The widow of assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse received compensation of several million dollars by a Miami judge, reports the Miami Herald in an article published this Friday, June 7, 2024.
Martine Moïse, 50, received $5,305,387 from U.S. District Judge José Martinez for her hospital bills, travel and security services she hired when she returned to Haiti 10 days later, reveals Florida newspaper. His restitution was jointly recommended by federal prosecutors and defense lawyers after lengthy negotiations, the newspaper points out in its article.
According to the Florida media outlet, the late president’s eldest son, Joverlein Moïse, who lives in Quebec, Canada, received $865,396. The judge’s order does not specify why the six defendants were ordered to compensate their son, who was not present in the house at the time of the murder.
However, the newspaper recalls that the president’s son filed a request with a court in Port-au-Prince to join the investigation, which, under Haitian law, allows a person injured by a crime to seek damages from the authors.
Martine Moïse’s South Florida lawyer, Paul Turner, called a Haitian magistrate’s allegations “absurd” and “politically motivated,” saying she had no “knowledge progress” of the assassination, reports the Miami Herald.
According to the newspaper, in the restitution agreement filed last week in Miami federal court, Martinez did not identify the widow and eldest son in his final decision. They are listed as “Victim 1” and “Victim 2.” But the Miami Herald learned from the widow’s lawyer that Martine Moïse was the first victim; other people familiar with the matter say that Moses’ eldest son, Joverlein, is the second.
Turner said he provided the team of federal prosecutors with receipts for the widow’s medical treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital as well as other expenses related to her travel and security, calling the amount restitution of “compromise”, reports the Herald.
Also according to the Florida media outlet, Paul Turner said that he and Martine Moïse, who currently lives in South Florida, were grateful that a settlement was reached between prosecutors and defense attorneys rather than forcing her to testify about hospital bills and other expenses at a hearing before a federal judge in Miami.
“We’re glad we don’t have to do that,” Turner told the Herald. “We didn’t want to argue about it and she didn’t want to go to court.” We still do not know what hospital payment arrears Martine Moïse has incurred. Documents obtained by the Miami Herald show that the Haitian government, in the days following the killing, spent more than $330,000 on the family’s medical care and private air transportation.
The Herald revealed that on July 7, the Haitian embassy in Washington wired $100,000 to a Citibank account at the Haitian consulate in Miami for the first lady’s medical expenses. A separate letter from the Haitian Foreign Ministry written to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince confirmed the transfer of funds and said it was to support the First Lady’s airlift.
Separately, half a dozen men convicted of plotting to assassinate the Haitian president must pay his widow and eldest son $6.2 million in compensation for their loss, according to the restitution order issued by a federal judge in a criminal case in Miami, the newspaper said.
