Brenda Kim Martin is a Canadian citizen from Trenton, Ontario, whose arrest and conviction in Mexico was subject of much publicity in Canada.
She was found guilty based on evidence suggesting she knowingly accepted illicit funds from her former boss, Alyn Waage, with whom she had a close relationship.
While Martin was employed by Waage, he was running an internet fraud pyramid scheme, the "Tri-West Investment Club", which defrauded 15,000 victims of more than US$60 million.
[citation needed] Because Martin faced federal charges considered serious felonies in Mexico, and because she was a foreigner, Mexican law prevented her release on bail.
Largely because of her long wait in prison, Martin experienced emotional stress and was the focus of a great deal of media attention in Canada.
According to Mexican officials, this had the effect of delaying a verdict; but this allegation did not have basis either in the Amparo Law or the jurisprudence produced by the Supreme Court of Mexico.
[3] On April 14, 2008 Martin faced her final hearing before Judge Nuñez from the 7th federal district in the Puente Grande prison complex and court house.
In his decision, Judge Nuñez ruled that Martin did know that the money she received from Allan Waage came from the proceeds of an internet scam and were therefore illicit funds.
[2] Though initially she was remanded into custody at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario, she was immediately eligible for parole as she had already served more than one third of her sentence in Mexico.