Wyclef Jean set up Yele Haiti Foundation in 2005
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) – Haitian hip hop star Wyclef Jean has defended a charity he founded against claims it squandered money meant for disaster relief after a massive earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Jean said in a statement.
On Sunday, the New York Post reported that Yele Haiti Foundation, the charity set up in by Jean with his cousin Jerry Duplessis in 2005, had only used a third of its reported $16 million funds on relief efforts and had given controversial million-dollar contracts to relatives and a phantom company since 2010.
According to the charity’s 2010 US tax filings, which were obtained by The New York Post, $1,008,000 was paid to a Miami food distributor company, called Amisphere Farm Labor Inc, a firm that ‘doesn’t seem to exist,’ the newspaper said.
No trace of the company could be found last week in Florida but records show the company’s head, Amsterly Pierre, bought three properties in Florida last year, including a house in an upscale waterfront community, The Post said.
The charity Yele Haiti also allegedly gave $250,000 to a Haitian TV station controlled by Jean and Duplessis in 2006, the newspaper alleged.
Jean said the New York Post article was “misleading, deceptive and incomplete”.
He pointed out, for example, that Amisphere Farm Labor, was responsible for preparing and delivering close to 100,000 meals.
“…the percentage of funds used in our relief efforts is consistent with NGOs and Not For Profits operating in Haiti at the time,” Jean said. “I have acknowledged that Yéle has made mistakes in the past; including being late in IRS filings, but that is old news. The new and worthy news, is that Yéle Haiti under new leadership, despite efforts to undermine its credibility and effectiveness, continues its mission to serve people in the greatest need,” he added.
Most of the charity’s board, including Jean, whose candidacy to run for Haitian president last year was rejected by Haiti’s electoral council over residency requirements, left Yele in the summer of 2010.
According to Yele's website, Derek Johnson is the charity's new director. He says the charity is now focusing more on education and youth services programmes, while promising greater transparency.
‘Tighter financial controls, an emphasis on transparency, and more discipline in financial reporting has made us more accountable to both our donors and the community we serve,” Johnson writes in a letter posted on the website.
Nearly two years on after the earthquake, over 500,000 Haitians made homeless by the disaster are still living in makeshift tents in camps sprawled across the capital Port-au-Prince.
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