Bribery charges dismissed against two prominent Haitian-American businessmen
Dr. Joseph Baptiste's Facebook pageUpdated June 28, 2022 3:48 PM
Dr. Joseph Baptiste, the chair and founder of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, was granted a new trial after he was convicted in June 2019 in a Boston federal court in an alleged bribery scheme involving Haitian government officials. However, with that new trial set to start in early July 2022, federal prosecutors have dismissed the case as more evidence came to light.
Federal prosecutors will no longer be pursuing bribery charges against two Haitian-American businessmen after prosecutors discovered evidence contradicting FBI agents’ testimony and the Department of Justice’s own allegations that one of the men offered to pay a 5% bribe to Haitian officials to construct a new seaport in Haiti’s northwest region.
Federal prosecutors had accused Roger Richard Boncy and Dr. Joseph Baptiste of conspiring to funnel bribes of 5% of the cost of the construction deal to high-level Haitian government officials, including an aide to a prime minister. The 5% was “a key part of the government’s conspiracy theory.” The U.S. government also contended that the money would be funneled through Baptiste’s National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, NOAH, a well-known nonprofit.
The two men — Boncy is a former Haitian ambassador-at-large, and Baptiste is a Maryland dentist and retired Haitian-American U.S. Army colonel who ran NOAH — were convicted in June 2019 in federal court of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian government officials to build the port.
Jurors in Boston had found both men, who were tried together, of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act. Baptiste was also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and an additional Travel Act violation, while Boncy was cleared of the two counts.
A federal judge later overturned the jury’s conviction after Baptiste successfully appealed on the grounds of ineffective counsel from his lawyer. A new trial for both men was set to start next week.
However, on Monday, U.S. prosecutors filed to dismiss the case after confirming that previously undisclosed text messages between Boncy and an undercover FBI agent confirmed the existence of a destroyed recording in which Boncy asserted that he knew nothing about the alleged 5% bribe.
The new information confirming Boncy’s lack of knowledge was turned over to the defense and the government.
Legal experts say the discovery of the text messages, which no longer support FBI agents’ testimony about Boncy’s alleged involvement, would raise credibility concerns in any trial had the government decided to still pursue charges against Baptiste.
In a statement, Boncy’s legal team at the law firm Greenberg Traurig noted that he had long maintained his innocence and insisted that two calls the FBI destroyed would prove his innocence.
“These texts — sent on the same day of the destroyed calls — specifically referenced the contents of the destroyed calls. In those texts, consistent with Boncy’s long-held defense, the FBI agent explicitly stated that ‘Richard said 5% social program money is absolutely not for bribes.’ This is exactly what Boncy has claimed all along.
“And, more egregiously, the existence and content of these texts are directly at odds with the FBI special agents’ testimony throughout this case.” the statement said.
Jed Dwyer, who led Boncy’s defense, said: “It is clear now that Richard is innocent; no ifs, ands or buts about it. The government agrees and today dismissed the sole remaining count against our client.”
Dwyer said Boncy was adamant in his innocence and his commitment to proving his innocence. “Richard had the courage to stand up to the government, which is a rarity these days. ... Too often the government rides roughshod over defendants.”
Baptiste lawyers noted that the case had gone on for nearly five years.
“Dr. Baptiste never paid a penny in bribes, and he never agreed with Mr. Boncy or anyone else to do so,” said one of his attorneys, Daniel Marx. “Dr. Baptiste’s work to build a port in an especially impoverished part of Haiti was consistent with his lifelong commitment to improve the lives of Haitian people, in Haiti and elsewhere.”
William Fick, co-counsel for Baptiste, said his client and Boncy “were unfortunate victims of a misguided ‘sting’ operation, in which FBI agents posed as foreign investors and played on prejudiced tropes about pervasive Haitian corruption.”
“Those agents knew nothing about Haiti, a country they had never even visited,” Fick said. “The agents had never spoken with the officials who were supposedly offered bribes or considered how their undercover operation might derail a significant development project that could better the lives of countless Haitian people.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2022 9:25 AM.
National Center of Haitian Apostolate
REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS OF TH 14TH SUNDAY OF THE CHURCH YEAR (JULY 3rd, 2022)
Isaiah 66, 10-14; Psalm 66; Galatians 6, 14-18; Luke 10, 1-9
Jesus is asking us to pray for vocations:
“The harvest is abundant and the laborers are few. Pray the lord of the harvest to send laborers in his field.” China with its 1 300 000 000 inhabitants, India with its One billion and plus citizens have hardly heard of Jesus. Many countries tend to close their hearts to the Christian message. Powerful witnesses are desperately needed. We hear today that the prayers of the faithful are crucial for vocations. The Lord likes prayers to precede his gifts.
The mission of the laborers is challenging. They must be “like lambs in the midst of wolves.” They should not act as conquerors but like persuasive heralds of the Good News. Let them shout that the kingdom of God is near and that it is close to every person of good will!
The call to the kingdom is not to be the exclusive domain of the ordained ministers. Jesus is shown sending seventy-two disciples meaning lay people. Every baptized person is commissioned to participate in the spreading of the Kingdom. We are a holy nation, a priestly people. We must be aware of our communal responsibility to The Mission.
Jesus adds count in the first place on the power of God working through you! St Paul adds that to be successful you really need to believe in the power of the Cross and become a New Creation. Jesus concludes that your unshakable trust must rest on the assurance that your name is written in heaven! May lay people and priests involve themselves wholeheartedly in the Mission!
Transforming Our Caribbean
#AllThingsCSA
#CSA2023StCroix
Greetings Caribbean Studies Association Members, Supporters and Family:
In 2022, CSA has the honorable pleasure of celebrating our 48thAnniversary among an awesome intergenerational legacy of Caribbeanists!
Happy 48th CSA Anniversary!
I am honored to serve as CSA President for 2022-2023.
As your CSA President, I welcome the continuation of supportive guidance from seasoned, intergenerational, and sagacious CSA leaders, scholars, elders, graduate students, and Caribbeanist practitioners who desire to strengthen standards of excellence, diversity, equity, inclusion, and prosperity that sustainably contributes to the forward progress to CSA2023 St. Croix leading to CSA’s 50th Anniversary in 2024 and beyond. As shared during my vice-presidency 2021-2022, the creation of environs that welcome assessments of existing conditions, evaluations of best standards of action, and data-driven practices for successful programs that are strategically relevant to 21st century interdisciplinary, multilingual, and multicultural Caribbean studies, arts, sciences, and affairs are being prioritized. CSA members and resourceful supporters are invited to share collaborative talents and collective expertise with the new CSA Executive Council (EC) to innovatively maintain the effective aspects of the Caribbeanist philosophical mission, vision, perspectives, protocols, principles, and practices of CSA with sound futuristic improvements as may be essential for organizational growth while being unapologetically and respectfully Caribbean.
Congratulations are extended to Immediate Past President Eris Schoburgh (2021-2022) who led the CSA2022 Jamaica Conference hosted by The University of the West Indies-Mona Campus with her supportive Program Committee co-chairs Stacey-Ann Wilson and Eleanor A. Henry with a hard-working team to organize CSA’s second virtual conference with successes beyond C19 protocol limitations and technological challenges. Thanks are extended to CSA IT Master Kiah Graham along with UWI IT support from Howard Reid, Richard Leach and others working in the background keeping CSA membership informed, digitally empowered, calm (most of the time), and proactively engaged throughout the virtual implementation of new digital technology platforms for CSA2022 Jamaica. Recognition and thanks are extended to past CSA EC members whose tenure expired in June 2021, yet they remained dedicated for an additional year to support CSA leadership for which we remain grateful: Nikoli Attai, Fatimah Jackson-Best and Raymond Laureano.
Special thanks are extended to the Jamaican Government (for making travel to Jamaica open, safe and welcoming in May 2022) specifically the Ministries of Education and Tourism for making CSA2022 safe and technologically savvy while making the open portal entry accessible for the new CSA Vice President and President while in Kingston. A special heartfelt thanks to Sharon Oshun Parris-Chambers and Theo Chambers of PanaCarib Business Solutions and Temple of Inner Peace for the exceptional Jamaican hospitality, ecotourism excursions, and communitarian cultural heritage exchanges provided for us during CSA2022 Jamaica. At my request, as pictured, on the evening following the CSA leadership transition morning meeting on Saturday, June 4.2022 an amicable safe social gathering was facilitated at the AC Marriott Bonvoy in Kingston.
CSA members are encouraged to join me in welcoming new and returning seasoned, intellectually experienced, and diverse CSA Executive Council (EC) members effective June 2022. Congratulations to new CSA EC members: Okama Ekpe Brook, Vice President (2022-2023) and Council Members Rhoda Arrindell, Nicholas Faraclas, and L. Kaifa Roland (2022-2024). Congratulations to continuing CSA EC members: IPP Eris Schoburgh, Kristina Hinds, Patricia Saunders, Meagan Sylvester (CSA Newsletter Editor/CSA2023 St. Croix Program Chair), and Graduate Student Representative Regan Reid.
CSA@48 welcomes the continuation of the appointments accepted by Dwaine Plaza, Treasurer/Past President and Mala Jokhan, Secretariat complementary to CSA Past Presidents, Elders and resourceful friends providing support for this important organization for Caribbeanists nationally, regionally, and internationally. The inaugural CSA Journal: Caribbean Conjunctures is preparing for publication launch in Summer 2022. With an extensive list of multilingual and interdisciplinary editorial and advisory professionals of CSA and beyond, special thanks to Raymond Laureano, Inaugural Managing Editor with Opal Palmer Adisa, Editor-in-Chief, and Tavis Jules, Past President/Interim Managing Editor.
As announced during the CSA2022 Virtual Business Meeting on June 1st, CSA2023 St. Croix Virgin Islands (US) is scheduled for June 5th to 9th, 2023 with the theme:
Transforming Our Caribbean: Sustainable Educational Research, Cultural Creatives, Sacred Traditions, Economic Development and Environmental Solutions
On the journey to CSA2023, the new CSA EC embraces improving the long-standing legacy and sustainability of CSA through responsive creativity and equitably streamlining multilingual digital technologies, publications, projects, programs, and productions. Examples of CSA priorities include: a) Inaugural CSA Journal 2022 and 2023; b) Continuing publication of the internationally-recognized CSA Newsletter (monthly); c) Diversification of program platforms, professional development, and services for CSA members; d) Enhancing accessibility to CSA digital/virtual collections; e) Increasing CSA membership; f) Organizing virtual/hybrid CSA webinars and new media/IT programming; g) Continuing the CSA Young Scholars Mentoring Program; and h) Increasing philanthropic and strategic fund developments. With enhanced branding, marketing, scholarly exchanges and resourceful membership supports, the CSA membership is encouraged to explore the CSA website and monthly newsletter for informative details and relevant programming leading up to CSA2023 St. Croix and beyond.
The Caribbean and the world have endured challenges and sustained resilient strengths that extend beyond major environmental disasters inclusive of life-threatening hurricanes, devastating earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, toxic emissions, socioeconomic instabilities, climate change and health pandemics that contribute to new global protocols that influence and impact CSA’s responsibility to advance culturally-sensitive and technologically-relevant Caribbeanist solutions while Transforming Our Caribbean.
Be safe, rejuvenate and enjoy the balance of National (US) Caribbean American Heritage Month (June annually), Juneteenth Freedom Day (19th), Summer Solstice (21st), VI Freedom Week (June 26th to July 3rd) and other Summer Season observances and holidays!
Remain Inspired!
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Chenzira Davis Kahina
President CSA 2022-2023