The Trump administration is offering a $5 million cash reward for the arrest of Haiti's most powerful warlord.
An indictment announced by U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro accuses Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier of organizing an international conspiracy to fund his criminal gang, chiefly by soliciting money from Haitians living in the United States.
The infamous gang leader is believed to be responsible for barbaric massacres, including a 2018 attack that left more than 700 dead, hundreds of homes destroyed and multiple women raped.
Cherizier's co-defendant Bazile Richardson is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who was living in North Carolina. He was arrested in Texas in July.
Together, Cherizier and Richardson led a conspiracy to finance Cherizier's gang, mainly by collecting funds from members of the Haitian diaspora community in America, despite U.S. sanctions on Cherizier.
"In particular, Cherizier and Richardson directly solicited money transfers from members of the Haitian diaspora located in the United States. After sending funds to intermediaries in Haiti for Cherizier’s benefit, the U.S. and Haitian co-conspirators would send Cherizier images of receipts from the money transfers. Cherizier used these funds principally to pay salaries to the members of his gang and to acquire firearms from illicit firearms dealers in Haiti," prosecutors said.
The conspiracy involved "several other unnamed co-conspirators in Haiti, Massachusetts and New York," the Washington Post notes.
President Trump is seeking to deport half a million Haitians living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, which shields certain foreigners from being returned to their homelands if they cannot do so safely.
Haiti's last president Jovenel Moïse was brutally assassinated in 2021, sending the chronically unstable island nation deeper into a political crisis.
While Haiti has a provisional government on paper, the capital, Port-au-Prince, is under the control of a gang alliance led by Cherizier.
The former police officer united Haiti's biggest gangs against the transitional government, which the gangs seek to topple.
The State Department has designated Cherizier's Viv Ansanm coalition and Gran Grif as terrorist groups, with the goal of creating "a gang-controlled state where illicit trafficking and other criminal activities operate freely and terrorize Haitian citizens.”
Now, the State Department is offering $5 million for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of Cherizier.
"There's a good reason that there's a $5m reward for information leading to Cherizier's arrest," Pirro said at a news conference on Tuesday.
"He's a gang leader responsible for heinous human rights abuses, including violence against American citizens in Haiti."
