Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport — Reported Arrest Before Haiti Flight
Wesler Jean Baptiste was arrested at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on September 15, 2026, as he was about to board a flight to Haiti. FBI Airport Liaison Agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers made the arrest in a federal case stemming from pandemic-relief funds prosecutors allege he obtained fraudulently.
Baptiste, who ran for the Haitian Senate representing the Artibonite department in 2016, was charged in an indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida on June 26, 2025, according to Le Floridien. The indictment contains seven wire-fraud counts and one money-laundering count. Le Floridien reports that the indictment remained unexecuted for more than a year before agents acted on a time-sensitive alert and arrested him at the airport…