Gilbert Bigio is a retired Haitian businessman. He is the founder of GB Group and Haiti's only billionaire. He was sanctioned by the Government of Canada for his involvement in arms trafficking and human rights violations in Haiti. Bigio is also the de facto leader of Haiti's

Jewish community Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and an honorary consul to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Bigio's name appeared in the 2021

Pandora Papers The Pandora Papers are 11.9 million Data breach, leaked documents with 2.9 terabytes of data that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published beginning on 3 October 2021. The leak exposed the secret offshore a ...

leak of secret offshore company documents by the

ICIJ The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...

. In an accounting document from the estate of

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, de ...

, Bigio was revealed as the buyer of Epstein's Mercedes Maybach at a price of $132,000. Other leaked documents showed Bigio moving wealth to Miami and Switzerland through offshore companies in different

tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...

Early years

Bigio is from a Sephardic Jewish family from Aleppo, Syria, whose family emigrated to Haiti in 1896. The family has also been involved in other commercial activities all throughout the country. The Bigio family has remained in Haiti, prominent in business affairs for three generations.

Canadian Government Sanctions Against Bigio

On December 2, 2022 the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

imposed sanctions against Bigio, along with two other Haitian businessmen; Reynold Deeb and Sherif Abdallah. The sanctions against Bigio was a response to his alleged participation in "gross and systematic human rights violations in Haiti and engaged in acts that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Haiti." The Canadian sanctions against Bigio were intended to stop the flow of illicit funds and weapons to armed criminal gangs in Haiti. Specifically Bigio is accused of supporting "illegal activities of armed criminal gangs, including through money laundering and other acts of corruption" according to a statement from the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigio, Gilbert Living people Haitian billionaires Haitian businesspeople Haitian diplomats Haitian Jews Haitian people of Syrian-Jewish descent Syrian billionaires North American Sephardi Jews Year of birth missing (living people) Pandora Papers