US trial begins for 4 men accused in Haitian President Moïse assassination

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A jury was seated Monday in South Florida for a U.S. federal trial of four men charged in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, with opening statements scheduled for Tuesday, according to court proceedings. The trial centers on prosecutors’ allegations that planning and financing of the plot took place in South Florida before the attack that killed Moïse on July 7, 2021.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra in Miami sworn in a panel of 12 jurors and four alternates shortly before 7 p.m., about nine hours after the jury selection process began, the Associated Press reported. The jury included eight women and four men, and four of the women are Black. The alternates included three men and one woman, and one of the men is Black.

Prosecutors charge Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages with conspiring in South Florida to kidnap or kill Haiti’s former leader, along with related counts, and the defendants face possible life sentences. All four men have pleaded not guilty.

Christian Sanon, who was also set to face trial, will not be tried with the other defendants in this case, his attorney confirmed Monday. The attorney said Sanon’s case was separated for medical reasons, and a separate trial for Sanon will be scheduled later.

Becerra had previously delayed the case, which was once set for last year, citing discovery challenges and the large volume of evidence. Ahead of the scheduled start of testimony, Becerra told prosecutors to have their first witness ready in case openings finish earlier than planned.

Prosecutors and court documents describe the July 7, 2021 killing as an attack on Moïse’s home near Port-au-Prince, in which about two dozen foreign mercenaries—mostly from Colombia—were involved, according to officials. Moïse’s wife, Martine Moïse, was wounded during the attack and was flown to the United States for emergency treatment, the AP reported.

Court documents further say South Florida served as a central location for planning and financing the alleged effort to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators’ choosing. The four men accused of taking part in the South Florida planning and financing include those prosecutors described as principals in companies tied to Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, collectively known as CTU, which were based in South Florida, and those tied to Worldwide Capital Lending Group, also based there.

Prosecutors say the conspirators met in South Florida in April 2021 and agreed that once in power, Sanon would award contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects, security forces and military equipment. The government alleges that Worldwide Capital would help finance the coup by extending a $175,000 line of credit to CTU and sending money to co-conspirators in Haiti to buy ammunition.

According to the allegations described in the charging materials, CTU initially retained about 20 Colombian nationals with military training to provide security for Sanon. Prosecutors said that by June 2021, the conspirators realized Sanon did not have the constitutional qualifications or enough popular support to become president, and they then backed Wendelle Coq Thélot, a former Haitian Superior Court judge who died in January 2025 while still a fugitive.

The AP reported that five other people have pleaded guilty in the conspiracy and are serving life sentences, and that a sixth person—officials said did not know about the assassination plot—was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to providing body armor to the conspirators. Besides the 11 people arrested and prosecuted in the United States, another 20 people, including 17 Colombian soldiers and three Haitian officials, face charges in Haiti, where gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation.