A federal judge on Monday sentenced Joly Germine, 31, from Croix-des-Bouquets, to 35 years in prison for his involvement in a gunrunning conspiracy that illegally smuggled firearms to Haiti, violating U.S. export laws, according to officials.
Germine was also implicated in laundering ransom payments from U.S. hostages held by the violent Haitian gang 400 Mawozo, officials stated.
Eliande Tunis, 46, of Pompano Beach, Florida, who referred to herself as Germine’s “wife” and was dubbed the “Queen” of 400 Mawozo during the trial, was sentenced on June 5 to 12 years and six months in prison for her role in the conspiracy.
Two other defendants involved in the conspiracy were also sentenced to prison time for their participation.
The conspiracy resulted in the purchase in the United States of at least 24 firearms, including weapons designed for the military and close-quarters combat such as AK-47s, AR-15s, an M4 Carbine rifle, an M1A rifle, and a .50 caliber rifle.
The weapons were smuggled from the United States to the gang in Haiti to further their criminal activities.
Those firearms were bought using funds laundered from the proceeds of the hostage-taking for ransom of U.S. citizens in Haiti in 2021.
“Joly Germine is being held accountable for his role in smuggling weapons into Haiti using funds laundered from the ransoms of kidnapped American citizens,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The 400 Mawazo gang not only wreaks havoc in its own communities but targets innocent Americans living and traveling in Haiti.”
“Mr. Germine, a leader of a notorious Haitian gang, admitted to an illegal gun-running scheme to arm fellow gang members with U.S. firearms in support of the group’s violent crime spree across Haiti, including the alleged 2021 kidnapping of 16 U.S. citizens,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will aggressively pursue every tool at its disposal to hold accountable those who would smuggle U.S.-origin weapons and other controlled goods for the benefit of malicious actors and their criminal enterprises.”
Germine’s co-defendant Tunis, who had a supervisory role in the conspiracy, pleaded guilty on the eve of trial on Jan. 17, to the same 48-count indictment, and was sentenced on June 5 to 150 months in prison.
Other co-defendants, Jocelyn Dor, 31, and Walder St. Louis, 35, who acted as a straw gun purchaser for Germine and Tunis, both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 60 months and 36 months, respectively, for their roles in the gun-smuggling and money laundering scheme.
According to evidence presented at trial, from at least March through November 2021, Germine, Tunis, and two co-defendants conspired with each other and with other gang members in Haiti to acquire and supply firearms to the 400 Mawozo gang in Haiti.
Germine directed the gang’s operations from a Haitian prison using unmonitored cell phones, including directing gang members in Haiti to transfer money to Tunis and others in the United States for the purpose of obtaining firearms for the gang.
Germine then provided Tunis and the two other U.S.-based co-defendants, all Florida residents, with specifications for firearms and ammunition that Germine and other gang leaders wanted to be sent to Haiti, according to the evidence.
Tunis and the two co-defendants then purchased at least 24 rifles, handguns, and a shotgun at Florida gun shops while falsely stating that they were the “actual buyers” of the firearms when they were,, in fact,, acting as straw purchasers for Germine.
In approximately May 2021, Tunis smuggled firearms and ammunition to Haiti in containers disguised as food and household goods. In October 2021, Tunis attempted to ship additional firearms and ammunition to Haiti, again by smuggling the firearms.
Still, those firearms were seized by the FBI before they left the United States.
The 400 Mawozo is a violent Haitian gang that operated in the Croix-des-Bouquets area to the east of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
From at least Jan. 12, 2020, 400 Mawozo was engaged in armed hostage takings of U.S. citizens in Haiti for ransom. The victims have generally been forced from their vehicles at gunpoint and kept in various locations by armed gang members while their relatives and colleagues negotiate payment for their release.
At trial, the government presented evidence that the gang received ransom payments from the hostage-taking of three U.S. citizens in the summer of 2021, who testified at trial, and the cash ransom proceeds were commingled with the gang’s funds and transferred via MoneyGram and Western Union from the United States to Haiti to buy more firearms.
In the fall of 2021, the 400 Mawozo gang claimed responsibility for taking 16 U.S. citizens hostage, including five children and one Canadian citizen who were part of a missionary organization visiting an orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
The gang demanded a ransom of $1 million for each hostage. The hostages were all released or had escaped by on or about Dec. 16, 2021.
While Germine has been charged in a separate indictment in relation to that hostage-taking incident, today’s sentencing does not address those charges, which are lodged in case number 22-cr-161 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The FBI Miami Field Office investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen P. Seifert and Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Beau Barnes of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.