In the months following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, a charity run by hip-hop star Wyclef Jean spent a pittance of the money it took in on disaster relief and doled out millions in questionable contracts.
Yele Haiti’s coffers swelled to $16 million in 2010, the most the charity had ever received. But less than a third of that went to emergency efforts, and $1 million was paid to a Florida firm that doesn’t seem to exist, The Post has learned.
Jean’s charity, which he founded in 2005 with his cousin Jerry Duplessis, was already troubled when the earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. The Post reported in 2008 that it had never filed a required tax form detailing its spending with the IRS.
Did Wyclef Jean use the devastating Haiti earthquake to advance his own financial status? That’s what the New York Post is claiming.
The newspaper is reporting that less than a third of the $16 million in donations made to Yele Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake went to relief efforts. The organization reportedly gave $1 million to a Miami-based organization that doesn't exist. Amisphere Farm Labor Inc. was given the money as a "food distributor," though nothing ever came of it and the company isn't properly registered in the state.
"No trace of the company could be found last week in the Sunshine State, but records show the company's head, Amsterly Pierre, bought three properties in Florida last year, including a condo in an upscale waterfront community," the Post reported. The business' address leads to an auto repair shop in Miami's Little Haiti district — and the owner said he's never heard of Pierre or Amisphere Farm Labor.
Wyclef Jean's charity, Yele Haiti, is coming under scrutiny again for squandering millions of dollars in charitable donations.
Last year, the ex-Fugees rapper mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Haiti's presidency and allegations were raised that Jean took money from Yele for his personal use, which he denied. "Have we made mistakes before? Yes," Jean said in a press conference last year. "Did I ever use Yele money for personal benefits? Absolutely not. Yele's books are open and transparent."
Wyclef Jean released a statement on Monday (November 28) defending accusations from the New York Post, which state that his Yele Haiti charity organization has misused their funds. The Post claims that Jean’s organization, which he started with his cousin [Jerry Duplessis] in 2005, did not use donations to properly assist residents of Haiti, after a devastating earthquake shook the country on January 12, 2010. The article says that less than a third of the $16 million Yele Haiti raised in 2010 actually benefited Haitians and went on to scrutinize questionable payments made to businesses that are either tied to Jean's family, or received inflated amounts of money. Here’s what Jean had to say about The New York Post’s “incomplete” story.
"I started Yele in 2005 because I wanted to help people that were helpless in my home country of Haiti. People who didn’t have a voice, people who didn’t have resources, people who had mostly been forgotten. Since Yele launched six years ago we have helped close to half a million people. I will always love and serve the Haitian people until the day I die.
The NY Post piece entitled, “Questions Dog Wyclef’s Haiti Fund” is misleading, deceptive and incomplete. The Post conveniently fails to acknowledge that the decisions that Yele made were a response to one of the world’s most catastrophic natural disasters in modern history and required an immediate humanitarian response.
There were no roads, no clean water, no sanitation, no banks, no electricity, no infrastructure. Immediate decisions were made to save lives and alleviate suffering. We made decisions that enabled us to provide emergency assistance in the midst of chaos and we stand by those decisions. We did the best we could with the available resources. I am proud of the way that Yele handled the crisis on the ground in 2010. We were able to feed, clothe, provide medical assistance and shelter for more than 250 thousand people in need.
What the article doesn’t say is that the construction projects funded by Yele Haiti were responsible for rebuilding an orphanage, building a temporary assistance facility, and had constructed a system of out door toilet and shower facilities in Cite Soliel one of the largest slums in Port-au-Prince.
The Post never highlights that Amisphere Farm Labor was responsible for preparing and delivering close to 100,000 meals.
The Samosa SA property referenced by The Post was located in the vicinity of the largest tent camps in Port-au-Prince. Yele chose that location because it was closest to the people it needed serve."
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