Haitian ex-mayor guilty of US visa fraud linked to torture
By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) - A former Haitian mayor was convicted on Friday of U.S. charges that he had lied about having led a brutal campaign to kill and torture his political opponents in order to secure a green card allowing him to reside in the United States.
Jean Morose Viliena, now a lawful permanent U.S. resident who at the time of his indictment in 2023 was working as a truck driver and living in Malden, Massachusetts, was found guilty by a federal jury in Boston of three counts of visa fraud.
Prosecutors announced those charges a day after a different jury in a civil case ordered the former mayor of the rural Haitian town of Les Irois to pay $15.5 million to three Haitians who accused him of persecuting them or their families.
Viliena, 52, is appealing that earlier verdict and has argued he is innocent. Chief U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor scheduled sentencing for June 20. Viliena's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Both the criminal and civil case shed a light on the widespread violence that has plagued Haiti.
Prosecutors said that in applying for a visa in 2008, Viliena had affirmed on a form that he had not "ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people."
In fact, Viliena, after being elected to a four-year term as mayor of Les Irois in December 2006, personally committed or ordered the maiming, harm, humiliation or death of his adversaries, prosecutors alleged.
They said the victims include the three Haitians who pursued the earlier lawsuit, David Boniface, Juders Yseme and Nissage Martyr.
That case was filed in 2017 under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows for U.S. lawsuits against foreign officials accused of extrajudicial killings or torture when avenues for redress in their home countries are exhausted.
Prosecutors said Viliena in 2007 led a group of armed men to Boniface's home who then beat and fatally shot his brother, and later mobilized a group in 2008 that beat and shot Martyr and Yseme at a community radio station.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
British tycoon Mike Lynch's sunken Bayesian superyacht raised towards surface ahead of final lift — 10 months after tragedy
Salvage experts winched Mike Lynch's sunken superyacht towards the surface on Friday, 10 months after it went down off the coast of Sicily, killing the British tech tycoon, his teenage daughter and five others. The vessel is scheduled to be lifted out of the water in the final phase of the recovery on Saturday, TMC Marine, the company leading the salvage operation, said. 'Accelerated progress in salvage works off the coast of northern Sicily mean that all preparations are now nearing completion, ahead of the delicate lifting procedure,' the statement said. 7 Officials recover the 'Bayesian' yacht off the coast of Sicily on June 20, 2025. REUTERS The work was briefly halted last month after the death of a diver involved in the operation. The 184-foot Bayesian was moored off the small port of Porticello, near Palermo, in August last year when it sank during a sudden storm. The yacht was vulnerable to violent winds and was probably knocked over by gusts of more than 73 miles per hour, an interim UK report said last month. The recovery process has been made easier after the vessel's 236-foot mast was detached using a remote-controlled cutting tool and placed on the seabed on Tuesday. The hull of the yacht has been supported by a specially designed steel wire lifting arrangement which is, in turn, attached to a floating lifting asset. 7 The vessel is scheduled to be lifted out of the water in the final phase of the recovery on Saturday. AFP via Getty Images 7 The measurements of the Bayesian superyacht. NY Post Composite 7 Surveillance video captured the yacht in a storm before it sank on Aug. 19, 2024. The vessel is between two barges supplied by Hebo Maritimeservice, a Dutch specialist salvage company. The salvage experts are now reinforcing the cables because the yacht will be heavier once pulled out of the water, a source at the Italian coast guard said. The yacht is expected to be transported to the nearby port of Termini Imerese on Monday and handed over to the authorities who are investigating the tragedy. 7 Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah Lynch. FAMILY HANDOUT 7 Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer. FAMILY HANDOUT 7 Chef Recaldo Thomas. @ Lynch's daughter Hannah, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and chef Recaldo Thomas were killed when the yacht sank. Nine other crew members and six guests were rescued.
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Israel and Iran exchange fresh volley of attacks after Tehran rejects US talks
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON, June 21 – Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear program while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive. Shortly after 2:30 a.m. in Israel, the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel's air defense systems responded. At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said. Israeli air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday. AP Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts. There were no initial reports of casualties. The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-story residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this. Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based human rights organization that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. People spend the night in a public shelter as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday. AP In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side.
Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Former mayor from Haiti sentenced to nine years for visa fraud
During Friday's sentencing, Viliena's attorney, Jason Benzaken, maintained his client's innocence and asked for leniency because it was his first criminal conviction. Benzaken did not respond to a request for comment Friday night. Until his arrest two years ago, Viliena had Advertisement 'Today's sentence brings a measure of justice for the lives he shattered and sends a clear message: the United States will not be a safe haven for human rights abusers.' Viliena was also Advertisement Viliena served as mayor of Les Irois from December 2006 until at least February 2010, Foley's office said. Prosecutors detailed a pattern of violence and intimidation linked to his time in office during the two-week trial that led to his conviction. Both during his campaign and tenure, Viliena committed numerous violent acts backed by Korega, a hardline political faction notorious for attacking journalists, activists, and opponents, the statement said. In 2007, Viliena allegedly led a mob targeting David Boniface, a witness who testified against him. When they found only Boniface's younger brother, Eclesiaste, at home, Viliena and his men shot and killed him. One attacker 'smashed his skull with a large rock before a crowd of bystanders,' the statement said. In 2008, when local activists and journalists launched a community radio station, Viliena and his allies forcibly shut it down. He armed Korega members—some carrying machetes and picks—and personally led the attack, according to the statement. Viliena pistol-whipped and punched one victim, Nissage Martyr, and when Martyr tried to flee, ordered an associate to shoot him. Martyr was hit in the leg and later had it amputated above the knee. Another victim, Juders Ysemé, was shot in the face and left permanently blind in one eye, according to Foley's office. In 2009, as Haitian investigators probed these actions, Viliena fled to Malden on a legal visa. After being indicted in Haiti in 2010, he skipped trial, and no in absentia proceedings occurred, according to a Advertisement Boniface, Martyr, and Ysemé filed the civil suit in 2017 under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows victims to seek justice in U.S. courts when denied in their home countries, Foley's office said. Both Boniface and Ysemé testified at Viliena's criminal trial as well. Boniface broke down on the stand when shown a photo of his brother's bloodied body. 'This is the picture of my brother who Jean Morose and his group assassinated,' he said, speaking in Haitian Creole, the Globe On Friday, Viliena's attorney argued for a lighter sentence for his client. 'Mr. Viliena has never been convicted of a crime and therefore this is his first incarceration,' said Benzaken. 'It has been a jarring and destabilizing experience for him, and 33 months of imprisonment is significantly impactful to him.' The court rejected those arguments. In addition to the nine-year prison term, Viliena was sentenced to three years of supervised release and faces deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence, according to Foley's office. Rita Chandler can be reached at
