegation against him states that between February 2001 and December 2003, Dataram, who is also known as “Kevin,” “Ledge” and “Fat Man,” together with others, did knowingly and intentionally conspire to import five kilogrammes or more of a substance containing cocaine into the United States.
The second count has the same dates and accuses Dataram and others of knowingly and intentionally conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilogrammes or more of a substance containing cocaine.
The third count states that between April 2003 and June 2003 Dataram knowingly attempted to import another five or more kilogrammes of cocaine into the US.
The other two counts have been redacted from the indictment.
In October 2016, days after being handed over by the Suriname police to Guyanese law enforcement having been on the run, Dataram pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three and a
half years in prison. The sentence was for attempting to defeat the administration of the law to avoid the consequences, forging a passport and leaving the country without presenting himself to an immigration officer.
Those three years were added to the five-year sentence, which had been handed down a month before, in September of 2016, in his absence, for drug possession. He was also fined $164 million. The two sentences were to be served consecutively.
From 2007 to 2010, Dataram had four provisional warrants issued for his arrest, for the purpose of extraditing him to the US for cocaine smuggling offences. He had fought each one successfully.
It is unclear why, knowing that he had outstanding arrest warrants in the US, he returned there.
