CORAL SPRINGS, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Coral Springs financier has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for laundering COVID-19 relief money that helped bankroll the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
Prosecutors tell BocaNewsNow.com that U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra handed down the sentence to 42-year-old Keegan Harricharan after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say the cash originated from fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds issued under the CARES Act. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said the case shows how financial crime can fuel far more dangerous plots, adding that Harricharan helped funnel stolen taxpayer money into a conspiracy that ultimately ended in bloodshed and political violence.
Court records show Harricharan and co-conspirator Jacob Israel fraudulently obtained roughly $840,827 in PPP loan proceeds starting in June 2020, with Israel and associates pocketing about $126,124 in kickbacks. In the spring of 2021, Harricharan met repeatedly with members of the assassination plot in South Florida, where they discussed removing Moïse from power and lining up funding, weapons, ammunition and manpower. He used his company, TNR Holding Group Inc., to move roughly $175,000 in fraud proceeds in mid-to-late May 2021, quickly wiring the money to co-defendant Walter Veintemilla for redistribution to other plotters. Days later, in early June, Harricharan sent another $80,000, including EIDL funds, through the same pipeline.
The plot culminated in the early morning hours of July 7, 2021, when a team of Colombian mercenaries stormed Moïse’s residence in Port-au-Prince, exchanging gunfire with security before fatally shooting the president and wounding First Lady Martine Moïse as their children hid inside. Co-defendants Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Veintemilla and James Junior Solages were convicted after a nine-week trial in May, Israel is set to be sentenced in December, and Christian Emmanuel Sanon is expected to stand trial later this year. FBI Miami and Homeland Security Investigations Miami investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean T. McLaughlin, Jason Wu and Altanese Phenelus.
