US indicts Haitian gang leader ‘Barbecue,’ offers $5 million for his capture

The United States has unsealed an indictment charging Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, known as “Barbecue,” and a U.S.-based associate with conspiring to transfer funds from the United States to finance gang operations in Haiti in violation of U.S. sanctions.

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The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., accuses Cherizier, 48, of Port-au-Prince, and Bazile Richardson, also 48, of leading a scheme involving individuals in the U.S., Haiti, and elsewhere to raise money for Cherizier’s gang activities. Richardson, a naturalized U.S. citizen also known as Fredo, Fred Lion, Leo Danger, and Lepe Blode, was arrested July 23 in Pasadena, Texas, and appeared in court Tuesday in the District of Columbia. Cherizier remains a fugitive believed to be in Haiti.

The U.S. Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering up to $5 million for information leading to Cherizier’s arrest or conviction.

“Cherizier and a U.S. associate sought to raise funds in the United States to bankroll Cherizier’s violent criminal enterprise, which is driving a security crisis in Haiti,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “The National Security Division does not tolerate criminal gang fundraising in the United States, and will continue to pursue those who enable Haiti’s violence and instability.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia described Cherizier as “a gang leader responsible for heinous human rights abuses, including violence against American citizens in Haiti,” citing his role in the 2018 La Saline massacre, in which 71 people were killed, more than 400 houses destroyed, and at least seven women raped. “Our office is committed to keeping Americans safe anywhere in the world, and the gang violence that has ravaged Haiti must end,” Pirro said.

Authorities say that since being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in December 2020 under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Cherizier and Richardson solicited money transfers from members of the Haitian diaspora in the United States. The funds, sent to intermediaries in Haiti, were allegedly used to pay gang members’ salaries and purchase firearms from illicit dealers.

FBI Acting Assistant Director Darren Cox said the bureau is “dismantling” foreign terrorist organizations, including Cherizier’s gang, “through intelligence, partnerships, and the full weight of federal law.” Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd M. Lyons called Cherizier’s actions “unconscionable” and said the indictment marks “a step towards accountability.”

The State Department said Cherizier leads Viv Ansanm, a gang alliance designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in May 2025, and called him “a central figure responsible for gang violence in Haiti” and “directly involved in the mass murder and rape of Haitian civilians.”

The FBI Miami Field Office and HSI Washington Field Office are leading the investigation.

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