Local businessman held in Puerto Rico

A Cayman Islands businessman arrested earlier this month in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has been ordered detained there for the time being.  

Bryce Gilroy Merren, 47, appeared in U.S. federal court Friday, charged by way of criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and money laundering under various sections of the American criminal code.  

Mr. Merren was ordered detained pending further hearings due to a federal magistrate’s decision that he didn’t have any ties in Puerto Rico and was therefore a flight risk, family members told the Caymanian Compass.  

Mr. Merren’s younger brother Randy was in Puerto Rico Friday for the hearing but declined to say anything about speculation swirling around the investigation since the weekend.  

Calls to Bryce Merren’s listed attorneys in Puerto Rico on Monday did not elicit a response by press time.  

A probable cause affidavit, filed by U.S. Homeland Security Special Agent Harry Schmidt in early March, alleges that Mr. Merren met at different times with two undercover federal agents who posed as accomplices in setting up a drug smuggling operation in Puerto Rico. The records allege that Mr. Merren intended to use certain business interests in the Cayman Islands and Curacao to help launder the money.  

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service did not answer specific questions about any local business interests being involved in the Puerto Rican criminal probe. A vague RCIPS statement about being “in consultation with our U.S. and Puerto Rican colleagues” in relation to the arrest of an unidentified “local businessman” was issued Monday.  

The statement did not address whether RCIPS was investigating any local connection with regard to information turned up in the U.S. money laundering case and directed all questions to Puerto Rican authorities.  

Also unknown by press time Monday was whether an associate of Bryce Merren’s, named in U.S. court records but not charged in connection with the case, had any Cayman Islands connection.  

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in U.S. federal court on March 5, a series of meetings were held in late 2013 and early 2014 between Bryce Merren, his associate and two men they took to be in the drug trafficking trade, but who were actually undercover agents. Arrangements were made in early meetings to transport 1,000 kilograms of cocaine at first, and later to transport shipments of 2,000 and 3,000 kilograms.  

A meeting on Nov. 6, 2013, between Mr. Merren and the two undercover agents led to discussions of details of the alleged money laundering scheme, court records state, 

“Merren explained to [undercover agent #2] that he has legitimate businesses in the Cayman Islands and Curacao where he receives funds from customers from all over the world that conduct credit card transactions utilizing his businesses’ merchant machines in order to convert foreign currency into U.S. currency,” the probable cause affidavit states. “Merren charges a percentage for the exchange and then wire transfers the bulk amount of the currency back to its correspondent owner.” 

“Merren also prepares purchase receipts for the customers in order to make it seem as if they are purchasing or paying for services,” the court records stated. 

Court records said it was agreed in December 2013 that Bryce Merren would make an initial down payment to cover “transportation fees for the smuggling venture” and deposit the payment into a personal bank account he established, with the help of undercover agent #2, in Puerto Rico.  

“It would serve as a guarantee in order to conduct the smuggling venture,” the court records noted.  

On March 3, 2014, a wire transfer of US$200,000 was made from a Cayman Islands bank account to the U.S. bank account located in Puerto Rico, court records state. “Merren advised [undercover agent #2] via BBM [Blackberry] that the US$200,000 would serve as a down payment to facilitate the narcotics smuggling venture.”