NEW YORK, July 29 (UPI) -- New York officials are hailing the conviction of accused former Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant on mortgage fraud charges.
Constant, the one-time leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, was convicted of arranging millions of dollars of fraudulent mortgage financing for properties in New York, CNN reported.
Human rights groups and U.S. State Department contend Constant, as FRAPH's front man, approved the torture, gang rape and killing of thousands of supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide after he fell from power in 1993. Constant denies the charges and he has never been extradited to Haiti to face the accusations, the broadcaster said.
But he could face 15 -45 years in U.S. prison from his mortgage fraud convictions, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.
"Emmanuel Constant will no longer be a menace to our society," Cuomo said in a statement. "Constant is going to jail for harming New Yorkers through an elaborate mortgage scheme. Until he was arrested for mortgage fraud, this lifelong criminal and former leader of a notorious Haitian death squad was living freely in New York."
