Florida jury convicts four men in 2021 plot targeting Haiti President Moïse

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A Florida jury convicted four men of conspiracy charges tied to the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse, in a case U.S. prosecutors said involved planning and financing tied to South Florida. The verdict was delivered in Miami’s federal court, where prosecutors said the defendants helped carry out a cross-border plot to kill or kidnap the elected leader and replace him with a choice of the conspirators.

In court, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement that the defendants pursued “power, influence, and profit through violence.” Quiñones said the case involved a conspiracy that “crossed borders” and “ended with the murder of a sitting president,” adding that “The jury has spoken, and the rule of law has answered.”

The four men convicted were Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages, prosecutors said. They were found guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Moïse and providing material support for the plot, and they were also convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act.

Prosecutors argued that the men were working with their own preferred leader in mind and expected to profit from a new government, according to the case presented at trial. The prosecution also linked the plot’s planning and financing to South Florida, characterizing it as a central base for the effort to oust Moïse.

Testimony during the trial included statements by Moïse’s wife, Martine Moïse, who was the first witness in the case that began in March. She testified through a Creole interpreter that after midnight she woke to gunfire sounds and turned to her husband in bed to ask what was happening, describing the exchange that followed.

According to her testimony, Jovenel Moïse replied, “Honey, we are dead.” Moïse’s death occurred July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince, according to the report on the trial proceedings.

Prosecutors said Ortiz and Intriago were principals of Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security—collectively known as CTU—while Veintemilla was a principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group, with both companies based in South Florida. Solages was identified by officials as a CTU representative in Haiti who coordinated with Christian Sanon and others.

Sanon, described as a dual Haitian-American citizen, was initially favored by the conspirators to replace Moïse, investigators said, though he is facing separate proceedings and is not among the four convicted in the Florida jury’s verdict. At least five others in the conspiracy have pleaded guilty and are serving life sentences, prosecutors said.

Defense attorneys argued that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four men were manipulated into taking blame as part of an internal coup, according to trial accounts. The defense said the men believed they had a legitimate warrant signed by a Haitian judge and that they saw their actions as liberating Haiti from Moïse, whom they said had overstayed his term.

Separate from the Miami case, prosecutors said 20 people—including 17 Colombian soldiers—face charges in Haiti. The report said gang violence, death threats and a judicial system in disarray have stalled an ongoing investigation.