By Wilder Sylvain, Ayibopost, August 24, 2026
Gang leader Christ-Roy “Krisla” Chery owns his own borlette bank, called New York New York, as well as an online sports betting company, reveals Mounson Jean, commercial director of the Haitian State Lottery (LEH), to AyiboPost.
Two other sources in the Fontamara district, the stronghold of the caïd, confirm to AyiboPost the existence of the companies.
At least two gang leaders from the Viv Ansanm coalition are using the gambling sector in Haiti, particularly to launder money from their criminal activities, AyiboPost has learned.
A source at LEH goes further. According to her, Haitian personalities, including gang leaders, use "paryaj" companies and borlette banks to launder dirty money from kidnapping, corruption, drug trafficking or extortion activities.
Once integrated into the legitimate financial circuit, this money can be used to purchase goods, distributed to accomplices whose participation in the crime is not publicly known, or leave the country to finance the purchase of weapons, among other things.
Gang leader Christ-Roy “Krisla” Chery owns his own borlette bank, called New York New York, as well as an online sports betting company, reveals Mounson Jean, commercial director of the Haitian State Lottery (LEH), to AyiboPost.
Because of the inadequacy of measures taken against money laundering and terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — a major intergovernmental organization created in 1989 to combat these scourges — threatens to place Haitian banks on its blacklist , which would lead to their exclusion from the international financial system.
The FATF has placed Haiti on its grey list since June 2021. This list, updated on June 19, 2026, includes 22 countries, including Syria and Yemen, subject to increased monitoring in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
When the FATF places a jurisdiction under enhanced surveillance, "it means that the country has committed to rapidly resolving the identified strategic deficiencies within the agreed timeframe and is subject to enhanced surveillance," the organization explains on its website.
Read more: The "lottery sector", a money laundering machine for kidnapping in Haiti?
In its update, the FATF accuses Haiti of having exhausted all its deadlines without implementing all the measures that would have removed the country from the list of high-risk countries. The institution acknowledges progress, but calls on the authorities to track down money laundering and bring those responsible to justice.
In this context, the gambling sector appears as one of the vulnerable links in the Haitian system for combating illicit financial flows.
The LEH leadership laments the lack of an adequate legal framework, preventing the institution, for example, from verifying the turnover figures of "paryaj" companies or regulating them.
Due to the lack of an up-to-date and clear legal framework, LEH cannot fully intervene in this type of situation, argues Mounson Jean, commercial director of the institution, during an interview with AyiboPost.
The number of borlette banks in Haiti is around 300,000, according to data provided by Jean.
Many of these companies operate in opacity, which raises questions about the nature of the funds circulating within them.
Between 2024 and 2025, several meetings brought together officials from the Haitian State Lottery, the United States Embassy in Port-au-Prince, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to discuss the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing linked to gambling companies, according to Jean.
AyiboPost contacted the US embassy via email. This article will be updated if the institution responds.
Authorities have already closed borlette banks belonging to Krisla in the South, according to Jean, who added that the gang leader's business was not properly registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Another person subsequently registered a new company under the same name, the official told AyiboPost. It is unclear whether this person has any connection to the gang leader accused of murder, kidnapping, and rape, who recently introduced an illegal tax on homes in Carrefour.
Read more: Krisla introduces an illegal tax per household at Carrefour
These cases illustrate the difficulties faced by the authorities in controlling a sector in which some operators escape regulation.
In July 2019, AyiboPost published an investigation into the war between the National Association of Borlette Operators (ANTB) and the Haitian State Lottery for control of gambling businesses in Haiti.
The sector is among the non-financial activities with the highest level of risk in terms of money laundering and terrorist financing, according to a national risk assessment report on money laundering and terrorist financing by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
The document, consulted by AyiboPost and citing data provided by LEH, lists 126 gambling houses operating in Haiti.
But behind these officially identified establishments lies a network that is much more difficult to quantify.
The report highlights that "there is an uncertain number of unregulated and unsupervised lottery operators operating within a popular, nationwide, unlicensed lottery system in the gaming sector, privately managed by a significant number of operators."
The gambling sector is therefore part of the designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs), a category which includes activities that handle funds or can facilitate sensitive financial transactions.
Contacted by AyiboPost, Me Laurent Théralien, coordinator at the general directorate of the Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF), points out that the risks of money laundering do not only concern games of chance.
"There are petrol stations, the informal sector, among others, which are at high risk," he points out.
The lawyer specifies that UCREF has already transmitted several reports related to money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Haiti to the Haitian justice system.
But the legal proceedings remain limited. "Only two cases have been heard by the Haitian justice system so far," adds Mr. Théralien.
Posted Oct.18, 2026