Four Florida businessmen are facing charges that they helped plan, support and finance the 2021 murder of Haiti President Jovenel Moise in the hope of winning contracts from the coup leader who would take over from him.
(Bloomberg) — Four Florida businessmen are facing charges that they helped plan, support and finance the 2021 murder of Haiti President Jovenel Moise in the hope of winning contracts from the coup leader who would take over from him.
The US Department of Justice on Tuesday said it had arrested Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, 50, a Colombian national and U.S. permanent resident of Miami; Antonio Intriago 59, a Venezuelan-American, Walter Veintemilla, 54, an Ecuadorian-American of Weston; and Frederick Bergmann, 64, of Tampa.
In all, 11 people now face charges in the Southern District of Florida in connection with Moise’s assassination, a crime that has aggravated political turmoil and rampant gang violence in the troubled Caribbean nation.
Ortiz, Intriago and Veintemilla, along with several people previously detained, were charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the US.
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Bergmann was charged with conspiracy to commit export violations, submitting false and misleading export information, and smuggling ballistic vests from the US to Haiti.
According to prosecutors, Ortiz and Intriago planned to use their South Florida security companies, collectively known as CTU, to support efforts to oust Moise. Veintemilla, as the principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group, allegedly extended a $175,000 line of credit to support the coup, according to prosecutors.
Bergmann allegedly had ties to Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a dual Haitian-American citizen who the Justice Department says is one of the masterminds of the plan.
CTU and Worldwide didn’t return calls requesting comment. Bloomberg wasn’t immediately able to find a way to contact Bergmann.
Lucrative Contracts
According to the indictment, “once Sanon became President, he would award lucrative contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects in Haiti, the provision of security forces, and the provision of military type equipment to a Sanon-led Haitian government.”
More than 40 people have been arrested in Haiti for the July 7, 2021 murder of Moise including 18 Colombian nationals who were part of the alleged hit squad, but no formal charges have been presented.
Read more: Haiti Violence Leaves “Staggering” 1,448 Dead in 2022: UN
Since Moise’s murder, long-overdue elections haven’t taken place and the nation has been gripped by gang violence and a wave of kidnappings. While the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry has asked for a foreign intervention, few nations have embraced the idea.
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