In exchange for these payments, the Haitian officials allegedly gave a variety of business advantages to the Miami vendors, including preferred telecommunications rates and reducing the number of minutes for which payment was owed, the DOJ said in a press release.

From November 2001 through October 2003, Diaz and his coconspirators used his shell company for the sole purpose of accepting bribes and then laundering those bribes to then-Haitian government officials, the DOJ said. Diaz never intended to provide any legal goods or services from the shell company to anyone, and he kept more than $73,000 in commissions for laundering the bribes, the agency said.

Perez helped his employer make more than $36,000 worth of "side payments" between November 2001 and January 2002, the DOJ said.

Diaz and Perez each face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The DOJ's investigation in the case continues.