A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida indicted Antonio Intriago, Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Walter Veintemilla, and James Solages on charges arising from the July 2021 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse [1]. All four defendants were affiliated with a Miami-area private security firm, Counter Terrorism Unit Federal Academy, which prosecutors alleged served as the operational base for the plot [2]. The government charged each defendant with conspiracy to kill or kidnap a foreign head of state resulting in death, providing material support or resources to carry out that violation resulting in death, and violating the U.S. Neutrality Act, which prohibits U.S.-based activity aimed at violent action against foreign governments [1][3].
Trial proceeded before Judge Jacqueline Becerra in Miami [1]. Prosecutors Jason Wu and Sean McLaughlin of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida presented evidence that the defendants coordinated the assassination operation from South Florida, with the actual killing carried out in Haiti on July 7, 2021 [2][3]. On May 8, 2026, the jury returned guilty verdicts against all four defendants on all charged counts [1][4]. No counts were acquitted and the jury did not hang on any charge [1].
Each conviction carries the potential for a life sentence, given the resulting-in-death enhancement attached to the conspiracy and material-support counts [1][2]. No sentencing date has been publicly announced. The case marks the first successful federal prosecution of principal conspirators in the assassination of a sitting foreign head of state where the plot was organized on U.S. soil [2][3].
Defense counsel David Howard represented at least one of the defendants at trial [2]. Post-trial motions and appellate timelines had not been publicly filed as of the verdict date. Given the gravity of the charges and the life-sentence exposure, appellate challenges to the sufficiency of evidence and the extraterritorial application of the charged statutes are likely avenues for review.