FCPA Scorecard Blog

CEO and director of investment firm convicted of conspiracy to bribe Haitian officials

After a two-week jury trial in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the CEO of investment firm Haiti Invest, LLC and one of its directors were convicted of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and the Travel Act. Joseph Baptiste, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, was also found guilty of violating the Travel Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering. For prior coverage of the charges against Baptiste and CEO Roger Richard Boncy, please see here.

The evidence that federal prosecutors presented against Boncy and Baptiste included intercepted phone calls in which they discussed their plan to bribe Haitian officials “at all levels of government” in order to obtain governmental approval of a proposed $84 million project to develop a port in northwestern Haiti. In a recorded conversation with undercover agents posing as investors, Boncy and Baptiste allegedly solicited funds and told agents that the funds would be used to bribe the aide of a high-level elected official in Haiti. To conceal the bribes, Boncy and Baptiste allegedly said that they would funnel the agents’ funds through a U.S.-based non-profit organization that Baptiste controlled, which purported to sponsor social programs for Haitian residents. 

The case against Boncy and Baptiste began with a sting operation conducted by the FBI in 2017. Boncy and Baptiste are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Allison D. Burroughs on September 12, 2019.

FCPA Bribery

CEO of Haitian development & reconstruction company charged in bribery scheme

On October 30, the DOJ charged Roger Richard Bouncy, a dual U.S.-Haitian citizen, with conspiracy to violate the FCPA, commit money laundering, and violate the Travel Act, as well as substantive Travel Act violations. Bouncy is a licensed attorney and the CEO of Haiti Invest, LLC, a Haitian development and reconstruction company. The indictment is part of an ongoing case against retired U.S. Army Colonel, Joseph Baptiste, who was indicted in 2017 related to an alleged plan to solicit bribes from potential investors for infrastructure projects in Haiti. (For prior coverage of the charges against Baptiste, please see here.) According to the indictment, at a meeting in 2015, Bouncy and Baptiste met with undercover FBI agents posing as potential investors in the development project, and allegedly asked the agents to invest $84 million in the project. Baptiste told them that 5% of that total would be paid to Haitian officials to secure approval for the project. Baptiste allegedly planned to disguise the funds through a non-profit he controlled. The FBI then wired money to the non-profit.

DOJ Bribery FCPA Anti-Money Laundering Travel Act

Additional Charges for Retired U.S. Army Colonel

On October 4, the Department of Justice expanded the scope of its indictment against retired U.S. Army colonel Joseph Baptiste.  On August 29, Baptiste was charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after he allegedly solicited bribes from undercover agents who posed as potential investors for infrastructure projects in Haiti. The expanded charges include conspiracy to launder money and violate the Federal Travel Act. Prior FCPA Scorecard coverage of the initial indictment and the related FCPA sting operation can be found here.

DOJ FCPA Score Card

FCPA Sting Operation Results in Conspiracy Charge for Retired U.S. Army Colonel

On August 29, the DOJ announced that it had unsealed a criminal complaint and FBI affidavit charging retired U.S. Army colonel Joseph Baptiste “for his alleged role in a foreign bribery and money laundering scheme in connection with a planned $84 million port development project in Haiti.” The DOJ alleges that Baptiste solicited bribes “from undercover [FBI] agents in Boston who posed as potential investors,” telling the agents “that he would funnel the payments to Haitian officials through a non-profit entity that he controlled . . . in order to secure government approval of the project.” Baptiste allegedly received a $50,000 payment from the FBI, which he wired to his non-profit organization. While Baptiste ultimately used the payment for personal purposes, rather than his promised bribery, he allegedly “intended to seek additional money from the undercover agents to use for future bribe payments in connection with the port project.” The DOJ also alleges that FBI agents intercepted telephone calls where Baptiste “discussed bribing an aide to a senior Haitian official by giving him a job on the port development project after he left his position.”

FCPA sting operations are relatively rare. An infamous FCPA sting operation involving Africa resulted in charges for 22 defendants, but it concluded unsuccessfully in 2012 after a series of acquittals and hung juries caused the DOJ to dismiss the remaining indictments.

DOJ FBI Hati Anti-Money Laundering