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New questions raised over Wyclef Jean’s charity
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 29 November 2011
Wyclef Jean’s charity, the Yele Haiti Foundation, has come under new scrutiny after it was revealed that only a relatively small portion of the money it raised after the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010 was spent on relief efforts.
As previously reported, in January 2010 it was revealed that the accounts of the Foundation were closely intertwined with Jean’s business enterprises. Jean initially hit out at the criticism, but eventually conceded that the charity was not as well run as it could be. He then stepped down from the charity later in the year as he launched a failed attempt to run for the Haitian presidency.
But now the New York Post has published claims that although the charity raised $16 million in 2010, tax records show that only $5.1 million was spent on disaster relief, and that over $1 million was given to a Miami-based “food distributor” called Amisphere Farm Labor Inc, which is apparently no longer trading (and never filed any paperwork after it was launched in 2008). The Post also discovered that Amisphere’s CEO, Amsterly Pierre, bought three properties in Florida last year.
Commenting on this and other discrepancies, Bennerr Weiner of the Better Business Bureau said: “Given the fact that Yele Haiti was involved in a swirl of controversy after the earthquake in Haiti, it’s all the more reason to be more transparent to ensure donors that their funds are going to help people”.
However, Wyclef Jean denies many of The New York Post’s claims, insisting his charity played a crucial role in providing relief for those affected by the Haiti earthquake, and that Amisphere did deliver in return for the monies paid to it. He told AllHipHop.com: “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”.
He continued: “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 … The Post never highlights that Amisphere Farm Labor was responsible for preparing and delivering close to 100,000 meals”.
Read the New York Post article here.
And Wyclef Jean’s statement here.
