By DÁNICA COTO and ASHRAF KHALIL, Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders and a U.S. citizen accused of conspiring with him to violate U.S. sanctions and fund gang activities in the troubled Caribbean country, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Jimmy Chérizier, best known as “Barbecue,” is a leader of a gang federation called Viv Ansanm that the U.S. designated as a foreign terrorist organization in May.

Chérizier lives in Haiti, and the U.S. is offering up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Chris Landberg, a senior U.S. State Department official, said Chérizier’s “reign of terror and mass violence against Haiti must end.”

But Jake Johnston, author of “Aid State” and international research director at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, questioned the government’s reason for offering a bounty.

“This is a guy who is giving international media interviews regularly. I don’t think the issue is being able to find him,” Johnston said, adding that the indictment doesn’t represent a threat to Chérizier since he lives in Haiti. “It’s hard to see how it’ll have much of an effect.”

A policeman turned gang leader

Chérizier is a former elite police officer who was fired in December 2018 and was later accused of organizing large-scale massacres in the slums of Grand Ravine in 2017, in La Saline in 2018 and in Bel-Air in 2019. More than 100 people were killed in the massacres, which Chérizier has denied organizing.

“Haiti is a hotspot right now … there is incredible violence going on there,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday, calling La Saline killings “notorious because (Chérizier) both planned and participated” in the slaughter.

In June 2020, Chérizier created the “ G9 Family and Allies,” an alliance that grew from nine gangs in lower Delmas and the Cite Soleil and La Saline slums to include more than a dozen gangs, according to a U.N. Security Council report.

The alliance was blamed for the killings of some 145 people in Cite Soleil and the rape of multiple women.

In December 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department issued civil sanctions against Chérizier and others accused of being involved in the massacres.

The G-9 alliance later became part of the Viv Ansanm gang federation created in September 2023 that saw the merging of Haiti’s two biggest gangs that were once bitter enemies: G-9 and G- Pèp.

Since then, the federation has taken control of 90% of Port-au-Prince. It launched multiple attacks on key government infrastructure in February 2024 and raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. It also forced Haiti’s main international airport to close for nearly three months.

The surge in violence led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was locked out of his country while on an official visit to Kenya.

The gang federation continues to attack once peaceful communities in Port-au-Prince, and it is accused of helping gangs in Haiti’s central region.

‘We want to change everything’

Also indicted is Bazile Richardson, whom officials say is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who grew up with Chérizier and lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Both are accused of leading a “wide-ranging conspiracy” by directly soliciting money transfers from members of the Haitian diaspora to raise funds for Chérizier’s gang activities in Haiti, according to the indictment. It stated that the money was used to pay the salaries of gang members and buy weapons from illegal dealers in Haiti. Most of the firearms are smuggled in from the U.S. since Haiti does not produce weapons.

According to the indictment, there are two other unnamed co-conspirators from Haiti who live in New York and Massachusetts, and five others who live in Haiti.

Chérizier could not be immediately reached for comment. It was not immediately clear if Richardson had an attorney.

The indictment noted that Chérizier and Richardson have acknowledged the sanctions against Chérizier, adding that the alleged conspiracy began around December 2020 and continued through January of this year.

One voice memo that an unidentified co-conspirator in Haiti allegedly sent to Richardson stated: “If I have backup, we will take the power, and you will be able to come back to your country. You will need to serve in the new government.”

Richardson forwarded the alleged memo to Chérizier in June 2022, nearly a year after former President Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence.

Another person identified only as a Haitian co-conspirator allegedly sent a voice memo to Richardson saying, “we want to start a revolution in Haiti and are trying to collect funds.” Part of the plan was to have 1,000 individuals give $20 each or 1 million Haitians abroad give $1 each, as well as collect money from 1,000 people for each of Haiti’s 10 regions, according to the indictment.

“With this money, they can buy pick-up trucks, weapons, ammunition, clothing to include T-shirts, boots and hats. We want to change everything in Haiti,” according to one alleged voice memo.

In June 2021, Chérizier held a press conference announcing the start of a revolution.

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A crackdownon violence

The indictment comes as gang violence continues to surge in Haiti’s capital and beyond, with gunmen kidnapping an Irish missionary and seven other people, including a 3-year-old, from an orphanage earlier this month.

The office of Haiti’s prime minister did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the indictment.

Johnston said the broader strategy in the fight against gangs remains unclear.

“It does seem like there’s sort of an escalatory framework happening both in Haiti and the U.S.,” he said. “Where does that actually go?”

Darren Cox, acting assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said the bureau’s Miami office is leading the effort to apprehend Chérizier.

“The FBI is focused more than ever on crushing violent crime,” Cox said. “There is no safe haven for them, or the people like them.”

Khalil reported from Washington, D.C.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America’s balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers.

The $37 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report issued Tuesday which logs the nation’s daily finances.

The national debt eclipsed $37 trillion years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2020 projections had gross federal debt eclipsing $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030. But the debt grew faster than expected because of a multi-year COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 that shut down much of the U.S. economy, where the federal government borrowed heavily under then-President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden to stabilize the national economy and support a recovery.

And now, more government spending has been approved after Trump signed into law Republicans’ tax cut and spending legislation earlier this year. The law set to add $4.1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.

Chair and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Michael Peterson said in a statement that government borrowing puts upward pressure on interest rates, “adding costs for everyone and reducing private sector investment. Within the federal budget, the debt crowds out important priorities and creates a damaging cycle of more borrowing, more interest costs, and even more borrowing.”

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Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution said Congress has a major role in setting in motion spending and revenue policy and the result of the Republicans’ tax law “means that we’re going to borrow a lot over the course of 2026, we’re going to borrow a lot over the course of 2027, and it’s just going to keep going.”

The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impacts of rising government debt on Americans — including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services.

Peterson points out how the trillion-dollar milestones are “piling up at a rapid rate.”

The U.S. hit $34 trillion in debt in January 2024, $35 trillion in July 2024 and $36 trillion in November 2024. “We are now adding a trillion more to the national debt every 5 months,” Peterson said. “That’s more than twice as fast as the average rate over the last 25 years.”

The Joint Economic Committee estimates at the current average daily rate of growth an increase of another trillion dollars to the debt would be reached in approximately 173 days.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in a statement that “hopefully this milestone is enough to wake up policymakers to the reality that we need to do something, and we need to do it quickly.”

Newcomer musician/songwriter Kris Kollins will play the Kid, aka a semi-autobiographical version of Prince, in the upcoming “Purple Rain” musical, producers announced Tuesday. Broadway vet Rachel Webb was cast as his love interest, Apollonia.

Tickets for the world premiere production, which opens in previews Oct. 16 and runs through Nov. 16 at Minneapolis’ State Theatre, are on sale now via Ticketmaster. Producers plan to move the show to Broadway after its local run.

Also Tuesday, Hennepin Arts posted a video to YouTube showing Kollins and Webb singing “Take Me with U” as a duet, with Kollins accompanying on piano.

Casting director Taylor Williams discovered Kollins on social media as part of a nationwide search. The Washington D.C.-based musician released his first EP, “Pistachio,” last year. He’s making his professional stage debut in “Purple Rain.”

“From our first encounter with his original music and socials, we were absolutely floored by Kris’s gifts — his musicianship, his voice, his magnetism,” said book writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in a news release. “Over the past couple of years of building this show with him, we have been blown away again and again by the depths of his talent and dedication. He is clearly such a star, and we are so lucky because there are probably no bigger shoes to fill in the theater right now.”

Kris Kollins will play the Kid and Rachel Webb will play Apollonia in the upcoming “Purple Rain” musical. (Courtesy of Jon Hanks and Shelby Griswold)

Webb recently starred as Juliet in the North American tour of “& Juliet” following her appearance in the original Broadway company. She has also toured alongside Kristin Chenoweth in “For the Girls.”

“When Rachel Webb walked into auditions for an early reading several years ago, she really blew us away. She is a stunning presence with an incredible voice, who inspired us to really reimagine what was possible for the role of Apollonia,” said director Lileana Blain-Cruz.

The musical features a story, music and lyrics by Prince; a book by two-time Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient Jacobs-Jenkins, based on the original screenplay by Albert Magnoli and William Blinn; choreography by Ebony Williams; and direction by Tony Award-nominee Blain-Cruz.

Tony Award winner Jason Michael Webb is the production’s music supervisor and will also provide musical arrangements and orchestrations for the production. Longtime Prince music collaborators Bobby Z and Morris Hayes will serve as music advisers.

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Minnesota expects to pay the Internal Revenue Service about $6.8 million — with the final total still subject to IRS calculation — after discovering it mishandled tax rules for health and dental benefits for former spouses of state employees.

Minnesota Management and Budget sent a letter to lawmakers on June 18 requesting the approval of an initial $2.47 million of an estimated $6.8 million in total owed to the IRS. In that letter, MMB said it found an error in February of 2025 with how the state provided insurance coverage for ex-spouses of state employees under the State Employee Group Insurance Program medical and dental insurance plans.

“The total amount due to the IRS will be approximately $6.8 million, subject to final calculation by the IRS,” the letter reads. “MMB intends to draw on a variety of sources to make this payment, including: the MMB general fund appropriation, contributions from other state agencies based on the number of ex-spouses historically covered, and the available balance within the SEGIP administrative fund.”

MMB said in the letter that the state had been following past guidance from state insurance regulators, which required continuation of coverage if, at the time of a divorce, the ex-spouse and one or more children in common were covered.

“These benefits were provided on a pre-tax basis,” the letter says. “MMB determined that those benefits should have been provided on a post-tax basis to comply with federal tax requirements.”

The state is still working on an agreement with the IRS that requires the state to pay the amount equivalent to what the state should have withheld and sent to the IRS for Medicare and Social Security tax contributions and income tax for the last three tax years, according to the letter from MMB.

A separate letter from MMB obtained by Forum News Service to state employees on July 23 says affected employees would be subject to an extra tax in 2025. An example calculation within that letter estimated an extra tax of roughly $583 for those who covered one former spouse on their insurance.

MMB declined to comment on the matter at this time, as negotiations with the IRS are ongoing.

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