Phillipe pleads guilty in Miami court
Key Points(5)
- Guy Philippe, has pleaded guilty in a Miami federal court to drug-related, money-laundering and conspiracy charges.
- Phillipe, an elected Haitian senator and former police commander, eluded capture in Haiti for more than a decade.
- If convicted he could spend at least nine years behind bars.
- Philippe was arrested in January.
- He has admitted that he accepted between $1.5 million and $3.5 million in cocaine profits from Colombian traffickers for allowing them to use Haiti to ship cocaine to Miami and other parts of the United States between 1999 and 2003.
Guy Philippe, has pleaded guilty in a Miami federal court to drug-related, money-laundering and conspiracy charges.
Phillipe, an elected Haitian senator and former police commander, eluded capture in Haiti for more than a decade.
If convicted he could spend at least nine years behind bars.
Philippe was arrested in January. He has admitted that he accepted between $1.5 million and $3.5 million in cocaine profits from Colombian traffickers for allowing them to use Haiti to ship cocaine to Miami and other parts of the United States between 1999 and 2003. The following year, Phillipe gained widespread notoriety when he led a revolt to oust Haiti’s president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
By pleading guilty, Philippe avoided the risk of a trial early next month with possible conviction on the main drug-conspiracy charge — and a potential life sentence.
His punishment will be up to U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, who could give him a maximum sentence of 20 years at a hearing set for July 5. But under the federal sentencing guidelines in his plea agreement with prosecutors, Philippe, 49, faces between nine and 11 years in prison.
