Particle.news
Download on the App Store
15 ARTICLES
·
3d ago

U.S. Indicts Haitian Gang Leader ‘Barbecue’ for Sanctions Violations

The announcement coincides with unsealed court documents showing how remittances from the Haitian diaspora funded gang salaries, weapons purchases in violation of U.S. sanctions.

FILE - Leader of the "G9 and Family" gang, Jimmy Cherizier, better known as Barbecue, shouts slogans with his gang members after giving a speech, as he leads a march against kidnappings, through the La Saline neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
Haitian gang leader Jimmy 'Barbecue' Cherizier led an assault last year in the capital that ultimately saw the prime minister resign
Former police officer Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, and leader of an alliance of armed groups, walks past journalists, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 11, 2024. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo
Image

Overview

  • A federal indictment unsealed on August 12 charges Jimmy Chérizier and U.S. citizen Bazile Richardson with conspiring to transfer funds from the United States to finance Chérizier’s gang activities in Haiti contrary to sanctions.
  • Prosecutors allege the two solicited remittances from Haitian diaspora communities in the U.S. and routed the money through intermediaries to pay gang members, acquire firearms.
  • Richardson was arrested on July 23 in Pasadena, Texas, and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., while Chérizier remains a fugitive believed to be hiding in Haiti.
  • The State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has offered up to $5 million for information leading to Chérizier’s arrest or conviction.
  • Investigators from the DOJ, FBI, ICE, ATF, DEA and OFAC describe the case as the culmination of a multi-year probe into transnational gang financing and sanctions evasion.