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Haiti president's killers funded assassination plot with COVID fraud cash, US court hears

From the Newshound archive · first published 21 September 2026 · last updated 22 September 2026.

Eighteen defendants — including a former Haiti Ministry of Justice anti-corruption official — are brought before a Miami federal court, accused of funding the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse through…
Eighteen defendants — including a former Haiti Ministry of Justice anti-corruption official — are brought before a Miami federal court, accused of funding the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse through…
Jovenel Moïse, whose hilltop residence near Port-au-Prince was stormed by mercenaries promised future infrastructure and security contracts in Haiti in exchange for carrying out his killing.
Jovenel Moïse, whose hilltop residence near Port-au-Prince was stormed by mercenaries promised future infrastructure and security contracts in Haiti in exchange for carrying out his killing.

Eighteen suspects in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse appeared in federal court in Miami after being extradited from Haiti, with prosecutors alleging the murder plot was bankrolled using fraudulently obtained COVID relief loans. Joseph Badio, a former Haitian Ministry of Justice anti-corruption official fired weeks before the killing, was wheeled into court and charged with conspiracy. US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones confirmed 30 people in total have been indicted and warned the investigation is not finished.

Badio posed as a US drug agent during the July 2021 raid in which Colombian mercenaries stormed Moïse's Port-au-Prince home, wounding his wife Martine.

US-based companies allegedly used PPP and COVID emergency loan proceeds to recruit and fund roughly 18 Colombian nationals with military training to carry out the coup.

'We will follow the evidence wherever it leads, to those who financed it, facilitated it, supported it,' Quiñones warned — signalling further arrests to come.

Moredailypress.com18 suspects accused in the July 2021 killing of Haiti’s president being extradited from Haiti to USmsn.com18 suspects in assassination of Haiti’s president appear in Miami federal courtcbsnews.com18 people, including ex-Haitian official, appear in Miami court involving plot to kill Haitiabcnews.com30 indicted for role in assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise: US officialsFox NewsSuspects in Haitian president's assassination transferred to Miami, accused of funding plot with COVID fraud
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