MIAMI (AP) — A former Haitian government official and more than a dozen other people appeared Monday in federal court in Miami on charges related to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
Joseph Badio, a former Haiti Ministry of Justice employee, was brought into the Florida court in a wheelchair. The hearing happened a day after he and 17 others described as Colombian mercenaries were flown to the United States from Haiti, where they had been in custody.
They're among 30 people charged in the indictment, including Christian Sanon, a Palm Beach County, Florida, resident and dual Haitian-American citizen who was already preparing to face trial next week. Authorities said he aspired to be Haiti's president.
South Florida served as a central location for planning and financing the plot to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators’ choosing, U.S. authorities have alleged. At least nine people so far have been convicted at trial or through guilty pleas.
Moïse was “assassinated by individuals seeking to profit from illicit financial opportunities and business contracts,” U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones said.
Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince.
In 2025, justice officials in Haiti asked the U.S. and Canada for help after a local court of appeals ordered a new investigation into Moïse’s killing, the third inquiry of its kind since he was shot 12 times at his private residence. His wife, Martine, also was injured in the attack.
The previous investigations were stalled because Haitian judges kept resigning from the case, fearing for their lives, and gangs seized control of the downtown Port-au-Prince courthouse where the judges were interrogating suspects.
Any proceedings in Haiti “continue to face significant difficulties,” the Ministry of Justice and Public Security said Sunday.
The indictment says Badio, who is charged with conspiracy, posed as a U.S. drug agent and participated in Moïse's killing. A lawyer appointed to temporarily represent him could not immediately be reached for comment.
Badio once worked in the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired for alleged ethics violations weeks before the assassination.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid assigned lawyers and set additional court dates during a series of brief dialogues with each of the 18 defendants.
The scheme to kill Moïse included paying mercenaries with money obtained from U.S. government programs that were intended to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the indictment says.
Haiti has not had a president in the five years since Moïse's death. It has instead been overwhelmed by gang violence: More than 3,000 people were killed this year by June and about 1.5 million people were displaced, according to the U.N.
AP writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.
FILE - Colombians and Haitians who are accused of involvement in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise are escorted in handcuffs to their court hearing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)
FILE - Haiti's President Jovenel Moise speaks during an interview at his home in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Feb. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)
CHICAGO (AP) — Twelve states and Hollywood writers challenging Paramount’s buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to settle their lawsuits on Monday, effectively paving the way for the $81 billion mega merger to cross the finish line, with some new commitments from the company. The blockbuster deal will still bring together two of Hollywood’s oldest studios, key TV networks like CBS and CNN and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+, as well as decades-old libraries with titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Top Gun.”
But among terms of Monday’s agreement announced by California Attorney General Rob Bonta — who led the states' case — Paramount pledged to increase film production in the U.S., commit millions of dollars to a fund aimed at supporting workers who are displaced by the merger and establish monitoring of editorial independence of the company’s news operations.
The settlement still needs a final sign-off by a judge. Bonta said Monday's agreement was about “protecting people’s careers, the lives they’ve built here in California, the livelihoods their families rely on" — but he maintained it was not a vote in support of the merger.
“I don’t think these two companies should merge," Bonta said in a Monday press conference. “But that’s not something that we are focused on with our resolution here.”
Paramount CEO David Ellison welcomed the settlement, which he said marked “complete clearance for this merger." He added that "bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery together will build that stronger Hollywood, creating expanded opportunity for our people and even more great entertainment for audiences around the world.”
The coalition of states — including entertainment heavyweights like California and New York — sued to block the merger in July, alleging a Paramount-Warner combo would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly movie theatergoers and cable customers across the U.S.
The Writers Guild of America also filed suit, and both challenges were headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March. The WGA separately confirmed Monday that it settled its case, too.
“We continue to believe the merger will cause damage to writers and the industry at large," the guild said in a statement. “Now that the Attorneys General have settled with Paramount, however, as a nonprofit, the WGA must contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers, with a complex antitrust lawsuit that would cost millions of dollars to pursue through trial.”
The union added that Paramount had agreed to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News for five years and to pay $17.5 million to WGA's health fund, along with attorneys’ fees from the litigation.
Paramount previously agreed to delay its transaction well into next year so the challenges could make their way through court. It then quickly called for a settlement — arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide (including from the Trump administration’s Justice Department ), saying that the states' lawsuit, in particular, was its “final obstacle.”
As reports of the states reaching a settlement with Paramount emerged Monday, critics decried the deal — while warning of what further consolidation could mean in an industry already controlled by just a few major players.
“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and a former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement. “Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”
AP Writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed. Sisak reported from New York.
FILE - The Paramount Pictures water tower is seen in Los Angeles on Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
