Robin Cotterell, a former Bermuda-based businessman, has made his first court appearance in New York after being charged with laundering $200,000.

Cotterell, who worked on the Island in the 1970s and 1980s, was caught in a Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) sting when he allegedly tried to launder the money through the Bank of Butterfield.

He was arrested in St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands on May 23 and was ordered by a US Judge there to go to New York to face the charges.

Assistant US Attorney Karl Metzner, who is prosecuting the case, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that Cotterell made his first appearance at a Federal Court in New York on June 15.

Mr. Metzner, speaking from New York, said British-born Cotterell was granted bail and will reappear in court next month for a status conference when the progress of the case will be assessed. Conyers, Dill and Pearman recruited Cotterell to work for the company's associated businesses in the British Virgin Islands between 1991 and 1994.

The affidavit states that Cotterell passed the $200,000 into an account at the Bank of Butterfield between April 4 and April 7 this year.

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