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Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images

On the day they were arrested, the group of four Americans, two Serbian nationals and two Haitian drivers got into two cars owned by Jean-Louis for a reconnaissance mission and to swing by the bank so some team members could talk to people there and let them know what they were doing, he said.

“The actual job didn’t even start until the next day,” Osman said, adding that he never met or saw Jean-Louis during his time in Haiti, and that the only time he heard the name was when police asked whether he knew Jean-Louis while he was in jail.

They literally abandoned us

He said team members Dustin Porte and Talon Ray Burton got out of the car to speak with bank officials or security while the rest of the group stayed inside with weapons nearby. Porte and Burton could not be reached for comment, and Burton’s brother did not return a message for comment.

As they pulled away from the bank, Osman said a group of Haitian police officers stopped them and called their superiors. At that moment, Leconte and another man whom Osman identified as team leader and retired Navy SEAL Mike Phillips showed up in one car, and then Kroeker showed up in another car. Osman said police told Leconte and Phillips they could leave, and that Kroeker, a former KC-130 pilot, stayed with the group.

“They literally abandoned us,” Osman said of Leconte and Phillips.

Phillips declined to comment and referred requests for interviews to Kroeker, who did not respond to a request for comment.

The group was released Feb. 20. Osman said a police officer simply opened the cell doors and led them to diplomatic vehicles that took them to the airport. He said he didn’t know who ordered their release or authorized it. Once they arrived in Miami, he said the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security interviewed everyone separately for several hours.