Who is Dimitri Vorbe? All we know about the wealthy Haitian businessman arrested by ICE

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials arrested Dimitri Vorbe, an influential businessman based in Haiti and the head of Sogener, an energy generation firm, on September 23. He was taken to Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, where he is currently being held.

ICE took Dimitri in custody from his Florida residence on Tuesday. The reason behind his detention or the charges based on which he was arrested remain unclear.

According to The Seattle Times, the Vorbe family owns Société Générale d'Énergie S.A. (Sogener), located in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The private company, known for electric power generation, transmission, and distribution, was once one of Haiti's biggest electricity suppliers.

The Vorbes were also responsible for some significant construction projects, including road building and other establishments under the late former President of Haiti, René Préval.

According to the outlet, Jake Johnston, the international research director at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), stated that the Vorbes family received a substantial amount of money from the Haitian government. He added:

"Both Boulos and Dimitri Vorbe were the two members of the elite, the oligarchs that Jovenel went after."

However, Sogener faced governmental inspection in 2020 when former assassinated president Jovenel Moïse's administration seized the company assets. Several members of the Vorbe family, including Dimitri Vorbe's property and funds, were also seized and sealed.

Haitian Judge Mathieu Chanlatte issued an order for the seizure. The Vorbe family was allegedly involved in corruption, including money laundering.

Dimitri Vorbes is the second Haitian to be arrested by ICE in recent months

In August, Haitian doctor and businessman Pierre Réginald Boulos was taken into custody by ICE agents in Florida. According to a press release by ICE, they arrested Boulos "for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act contributing to the destabilization of Haiti".

Referring to these recent arrests of two Haitian tycoons, CEPR's Jake Johnston said:

"There is not much love lost in Haiti either for Dimitri Vorbe or Réginald Boulos, or many of the elite families."

BREAKING | Dimitri Vorbe, the Haitian energy businessman and former vice president of SOGENER SA, was taken into custody today at his Florida residence.

A central figure in political controversies in recent years, Vorbe’s sudden detention on U.S. soil signals a possible… pic.twitter.com/KdjEL5HQ1X

— facesofhaiti • 🇭🇹 (@FacesOfHaiti_) September 23, 2025

He added:

"Many people will cheer it in a country with a broken judicial system as it's some sliver of accountability, (but) we don't know what any of this is for. … How does this all fit together into a strategy that actually benefits Haiti?"

Journalist Michael Deibert, who authored the book Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History, addressed the detention:

"With the arrests of Boulos and Vorbe, you are seeing a strata of Haitian society touched in their places of exile."

Deibert added:

"A message is being sent to the upper echelon of Haiti's political and economic elite that they’re not untouchable anymore."

Dimitri Vorbes had a previous run-in with ICE agents when he was detained over a visa violation in Florida in August 2020. He was bailed out at the time.

More details about his latest arrest are yet to be disclosed.