News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2005

Haitian Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to Life

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration Miami Field Division, R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Brian J. Wimpling, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Michael S. Clemens, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Jesus Torres, Special Agent in Charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced that Serge Edouard was sentenced after being convicted by a jury of conspiring to import more than 5 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, conspiring to commit money laundering, and nine individual counts of money laundering. Edouard was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment and a forfeiture of $17.6 million.

According to the evidence presented at trial, from 1998 until 2004, Edouard was the head of a large-scale cocaine smuggling organization that imported thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Haiti into Miami and New York. This smuggling organization returned millions of dollars in drug proceeds from the United States back to Edouard in Haiti. Edouard then laundered those drug proceeds in a variety of ways, including paying corrupt high-ranking Haitian officials to protect his drug activities.

“ The DEA’s commitment to bringing these defendants to justice knows no borders,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Trouville. “The sentence handed down by the Court today shows that international borders no longer provide safety and security for drug traffickers. The DEA will continue to aggressively pursue all the members of these drug organizations both domestically and internationally. Today we took a step in the right direction, but it is by no means the end of our journey for justice.”

U.S. Attorney Acosta stated, “Large-scale narcotics prosecutions remain a top federal priority in south Florida. This sentence is a great victory in the war on drugs. By bringing to justice the senior-most leadership of these large scale narcotics operations, we can most effectively work to rid south Florida of narcotics trafficking.”Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the DEA Miami Field Division, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.