Gang leader Krisla operates an online sports “paryaj” business and borlette banks, authorities tell AyiboPost
Gang leader Christ-Roy “Krisla” Chery owns his own borlette bank, called New-York New-York, as well as an online sports “paryaj” business, Mounson Jean, commercial director of the Haitian State Lottery (LEH), tells AyiboPost.
Two other sources in the Fontamara neighborhood, the gang leader’s stronghold, confirm to AyiboPost the existence of the businesses.
At least two gang leaders from the Viv Ansanm coalition make use of Haiti’s gambling sector, including to launder money obtained from their criminal activities, AyiboPost has learned.
A source at the LEH goes further. Haitian figures, including gang leaders, use “paryaj” businesses and borlette banks to launder dirty money obtained from kidnapping, corruption, drug trafficking or extortion, according to the source.
Once integrated into the legitimate financial system, 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, among other things, finance the purchase of weapons.
Because of insufficient measures taken against money laundering and terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — an important intergovernmental organization created in 1989 to combat these scourges — is threatening 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 gray list since June 2021. The 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 increased monitoring, “it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring,” the organization explains on its website.
In its update, the FATF accuses Haiti of having exhausted all of its deadlines without implementing all the measures that would have removed the country from the list of countries at risk. The institution recognizes progress, but calls on authorities to track down dirty money and prosecute those responsible.
In this context, the gambling sector appears to be one of the vulnerable links in Haiti’s system for combating illicit financial flows.
LEH leadership deplores the absence of an adequate legal framework, preventing the institution, for example, from verifying the revenues of “paryaj” businesses or regulating them.
Because of the absence of an up-to-date and clear legal framework, the LEH cannot fully intervene in this type of situation, says Mounson Jean, the institution’s commercial director, during an interview with AyiboPost.
According to data provided by Jean, the number of borlette banks stands at approximately 300,000 in Haiti.
A large part of these businesses operates opaquely, raising questions about the nature of the funds circulating through them.
Between 2024 and 2025, several meetings brought together officials from the Haitian State Lottery, the U.S. 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 businesses, according to Mounson Jean.
AyiboPost contacted the U.S. Embassy by email. This article will be updated if the institution responds.
Authorities have already shut down borlette banks belonging to Krisla in the South, according to Jean, who specified that the gang leader’s business was not properly registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Another person subsequently registered a new business under the same name, the official tells AyiboPost. It is unclear whether this person has ties to the gang leader who has been accused of murders, kidnappings and rapes and who recently introduced an illegal tax on homes in Carrefour.
These cases illustrate the difficulties authorities face in controlling a sector in which some operators evade regulation.
In July 2019, AyiboPost published an investigation into the dispute between the National Association of Borlette Operators (ANTB) and the Haitian State Lottery over control of gambling businesses in Haiti.
The sector is among the non-financial activities presenting 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 from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
The document, consulted by AyiboPost and citing data provided by the LEH, identifies 126 gambling houses operating in Haiti.
But behind these officially identified establishments lies a network that is much more difficult to quantify.
The report notes that there “is an uncertain number of unregulated and unsupervised borlette operators operating within a popular, national and unlicensed lottery system in the gambling sector, privately managed by a significant number of operators.”
The gambling sector therefore falls among designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs), a category that includes, among other activities, those that handle funds or can facilitate sensitive financial transactions.
Contacted by AyiboPost, Me Laurent Théralien, coordination director of the Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF), points out that money-laundering risks are not limited to gambling.
“There are gas stations, the informal sector, among others, that are high-risk,” he says.
The legal expert explains that the UCREF has already forwarded several reports related to money laundering and terrorist financing in Haiti to the Haitian justice system.
But judicial follow-up remains limited. “Only two cases have been heard by the Haitian justice system so far,” Me Théralien adds.
By : Wilder Sylvain
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