MIRAMAR, Fla. – A somber ceremony took place in Haiti Thursday as people came together to pay tribute to the late President Jovenel Moise with another planned in Miami’s Little Haiti in the evening.
The memorials took place a day before the president’s funeral. It’s been more than two weeks since Moise was assassinated at his home. His wife was also injured and was brought to South Florida for treatment. At least 26 people, some with connections to South Florida, have been arrested in connection with the plot.
And now, we are learning that a Weston mortgage broker and insurance agent who also makes loans is under scrutiny for his role in possibly funding the operation to kill Haiti’s president.
Walter Veintemilla, the president of Worldwide Capital Lending Group, Worldwide Mortgage Lending Group, WWIDG, Ultimate Insurance Group, may have funded those that played a part in the assassination. Haitian authorities contend that the money for the assassination plot flowed through Veintemilla and his Miramar-based company.
But his attorney, Robert Nicholson of Fort Lauderdale, told the Miami Herald that his client brokered a loan to help create a peaceful transition of power in Haiti and nothing else.
“My client had nothing to do with the assassination,” Nicholson, a former assistant US attorney, told the newspaper. “At no time was there any discussion or suggestion of a plan involving a violent overthrow of the Haitian government or the assassination of the president. "
We wanted to ask Veintemilla for ourselves. So, we went to his offices hoping to speak with him about a loan he allegedly made to Christian Emmanuel Sanon, the physician and pastor who had ambitions to be president without being elected. And, also the money Veintemilla may have ponied up to Doral firm, GTU Security, which reportedly put together the team of Colombian commandos.
When we went to the door of the nondescript building that houses Worldwide Capital Lending Group, a grandiose name for a mortgage, insurance and loan company, the person on the speaker said Veintemilla wasn’t available.
They said they would give him our message. We tried several times to reach out to Veintemilla and Nicholson. They did not get back to us.