Gilbert Bigio

Gilbert Bigio (born 1935) is a retired Haitian businessman. He is the founder of GB Group and Haiti's first 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 and an honorary consul to Israel.

Bigio's name appeared in the 2021 Pandora Papers leak of secret offshore company documents by the ICIJ. In an accounting document from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, 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 havens.

Early years Bigio is from a Sephardic Jewish family from Aleppo in the Ottoman Empire (now Syria), whose family immigrated 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. Bigio is not religious, but does own the only Sefer Torah in Haiti and culturally participates in Jewish holidays and events. His wife Monique is a convert to Judaism. According to Bigio, he has not experienced antisemitism in Haiti.

Career In 1972, Bigio founded GB Group starting with Aciérie d’Haïti (Haiti Steelworks). In the 1980s, the company controlled almost all the commercial steel within Haiti. Bigio has continued to grow the company's reach, expanding into consumer goods, energy and fuel, telecommunications, real estate, banking, and logistics.

Bigio served as Honorary Israeli Consul and later so did his son, Reuven.

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.