A Montrealer was sentenced to 63 months in prison in the United States for trying to import 500 kilos of cocaine from South America to pay off large debts related to his gambling problems.
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“My only illness was playing. I was betting up to $10,000 a game. I started borrowing from all the bad people in town and paying up to 10% a week in interest,” Georges Yaghmour said in a letter read to the court. The newspaper got a copy.
A Vermont judge on Wednesday sentenced the 40-year-old to 63 months in prison for conspiracy and possession to distribute cocaine.
This case began in December 2019 when Yaghmour and accomplices met in a hotel in Burlington with a drug courier offering to transport cocaine from South America to Canada, via Vermont. Unknowingly, they had an undercover agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in front of them.
500 pounds of cocaine
Photo courtesy, Vermont District Justice Department
The $150,000 paid on December 19, 2019 to the undercover agent to close the deal.
He and his partners were prepared to pay $1 million in exchange for delivering 500 kilograms of cocaine, according to court documents. Two weeks later, accomplices paid US$150,000 to close the deal.
In total, they paid over US$570,000 in payment for delivery services, which was actually DEA cover. The American agency also seized more than 300 kg of cocaine.
Yaghmour claims to have committed this crime for the sole purpose of repaying his gambling debts, pleaded his lawyers. He owed more than $600,000 mostly “to disreputable people associated with organized crime.”
Relatives threatened
His relatives constantly received threats. The family restaurant Ezo, which belonged to his mother, Elizabeth Daou, has also been the target of Molotov cocktails, gunshots and arson on several occasions from 2010. The ordeal ended when he was arrested in November 2020, in Florida.
The failed drug importation operation involving Georges Yaghmour had other repercussions, including the high-profile kidnapping of a couple of grandparents. The Montrealer, however, denies having any connection with this kidnapping, according to court documents.
US$3.5 million ransom
Photo courtesy, Vermont District Justice Department
In April and May 2020, the DEA confiscated two shipments of cocaine that had been delivered to Peru for transport to Canada.
During this extensive investigation, US authorities succeeded in preventing two shipments of cocaine from entering Canada, one of which was to be carried by a certain Macenzie Helm.
When he had not fulfilled his delivery, other participants in the operation had his grandparents, James Helm Sr and Sandra Helm, kidnapped in New York State in exchange for a ransom of 3.5 US$ million or 50 kilos of coke.
The couple had been rescued after several days by the Sûreté du Québec, in Magog. Six Quebecers are currently facing justice for this kidnapping.
– With Nicolas Brasseur, Investigation Office
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com