PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Businessman and former Member of Parliament (MP) S.M. has been convicted by the Court of First Instance to twenty-two months imprisonment and has had a prior conditional sentence of eighteen months from a previous case converted also into jail time. The conversion was based on S.M. being found to have committed money-laundering and the tax-related crimes during his probation from the previous case.
The Court of First Instance handed down its sentence on Thursday, February 10, 2022, in the “Draco” investigation into S.M. and his co-suspects L.J.J., G.F. and D.N.L. “Draco” stemmed from the “Emerald” investigation into fraud and the use of false invoices in Port St. Maarten in 2016.
The Court sentenced co-suspect G.F. to six months (conditional) with probation of three years.
D.N.L. received a sentence of five months (conditional) with probation of three years and 216 hours of community service.
L.J.J. was sentenced to conditional jail time of four months with probation of four years and 216 hours of community service.
