One of the charities benefiting from Friday's Clooney-hosted telethon is Yele-Haiti, the charity organization fronted by Wyclef Jean. Unfortunately, that organization has been beset by scandal and charges that it has been mismanaged and has inappropriately directed donations to benefit Wyclef Jean himself.
The Smoking Gun has made claims that the group has a lackluster history of accounting for its finances, and that the organization has paid the Wyclef Jean and his business partner at least $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean's appearance at a benefit concert. And although Yele Haiti was founded 12 years ago, the group only first filed tax returns last August.
Even worse, Jean continues to dig himself an even deeper ethical hole by saying on the Oprah Winfrey show, "I put my first $1 million into the charity." That claim is contradicted both by Yele's founding executive director and the documents posted by TSG.
No one is doubting Jean's genuine concern in helping Haiti-- but if the past is any indication, it is fairly certain that Yele Haiti can't be entrusted to properly manage and transparently distribute the millions of dollars that it stands to reap from Friday's mega-wattage telethon. And Wyclef shouldn't be using the current disaster as a way to prop up and/or legitimize what has been (so far) a dubiously-run charity organization.
Let the donor beware . . .
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