A former Haitian coup leader and elected senator on Wednesday was sentenced to nine years in a US federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder drug money.
Guy Philippe, a 49-year-old former senior police officer convicted of taking bribes from drug traffickers, had in April entered his guilty plea in exchange for a reduced sentence.
He had evaded law enforcement for nearly a decade and was arrested in Haiti on Jan. 5, just days before he was to be sworn in as a senator — which would have given him immunity.
Philippe was elected to the Haitian parliament in November last year and had close ties to Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
In 2004, he helped lead an armed rebellion against then- Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee the country.
The US drug charges had been hanging over him since 2005.
In his guilty plea, Philippe said he had abused his position as a high-ranking police officer to protect narcotics shipments headed to the US between 1999 and 2003.
He did so in exchange for bribes from drug traffickers that totaled between US$1.5 million and US$3.5 million, knowing the proceeds came from cocaine sales in Miami and other places in the US, prosecutors said.
Philippe gave some of the bribe money to other Haitian police and security personnel to ensure their cooperation, the US Department of Justice said.
His cut was used to buy a house in Florida, it added.
In one instance, Philippe was said to have wired US$376,000 in drug proceeds to his joint bank account in Miami from banks in Haiti and Ecuador using others’ names.
He also said he organized US$70,000 in drug money to be deposited into his account in amounts under the US$10,000 level that triggers US reporting requirements.
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