A U.S. grand jury will decide in the coming weeks whether to return an indictment against a Caymanian businessman after hearing evidence of alleged drug trafficking and money laundering.
Bryce Merren, 47, was arrested following the filing of a criminal complaint on March 5. He appeared in U.S. district court on March 14 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and money laundering under U.S. criminal statutes. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the U.S. and uses the American district court system.
Included in the evidence against Mr. Merren is a probable cause affidavit filed by U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators detailing various meetings between Mr. Merren, an associate of his and 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 assist in laundering money from the sale of thousands of kilograms of cocaine. U.S. federal investigators revealed in the court evidence that they also had photographs and video stills of these meetings, held in August 2013, November 2013 and March 2014 in San Juan between Mr. Merren, the undercover agents and Mr. Merren’s associate.
The associate is identified by name in publicly available court records, but the Caymanian Compass is not naming him because he has not been charged as far as the Compass is aware. The newspaper has learned that the individual worked for a trucking company owned by Mr. Merren.
Certain records related to the warrant for Mr. Merren’s arrest and his financial details have been withheld from release for the time being by the U.S. court system. The grand jury that hears Mr. Merren’s case will have to decide whether to “true-bill” the allegations against him, which will put the case before the U.S. federal courts for trial, or “no-bill” him, which would exonerate him.
According to an order of U.S. magistrate Camille Velez-Rive, Mr. Merren has been detained without bail pending the grand jury’s consideration of the case.
The judge ruled that there was probable cause to believe Mr. Merren had committed an offense for which a “maximum prison term of 10 years or more” is prescribed under U.S. law. The court also found that no condition would reasonably assure the Caymanian businessman’s return to Puerto Rico if he were set free pending the grand jury hearings and, therefore, the court could not ensure that the safety of the community would be protected in the event that Mr. Merren were released.
Attorneys appearing for Mr. Merren in Friday’s hearing did not rebut the court’s finding but said they would present new evidence as to his continued detention in Puerto Rico if it should arise in the future.
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