MIAMI — Rodolphe Jaar, a businessman and former drug trafficker with dual Haitian and Chilean citizenship, pled guilty Friday to conspiring and providing support to kidnap or kill Haitian President Jovenel Moise in a plea deal with prosecutors. He’s the first to admit guilt among the numerous suspects in U.S. law enforcement custody for their alleged roles in the high profile murder that captivated the world in July 2021.
According to the Mar. 24 proffer statement , his involvement began in May 2021 when he started supplying funds to buy the weapons used in the assassination. Some of the money went into bribing Haitian officials responsible for Moise’s security so operatives could gain access to him. Jaar also provided food and lodging to co-conspirators.
On the night of July 6, 2021, the group was making final preparations for “the operation” at Jaar’s property in Haiti’s capital when Solages told them they would be assassinating Moise. As the night progressed into the early morning hours of July 7, Jaars’s co-conspirators stormed into the president’s private residence, with the intent and purpose of killing Moise.
Jaar pled guilty to three counts – Providing material support or resources to carry out a violation resulting in death, conspiracy to provide material support and resources resulting in death and conspiracy to kill or kidnap someone outside of the United States – He now faces a maximum of life imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines when he is sentenced June 2.
He remains in custody.
In all, 11 suspected plotters are in U.S. custody as the prosecution moves forward. Nine defendants – including Jaar, Antonio Intriago, James Solages, Joseph Joel John, Joseph Vincent, German Rivera and Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, Arcangel Ortiz and Alejandro Rivera Garcia – are charged with conspiring to kill and kidnap overseas, and they face life in prison. Two defendants, alleged ringleader Christian Emmanuel Sanon and Frederick Bergman, are charged with violations of US export control laws. Prosecutors said the pair transferred bulletproof vests to be used in the assassination, claiming falsely the armor were medical supplies.
