A South Florida fundraiser and financier connected to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was sentenced on July 23 to 20 years in federal prison for laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief funds that helped finance the conspiracy.
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra handed down the sentence after Keegan Harricharan, 42, of Coral Springs, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The laundered funds originated from Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan loans issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
“This case is a stark reminder that financial crime is often the engine behind far more dangerous conduct,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “This defendant did not simply commit fraud. He exploited pandemic relief programs meant to keep small businesses alive during a national crisis and laundered those stolen taxpayer funds to help advance a conspiracy that ended in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. As a career federal prosecutor and former trial judge, I have seen how following the money exposes the true scope of criminal schemes. When fraud proceeds are funneled into political violence and bloodshed, the threat extends beyond financial loss to the stability of democratic institutions themselves. We will continue to follow the money, dismantle these networks, and ensure that those who finance violence face federal justice.”
According to court documents, Harricharan worked with Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla, James Junior Solages, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, Jacob Israel and others in laundering COVID-19 relief funds used for promoting and financing efforts aimed at overthrowing Haiti’s government and assassinating President Moïse on July 7, 2021. Ortiz, Intriago, Veintemilla and Solages were convicted after a nine-week jury trial in May; Sanon is expected to stand trial later this year while Israel previously pleaded guilty.
Beginning June 2020 through mid-2021, meetings in South Florida with co-conspirators planning details such as funding sources and logistics for removing President Moïse from power took place. Harricharan agreed his company TNR Holding Group Inc would receive fraudulent proceeds—approximately $175,000 deposited between May 18–28—and quickly transferred them as directed by his associates; he also wired an additional $80,000 days before July’s attack.
The prosecution was announced by U.S. Attorney Reding Quiñones, along with FBI Miami Special Agent Brett D. Skiles and Homeland Security Investigations Miami Special Agent José R. Figueroa following investigations led by their offices, with prosecution handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean T. McLaughlin, Jason Wu, and Altanese Phenelus.
The case forms part of an initiative under Executive Order 14159 involving interagency collaboration targeting transnational criminal organizations operating domestically or abroad—including child trafficking—as described on the official website for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern District of Florida, which covers nine counties across approximately 15 thousand square miles serving over seven million residents.