18 Moïse Assassination Suspects Reach Miami as Prosecutors Tie Plot to COVID Loan Fraud
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 21
18 Moïse Assassination Suspects Reach Miami as Prosecutors Tie Plot to COVID Loan Fraud
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 21
Summary
Eighteen suspects in the 2021 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were transferred from Haitian custody to Miami and were due in federal court Monday on conspiracy and wire-fraud charges.
Federal prosecutors say the plot was largely organized and financed in South Florida, with fraudulent PPP loan money used to buy weapons, tactical gear and hire Colombian mercenaries.
An unsealed indictment says the operation began as a plan to overthrow Moïse and escalated into assassination, allegedly driven by Florida-based business owners seeking lucrative Haitian government contracts.
The transfer follows a five-year U.S. investigation that has charged 30 suspects; four alleged ringleaders were convicted in Miami in May and face life sentences.
Haiti's justice minister said the domestic case has stalled without a trial after five years, and a leading rights activist called the suspects' transfer a disgrace for Haiti's justice system.
With a former Haitian official among the suspects, who is truly pulling the strings behind the 2021 presidential assassination?
How did fraudulent U.S. pandemic relief funds secretly finance the brutal assassination of a foreign president?
$200 Million in U.S. COVID Relief Stolen to Fund Haiti President’s Assassination: Inside the Miami Trials, Legal Transfers, and Collapse of Haitian Justice
Overview
This report traces how the July 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president was enabled by a breakdown in Haitian justice and the misuse of U.S. pandemic relief funds. Fraudsters in Florida secured and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars from PPP and EIDL programs, directly financing the mercenaries who carried out the killing. As Haiti’s courts collapsed under gang violence and political interference, the U.S. asserted jurisdiction, transferring suspects to Miami for trial. Families of the accused were left shocked and financially strained, while the lack of a modern extradition treaty forced reliance on old legal agreements. With Haiti’s institutions paralyzed, the U.S. remains the permanent custodian of convicted conspirators.