Haiti money transfer lawsuit dismissed, fate of $1.50 fee collected remains unclear | EXCLUSIVE 

NEW YORK—A lawsuit that once sought to hold former Haitian officials and financial institutions accountable for a controversial $1.50 surcharge on remittances to Haiti was dismissed in 2023, drawing fresh questions about the fate of the millions collected in fees over the years.

The case, filed in 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, accused former President Michel Martelly, Western Union, CAM, Unibank, Digicel Haiti, and others of conspiring to impose fees on money transfers and phone calls, allegedly under the guise of funding education in Haiti. However, according to court documents obtained this month by The Haitian Times, a federal judge dismissed the case in June 2023. She cited a lack of evidence to support the claims of price-fixing or financial mismanagement.

“In dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims against the Uni Defendants, the Court repeatedly found that there was no evidentiary basis for the allegations,” Judge Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo writes in a 2024 order referring to the 2023 dismissal

”With regard to Plaintiffs’ antitrust claims, this Court found that the “smoking gun” exhibits on which Plaintiffs rested their entire case did not support any involvement by the Uni Defendants in the alleged acts at all,” Kuo states.

Despite the legal outcome, a key question for Haitians — What happened to the millions of dollars collected through the surcharge? — is among several core issues that remain unresolved. The Haitian government began charging a $1.50 flat fee on every money transfer transaction from abroad to fund the National Education Fund (NFE) in 2011. However, Haiti’s schools system remains notoriously underfunded, often subject to closure due to rampant gang violence, and leaving Haitians abroad and in Haiti wondering where the funds went. 

“The judge dismissed the case because the money was well received in the U.S. but not well spent in Haiti,” said Patrick Antoine Saintilmer, coordinator of the Federation of the Syndicalists for the Teachers in the North (FESEN), a labor union representing educators.

Remittance’s long a crucial lifeline 

The Haitian diaspora worldwide sends $3.4 billion to Haiti annually, making up roughly 17% of the country’s annual $19.85 billion gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank. 

Remittances from the U.S., in particular, make up the bulk of the money transfers. Of every $10 remitted to Haiti in 2020, at least $8 came from the U.S., the authors of an Inter-American Dialogue report, State Collapse and the Protection of Remittance Payments: Haiti in 2024, said.

About 1.1 million person-to-person transfers were made to Haiti in 2023, according to the authors. Since 2018, more than 6 million person-to-person transfers went to the country. Based on these figures and the fee, according to the IAD, potentially up to $9 million was generated to support education in Haiti. 

“We heard them talking about construction [of schools] and this and that but us syndicalists, we always denounced this,” Saintilmer said. “It’s corruption. They just did it to find a way to spend the money.”

Lawsuit dismissed, but concerns linger

The lawsuit alleged that the fees, introduced under Martelly’s administration in 2011, were implemented without proper oversight and failed to fund the promised free education program. The plaintiffs, most based in New York, argued that hundreds of millions of dollars were collected from the Haitian diaspora but never accounted for.

However, the court found no concrete evidence that the defendants engaged in price-fixing or misrepresented how the funds were used. The ruling stated that “no competent attorney could believe that the allegations against the Uni Defendants had evidentiary support.”

“Legislature had no input,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Rodney R. Austin, in a 2022 interview. “Had they gone through the proper channels through the Haitian government and, for example, passed a bill wanting to raise it as a tax, I don’t think there would have been an issue.” 

Despite the case’s dismissal in June 2023, attorneys for defendants Unibank and Unitransfer sought to impose sanctions against the plaintiffs, arguing the case was meritless and should never have been filed. In September 2024, the defendants filed a motion to strike declarations made by plaintiffs, claiming they contained “hyperbole, frivolous allegations, and hearsay.” The court had previously instructed plaintiffs to provide financial documentation related to their claims, which the defendants argued they failed to do.

Students and educators in Haiti feel impact 

Over the past several years, Haiti has faced increasing economic hardship. Inflation, food shortages, and worsening security conditions taking root in the capital, Port-au-Prince, have impacted the entire country’s ability to function, with facilities often closing due to violence or parents unable to afford to send children to school.

Steve Jovany Pierre-Louis, a 10th grader at Lycée National Philippe Guerrier in Cap-Haïtien, is among those expressing incredulity about the lawsuit’s dismissal. 

“It’s a fraud,” Pierre-Louis said. “They don’t care about education, even for carnival they’re pouring money, but not for education when it should be the priority.”

On March 10, public school teachers went on strike for higher salaries, timely paychecks, health insurance, and a fair contract, among other demands. They were also on strike in January for weeks, but returned to work after the government promised to meet some of their demands. Also that month, students had took to the streets to protest conditions leading to the teachers’ strike. 

Public school students in Limonade protesting to demand their teachers to report back to work. Teachers have been on strike since Jan. 6. pic.twitter.com/vyobDURDuA

— Onz Chéry / The Haitian Times (@Onz_11) January 20, 2025

Public school teachers are demanding salary adjustments to address disparities among different communes and to keep up with rising living costs in Haiti. On average, teachers in Haiti earn between $137 and $150 per month. The government is often several payments behind.

“Teachers are not getting paid and I feel for them, I agree with them [for going on strike],” Pierre-Louis said. “Politicians are fraudsters. They make beautiful speeches, but I never believe them.”

Key questions unanswered 

With the case dismissed and sanctions pending, it is unlikely that legal action will provide further clarity on the $1.50 remittance fee. However, the underlying concerns remain: 

• How much money in all was collected through the surcharge over the past 14 years?
• Was it properly allocated to Haiti’s education system?
• Will there ever be accountability for its use?

For many Haitians, the answers to these questions remain elusive. As economic conditions deteriorate and trust in institutions erodes, calls for financial transparency are only growing louder.

“While all this is going on we’re the ones getting dumber,” Pierre-Louis said. “That doesn’t make me feel good at all. Private schools are functioning but public schools are going through this.”

The attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendants did not return emails and phone messages from The Haitian Times for comment on the case’s dismissal. Messages sent to education and finance ministries in Haiti also went unanswered.

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Haiti money transfer lawsuit dismissed, fate of $1.50 fee collected remains unclear | EXCLUSIVE  was first posted on March 13, 2025 at 11:39 am.