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Enforcement Action Dataset

 

Initiation Date:    08/28/2017  Information

Prosecuting Agency:    U.S. Department of Justice

Type of Action:    DOJ Criminal Proceeding

Docket or Case Number:    17-cr-10305

Court:    D. Massachusetts

Name of Prosecuting Attorneys:   

  • Kevin R. Gingras, Trial Attorney, Fraud Section, Criminal Division
  • Stephen E. Frank, Assistant United States Attorney
  • Rachael S. Rollins, United States Attorney

US Assisting Agencies:   

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation

Foreign Enforcement Action/Investigation:    Unknown

Foreign Assistance:    Unknown

Origin of the Proceeding:    Unknown

Whistleblower:    Unknown

Case Status:    Resolved


Summary  Information

Joseph Baptiste was a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and a practicing dentist in Maryland. He served as the president of a non-profit organization with the stated mission of helping the impoverished in Haiti. The entity is simply referred to as the "Maryland Non-Profit 1" in the complaint, but further research indicates that the non-profit was likely the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians. Baptiste also served as a director on the board of an unnamed limited liability company, which the complaint called "Company A." The mission of Company A was to promote a port development in Haiti.

Roger Richard Boncy was a dual U.S. and Haitian citizen who served as the Chairman and CEO of Company A.

According to the allegations in the indictment, in about August 2014, the FBI began investigating certain Haitian-American businessmen who were allegedly offering to facilitate bribes to high-level officials in the Haitian government in exchange for business. In November 2014, undercover agents of the FBI, who purported to be potential investors in infrastructure projects in Haiti, were introduced to Baptiste and Boncy. The two men allegedly emphasized the importance of paying bribes to certain government officials in Haiti in order to make deals happen. Over the next year, Baptiste and Boncy solicited $50,000 from the undercover agents, claiming that the money would be used to pay bribes to a high-level elected official in Haiti as well as the official's aide in connection with a mining project and a separate port project. The money would be funneled through Baptiste's non-profit to help hide the bribes. It appears that the $50,000 was never actually paid to the official. Instead, Baptiste used it for personal purposes. However, in a sworn statement in connection with a plea agreement that Baptiste has since indicated he would not honor, Baptiste said that while he had not used the $50,000 to pay the bribes as he had stated he would, he still had intended to use future payments from the undercover agent to pay the bribes.

On October 4, 2017, the DOJ indicted Baptiste in the District of Massachusetts on conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and travel act violations. Baptiste pled not guilty on October 12, 2017.

On October 30, 2018, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment adding Boncy to this case. Boncy pled not guilty on November 29, 2018.

After a trial in June 2019, the jury convicted Baptiste on all charges and Boncy on the FCPA conspiracy charge and acquitted Boncy on the money laundering and travel act charges.

On August 26, 2019, Baptiste made two motions to the court: first, a motion for acquittal, and second, a motion for a new trial. The motion for the new trial was based on ineffective assistance of counsel. On September 4, 2019, Boncy also moved for acquittal or, in the alternative, a new trial.

On March 11, 2020, the court granted both defendants motions for new trials. In the case of Baptiste, the court found that his counsel had been ineffective, which had prejudiced his trial, and the case of Boncy, the court held that due to Baptiste's ineffective counsel, Boncy's counsel was forced to play an outsized role in the trial which prevented him from presenting his preferred defense strategy for Boncy. The DOJ appealed the court's ruling, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of a new trial.

On June 27, 2022, the DOJ moved to dismiss with prejudice the superseding indictment on the grounds that exculpatory evidence previously thought to be lost was found by the FBI. On June 28, 2022, the court granted the motion.

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