The US government has imposed sanctions on a former president of the Chamber of Deputies in Haiti, Gary Bodeau, for his alleged role in corrupt activities that are destabilizing the country’s political and economic systems.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took the action several months after Canada imposed similar sanctions against Bodeau, former Haitian president Michel Martelly, and Martelly’s two prime ministers Laurent Lamothe and Jean-Henry Céant.

According to OFAC, Bodeau embezzled state assets, expropriated private property for personal gain, and took part in corruption related to government contracts, natural resources extraction, and bribes. He solicited bribes worth millions of dollars to make political appointments and also solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars from senior officials in exchange for his political support.

The US Treasury Department said that corruption in Haiti has reached such a level that it threatens the stability of international political and economic systems. Canada already sanctioned Bodeau in November 2022, along with Martelly, Lamothe, and Céant, for allegedly providing illicit financial and operational support to armed gangs behind violence in Haiti.

Bodeau now joins the American list of sanctioned individuals, which includes former senators Youry Latortue, Joseph Lambert, Rony Celestin, and Richard Hervé Fourcand for having abused their power to continue drug trafficking activities in the Caribbean region.

Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement that corrupt officials like Bodeau have created an environment that allows illegal armed gangs and their supporters to inflict violence on the Haitian people. The sanctions of Canada and the United States come after the Haitian government asked the international community for a foreign force to help confront armed bandits and the humanitarian crisis threatening the lives of the Haitian people.