Marijuana Bigwig Sentenced -- Described As World's Largest Broker, He Gets 25 Years
A man described by federal drugs agents as the ``largest marijuana broker in the world'' yesterday was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $6.25 million.
Before imposing the stiff sentence, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour said he was impressed by the ``calmness and willingness'' of big-time drug smugglers like Brian Peter Daniels to accept responsibility for their crimes.
As a sort of backhanded compliment, Coughenour commended Daniels for not trading in heroin or cocaine. But the judge said marijuana affects a lot of young people, and is the first step to heavier drugs.
Daniels' lawyer, J. William Beard, described his client as ``a commodities broker in a bad commodity.''
Daniels, 44, has been in custody for more than two years since his arrest in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1988.
Before that, the New York native had lived ``the lifestyle of a potentate for over 10 years'' in Thailand off the fruits of the marijuana trade, assistant U.S. attorney Peter Mueller told the court.
The whereabouts and availability of Daniels' assets remain a subject of dispute.
Defense attorney Beard said most of the assets were tied up in Thai real estate that Daniels' first wife has refused to surrender.
``I wish to assure your honor that I have no hidden funds or assets stashed away for a rainy day,'' Daniels told the judge.
But Mueller said Daniels has been reluctant to part with
valuable Chinese art objects. He also promised litigation over what he described as ``excessive attorneys' fees'' in the amount of $400,000 paid by Daniels to his lawyers.
Between 1984 and 1988, the government said, Daniels brokered more than 200,000 kilograms of Southeast Asian marijuana into the U.S. At the wholesale level, the marijuana sold for between $1,000 and $1,600 a kilogram.
He was arrested in connection with a shipment of high-grade Laotian marijuana seized in June 1988 aboard the Encounter Bay, an oil-supply vessel, about 600 miles off the Washington coast.
Daniels earlier pleaded guilty to participating in a continuing criminal enterprise involving a series of drug-smuggling conspiracies that included multi-ton deliveries to Seattle, southern California and Nevada, among other places.
Yesterday's sentencing incorporated related federal charges pending in Reno and San Diego.