Gregory George, who was extradited to Florida last week, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a narco-trafficking conspiracy charge in Miami federal court.
George, who was jailed in Haiti for three years before his extradition, is expected to play a central role in the widening U.S. investigation into the Panamanian-flagged MV Manzanares case.
The boat arrived in Port-au-Prince from Colombia in April 2015 hauling bags of imported sugar and between 700 to 800 kilos of cocaine and 300 kilos of heroin with an estimated U.S. street value of $100 million.
While the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami is leading the criminal prosecution, Justice Department lawyers are separately investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Drug Enforcement Administration agents who are suspected of bungling the so-called sugar boat case.