Overview:
Reginald Boulos, a former presidential hopeful in Haiti, was arrested by U.S. immigration authorities in Florida. The detention follows years of political exercise, together with a 2021 lobbying marketing campaign in Washington and a 2022 referral for prosecution in Haiti over alleged misuse of public funds.
Haitian businessman and former presidential hopeful Reginald Boulos was arrested Friday, July 18, by U.S. immigration authorities, a supply accustomed to his household confirmed to The Haitian Instances. Boulos is reportedly being held in a Miami detention heart pending potential deportation, with a removing deadline expiring Dec. 2, 2025.
The unnamed supply stated Boulos spent Friday night time in custody alongside different undocumented people.
Boulos, born in the US, renounced his American citizenship a number of years in the past with the intention to adjust to Haiti’s constitutional necessities for presidential candidates. That call might have difficult his authorized standing within the U.S.
In 2021, paperwork filed below the U.S. International Brokers Registration Act present Boulos employed lobbying corporations to advocate for his political platform and to assist reinstate his U.S. visa. The corporations, based mostly in Denver, had been paid $10,000 a month and tasked with mobilizing assist among the many 1.6 million Haitian Individuals within the U.S. diaspora.
Haiti opposition chief Dr. Reginald Boulos condemned the assassination of Jovenel Moïse and stated he was his buddy.
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The next 12 months, Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) referred Boulos for prosecution over alleged misuse of loans from the nation’s social safety workplace, finest often known as ONA. Whereas no formal prices had been filed, the case mirrored broader issues about corruption inside Haiti’s political and enterprise elite.
Though no official prices have been introduced, the supply confirmed that Boulos faces severe allegations, together with funding prison gangs, suspected involvement within the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, large-scale corruption, cash laundering and prison conspiracy.
The supply additionally instructed The Haitian Instances that these accusations come from a radical investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), highlighting his central function in a prison community. Efforts by the Haitian businessman’s lawyer in Florida to safe his launch on bail have thus far been unsuccessful, emphasizing the hazard he poses.
The Boulos household has not issued an announcement.
Individually, Allan Zuraik, proprietor and CEO of Safari Motors S.A. — a Jeep and Porsche dealership in Port-au-Prince, Haiti — was additionally reportedly arrested Friday in Florida.