A man residing in Coral Springs, Florida, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars fraudulently obtained from COVID-19 relief programs, money that ultimately funded the conspiracy that led to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
The United States Department of Justice reported that 42-year-old Keegan Harricharan was sentenced last Wednesday by federal judge Jacqueline Becerra of the Southern District of Florida after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to the investigation, Harricharan used funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, established under the CARES Act to assist small businesses during the pandemic, to finance part of the plot against the Haitian leader.
Authorities assert that, along with his co-defendant Jacob Israel, he fraudulently obtained approximately $840,827 in loans from the PPP program starting in June 2020. From that scheme, Israel and his associates received around $126,124 in bribes.
To move the money, Harricharan used his company TNR Holding Group Inc. Between May 18 and May 28, 2021, he deposited approximately $175,000 into the company's account and almost immediately transferred it to Walter Veintemilla, who distributed the funds among other members of the conspiracy. Days later, he sent another $80,000, including resources from the EIDL program.
The investigation also found that, between April and May 2021, Harricharan participated in several meetings held in South Florida with other individuals involved to plan the overthrow of Moïse, discuss the formation of a new Haitian government, and coordinate the acquisition of weapons, ammunition, personnel, and military equipment.
Upon announcing the ruling, federal prosecutor Jason A. Reding Quiñones stated that the case went beyond financial fraud.
"This defendant did not merely commit fraud. He exploited pandemic relief programs meant to support small businesses during a national crisis and laundered those stolen public funds to promote a conspiracy that culminated in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse," he stated.
A murder of a public figure that continues to bring accused individuals before the courts
Jovenel Moïse was murdered in the early hours of July 7, 2021, when a group of Colombian mercenaries stormed his residence in Port-au-Prince. The president was shot multiple times, while his wife, Martine Moïse, was severely injured. The couple's children managed to survive the attack.
Harricharan's sentencing adds to a long list of individuals prosecuted in the United States for their involvement in the conspiracy.
In May 2026, a federal jury in Miami , who are facing life imprisonment. Before them, Rodolphe Jaar was sentenced to life in prison in June 2023, and former Colombian military member Mario Antonio Palacios received the same sentence in March 2024.
The sentencing of Jacob Israel, scheduled for December of this year, and the trial of Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American doctor and pastor identified by the prosecution as the person the conspirators intended to install as the president of Haiti after Moïse's assassination, are still pending.
For prosecutor Reding Quiñones, the case demonstrates how a financial fraud can turn into a crime of international scope.
"When the profits from fraud are funneled into political violence and bloodshed, the threat goes beyond financial losses and impacts the stability of democratic institutions themselves. We will follow the money trail and ensure that those who finance violence are held accountable in federal court," he concluded.
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