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Former Playboy model Brandi Brandt was on Friday (Aug 29) jailed for at least three and a half years over her involvement with a syndicate which hid cocaine on flights between Sydney and Los Angeles. Brandt, an ex-wife of Motley Crue bass player Nikki Sixx, was extradited from the United States in late 2013 on a charge of conspiring to import drugs.
Prosecutors said the 45-year-old was part of a drug syndicate that hid packages of cocaine on Qantas and United Airlines planes that travelled from California to Sydney in 2007.
Employees of an airline catering company allegedly collected the packages once the planes had landed.
Brandt, who is from California, was accused of conspiring with others to import the cocaine between July and December 2007.
District Court Judge Peter Zahra said her role was “substantially lower” than others involved.
Defence lawyer Phillip Boulten pleaded for leniency for Brandt, saying that while she had made some poor decisions, she had endured a hard life that began with a dysfunctional upbringing.
He told the court during a sentencing hearing earlier this month: “She’s had it tough – she had a pretty mixed-up childhood.
“She was using drugs as a teen, her father was using drugs … She replicated, in some sense, the lifestyle of her parents.”
Mr Boulten added that since her arrest and extradition to Australia last year, she’d reformed her life, beaten her drug problems and found a job.
“She is unlikely to ever be in trouble again,” he said.
Brandt will be eligible for parole in November 2016.
Agencies/Canadajournal
