15 Charged with Drug Trafficking Using Music Company as Front

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Fifteen people have been arrested and charged with distributing cocaine in southern and central New York.

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, announced Thursday that the 15 defendants had used a music company as a front to engage in drug trafficking.

Malcolm Kinyon, Eric Antonmarchi, Star Bermudez, Brian Bowman, Derrick Ensley, Aaron Hardy, Andrew Hardy, Nicholas Leyva, Davion McAdam, Dante McNair, Jaquan McNair, Anton Miller, Daniel Spotards, Vaughn Stokes and Bryan Whittle were charged with narcotics conspiracy.

All of the aforementioned, with the exception of Jaquan McNair, were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

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Kinyon was additionally charged with firearms trafficking.

Twelve of the defendants were taken into custody Thursday, Davion McAdams and Anton Miller remain at large and Malcolm Kinyon was previously arrested on the complaint.

The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department assisted in the investigation.

Bharara said “Outta They League,” a registered corporation that had engaged in the production of music, in recent years has served primarily as a front used by its owner—Kinyon, aka “M.A.,” to facilitate wholesale cocaine transactions and help launder the proceeds of those sales.

Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian “Butch” Anderson said the arrests were a great victory for law enforcement in Dutchess County.

“This country faces an ongoing drug epidemic and being able to contribute towards ending that epidemic by helping remove some of those allegedly responsible is very gratifying,” he said.

The places of residence for the defendants were not released.

From the indictment and complaint unsealed Thursday:

Those drug sales were made by KINYON and his associates, members of a criminal drug-trafficking organization that also called itself OTL. Each month, OTL distributed multiple kilograms of cocaine in and around Poughkeepsie, New York, and to other locations in southern and central New York. Individual OTL members and associates, including BRIAN BOWMAN, a/k/a “Pony,” AARON HARDY, ANDREW HARDY, NICHOLAS LEYVA, a/k/a “Stay High,” a/k/a “Stay,” DAVION McADAM, a/k/a “Goat,” DANTE McNAIR, a/k/a “Tay,” JAQUAN McNAIR, a/k/a “Quannie,” a/k/a “Drugs,” ANTON MILLER, a/k/a “Anton Singleton,” a/k/a “Nord,” DANIEL SPOTARDS, a/k/a “D,” VAUGHN STOKES, a/k/a “Qua,” and BRYAN WHITTLE, a/k/a “B,” a/k/a “Tall B,” obtained wholesale quantities of this cocaine typically on a consignment basis from OTL’s leader, KINYON. These cocaine distributors would resell the cocaine they obtained from KINYON, and use the bulk of the proceeds from those sales to pay KINYON for the cocaine KINYON provided. KINYON would then reinvest those proceeds in further supplies of cocaine, which he would again provide to the other OTL members and associates.

Despite the negligible amounts of income derived from music, a bank account maintained by OTL received in excess of one million dollars from between in or around June 2013 through in or around January 2016. Most of the funds that passed through that account represented proceeds of narcotics transactions that were ultimately used to facilitate the purchase of additional quantities of cocaine for additional narcotics transactions. Numerous OTL members and associates, including MALCOLM KINYON, a/k/a “M.A.,” ERIC ANTONMARCHI, a/k/a “Powerful,” a/k/a “P,” STAR BERMUDEZ, DERRICK ENSLEY, a/k/a “Dirk,” ANTON MILLER, a/k/a “Anton Singleton,” a/k/a “Nord,” and DANIEL SPOTARDS, a/k/a “D,” have made large cash deposits to the OTL Account.

In addition to trafficking narcotics, the OTL organization maintained discipline through the threatened use of violence. OTL members and associates have been recorded discussing the use of violence, including the use of firearms and physical assaults, to ensure repayment for drug debts and to deter co-conspirators from providing information to law enforcement, among other purposes. OTL’s leader, KINYON, is further charged with trafficking firearms purchased in Virginia and trafficked to New York for resale to OTL members and associates.

For narcotics conspiracy, the mandatory minimum sentence is 10 years in prison. The maximum is life in prison.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit money laundering is 20 years in prison.

Firearms trafficking carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Image via Shutterstock.