Haiti Observateur - Haiti Observer Blog

Will Leo Joseph and Haiti Observateur do it?

Leo Joseph who is the owner of the popular newspaper Haiti Observateur agreed to the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against them by Laurent Lamothe at a price.

In exchange for the dismissal and under the penalty of perjury, the newspaper agreed to publish a sworn declaration by Michael Charles. The declaration should clearly state that the allegations against Mr. Lamothe and Mr. Baker were completely fabricated

US District Court Judge John O'Sullivan entered an order approving a settlement between the parties on Monday, October 28, 2013.

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Leo Joseph, the owner of the Haiti Observateur Group has agreed to the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against them by the Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and Patrice Baker, Lamothe's former business partner. The Haitian Prime Minister Lamothe and Baker sued the online paper in 2012 for publishing an article that alleged them for pressuring "Haitel", a bankrupt telecom company, to sell its assets below market price to an investment company named 'Nord Citadel' who was seeking investment opportunities in Haiti.

The main allegation against Lamothe and Baker was that they forced Nord Citadel to make a down payment as full purchase price to buy the assets of Haitel for $25 million though its market value was somewhere around $80 million. The online paper published the story, as per their earlier declaration, on the basis of an interview with Michael Charles, the founder and managing partner of Nord Citadel.

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U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro, lifted the ban - a controversial decision - she imposed on Joseph, a Haitian-American journalist. Leo Joseph, who owns Haiti Observateur, was banned from writing on Laurent Lamothe and South Florida based businessman Patrice Baker. Joseph was prohibited by Ungaro from writing on political, personal and professional life of either man after Joseph was sued by Lamothe and Baker on account of publishing malicious and false reports about the role played by Lamothe in selling a telecommunications company.

Back tracking on the ruling, Judge Ursula Ungaro lifted the ban on Joseph in a mea culpa in three parts and thereby granted the First Amendment rights to Joseph. Scott Ponce, the attorney of Leo Joseph, said that this ruling is favorable to all. Scott said, 'T'he First Amendment says you can't have an order prohibiting you from speaking on a subject. It was an important ruling to get the prior restraint set aside.'

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Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe won what, to some, was an unsurprising victory in his libel suit against New York based website Haiti Observateur. In two articles published in August of 2012 the website, through its reporter Leo Joseph, extended theories about the prime minister and his business partner Patrice Baker's role in the sale of the telecommunications company Haitel that U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro has now declared to be false and malicious.

The articles posited that the company, which shut down after an inability to pay its debts, was bought by the Haitian government in a deal brokered by Lamothe in which he fixed its sale price of $25 million, and positioned himself to receive, what they described as, the 'lion's share' of the profit. Upon noting the libelous nature of the articles Lamothe and Baker filed a lawsuit in September 2012, citing the damage done to their political and business profiles after the implications of corruption and conspiracy made by Joseph and the newspaper which has reported its weekly circulation within the Haitian Diaspora to reach 75,000.

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According to Haitian newspaper Haiti Observateur, Haitian businessman Clifford Brandt who is currently jailed for his involvement in the kidnapping of two Moscosso children, made revelations that are disturbing to the current presidential family as well as some other influential members of the Haitian society.

The newspaper cited U.S. officials who participated in the interrogation of Clifford Brandt and also French authorities who have been investigating another gang leader Amaral Duclona.

According to Haiti Observateur Clifford Brandt he is not the leader of the gang. He claims that he is number 5 down in the Kidnapping network. Above him comes directly Olivier Martelly who is number 6. Mr. Olivier Martelly is one of the sons of the current Haitian President Michel Martelly. It was further declared that the wife of the President was a direct beneficiary of Clifford Brandt kidnapping network. This comes in direct contributions of Clifford Brandt to help fund their various projects.

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