Eighteen suspects were transferred to Miami in the Moïse case.

A transfer of custody and an unsealed indictment are process and accusation, not convictions. Around Sunday and Monday, Sept. 21–22, 2026, eighteen suspects in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were transferred from Haitian custody to Miami to face U.S. federal charges. They made, or were set for, first appearances in Miami federal court. A first appearance is a hearing. It is not a finding.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida assert jurisdiction because the conspiracy was allegedly organized and financed in South Florida, including alleged use of fraudulent COVID-19 PPP loans. Those are prosecution assertions. They are not findings that any of these eighteen organized the plot, financed it, or used those loans. The charges include conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person abroad and wire fraud. A charge is an accusation. An unsealed indictment does not become a verdict because the defendants were moved into U.S. custody.

FBI Director Kash Patel, speaking to Fox News, described the transfer as the largest foreign transfer of custody in FBI history. That is a reported description of the transfer's scale. It is not a court finding. Four ringleaders were already convicted in Miami in May and face life. Those are separate judgments in other files. They are not today's case for these eighteen, and another defendant's conviction is not proof against any of them. These eighteen are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.