Jean Robert Casimir, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Lauderhill, Florida, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Aug. 4 to conspiracy, smuggling, and violations of U.S. export control law for his involvement in an extensive firearms trafficking operation that illegally exported at least 140 firearms to Haiti since 2020.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the plea and said, “Casimir exploited his access to firearms in our country to arm buyers in Haiti, disguising his shipments and evading the licensing laws that exist to keep weapons out of the hands of those who would use them to fuel violence abroad.” Pirro added, “This office will continue to hold accountable anyone who treats our export laws as an obstacle to work around rather than the law of the land.”
According to court documents, Casimir exported no fewer than 140 firearms—including rifles, pistols, and shotguns—without obtaining the required license from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security based in Washington, D.C., between August 2020 and December 2024. He purchased at least 108 firearms from Federal Firearms Licensees and another 30-35 from a private individual in Florida before exporting them without authorization.
To smuggle these weapons into Haiti, Casimir and co-conspirators concealed disassembled rifles and handguns inside industrial air compressors by cutting them open, packing with foam insulation, welding them shut again, then shipping via boats departing Miami. Casimir is identified as a former Haitian National Police officer.
Casimir was arrested on Dec. 16, 2024, in Lauderhill and indicted on Jan. 23, 2025. The investigation involved multiple agencies including FBI Miami Field Office; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington D.C.; HSI Miami; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and U.S. Customs & Border Protection.
The case is prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Dean for the District of Columbia along with Trial Attorney Beau Barnes from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, with assistance from the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This prosecution falls under the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159: Protecting the American People Against Invasion—a whole-of-government effort targeting criminal cartels and transnational organizations operating within or impacting United States interests.