In the second scandal that rocked the U.S. Embassy in Haiti in the past month, an accountant who had been assigned to the United States’ mission in Port-au-Prince from 2001 to 2018, was charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Department of Defense.
Roudy Pierre-Louis was issued an arrest warrant by a judge in Charleston, SC for allegedly forging paperwork for cash advances by members of the United States Southern Command, known as SOUTHCOM. This illegal activity ran from at least 2015 through 2018.
Pierre Louis has been living in Dumfries, VA since 2018, according to his LinkedIn Account. His online account listed him as having worked at the U.S. Embassy from 2001 to August 2018. That is when the indictment claims that the stealing of the Embassy’s funds ceased.
In the indictment, it is stated that Pierre-Louis was the only budget analyst assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti’s Security Coordination Office during the last 14 years. This position placed him in charge of all accounting having to do with the Security programs run by the Department of Defense and the State Department.
According to investigators, Pierre-Louis would then forge the signatures of high-ranking people in the Department of Defense on cash-advance forms for Haitian nationals. He would then mark off the cash expenditures as office supplies on SOUTHCOM’s budget.
It was during this timeframe in 2016 that SOUTHCOM sent a task force to Haiti to aid in relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
Joint Task Force Andrew, consisted of medium and heavy-lift helicopters from both the Army and Marine Corps as well as Coast Guard aircraft and teams on the ground. There were about 200 troops on the ground providing humanitarian assistance as well as Coast Guard cutters offshore lending support. The task force was commanded by Rear Admiral Cedric Pringle.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charleston charged Pierre-Louis with 16 counts of fraud, including wire fraud and forgery.
In the second scandal that rocked the U.S. Embassy in Haiti in the past month, an accountant who had been assigned to the United States’ mission in Port-au-Prince from 2001 to 2018, was charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Department of Defense.
Roudy Pierre-Louis was issued an arrest warrant by a judge in Charleston, SC for allegedly forging paperwork for cash advances by members of the United States Southern Command, known as SOUTHCOM. This illegal activity ran from at least 2015 through 2018.
Pierre Louis has been living in Dumfries, VA since 2018, according to his LinkedIn Account. His online account listed him as having worked at the U.S. Embassy from 2001 to August 2018. That is when the indictment claims that the stealing of the Embassy’s funds ceased.
In the indictment, it is stated that Pierre-Louis was the only budget analyst assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti’s Security Coordination Office during the last 14 years. This position placed him in charge of all accounting having to do with the Security programs run by the Department of Defense and the State Department.
According to investigators, Pierre-Louis would then forge the signatures of high-ranking people in the Department of Defense on cash-advance forms for Haitian nationals. He would then mark off the cash expenditures as office supplies on SOUTHCOM’s budget.
It was during this timeframe in 2016 that SOUTHCOM sent a task force to Haiti to aid in relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
Joint Task Force Andrew, consisted of medium and heavy-lift helicopters from both the Army and Marine Corps as well as Coast Guard aircraft and teams on the ground. There were about 200 troops on the ground providing humanitarian assistance as well as Coast Guard cutters offshore lending support. The task force was commanded by Rear Admiral Cedric Pringle.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charleston charged Pierre-Louis with 16 counts of fraud, including wire fraud and forgery.
In the other case, a United States Marine was charged with trying to smuggle weapons into Haiti, in order to “take on the thugs ruining the country.” Jacques Yves Duroseau was arrested in mid-November by Haitian authorities after he flew from NC to Port-au-Prince with eight weapons and ammunition in his checked luggage.
Duroseau, who is a machine-gunner assigned to the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, told authorities that he brought the guns to Haiti to “defeat the thugs that have been creating a little bit of part of the instability in Haiti.”
Another sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve, who was not identified, was arrested along with Duroseau. He told officials that Duroseau was in contact with the U.S. Embassy to tell them that he wanted to become president of Haiti.
Duroseau brought the five handguns and three rifles openly into Haiti and filled out the paperwork with American Airlines to transport them in his baggage. However, he didn’t have authorization by Haitian authorities to bring weapons into the country. He also admitted to the authorities that he was aware that bringing guns into the country was illegal.
He was charged in the Eastern District Court of North Carolina at the end of November.
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