A tourism company is chasing rapper Wyclef Jean’s scandal-plagued foundation for a $110,000 fee it claims it was promised to train hospitality workers in a Haitian port city in 2011, according to a new lawsuit.
New York-based consulting firm HVS claims the rapper’s Yele Haiti Foundation is over a year behind on the payment, which is about half of the $235,000 it agreed to give for a six-month vocational program for trainees in coastal Jacmel.
The 2010 earthquake devastated the southern town.
The Post reported in 2011 that the hip-hop star’s charity had spent less than a third of $16 million in donations on emergency aid efforts.
The attorney general’s office is investigating financial improprieties at Yele, which effectively shut down last fall. Jean and two other Yele founders reportedly turned down a settlement deal last summer that would have required them to pay back $600,000 to the charity’s gutted coffers.
“What is more disturbing is you read about Wyclef doing shows doing concerts, he’s clearly making money,” a former Yele insider told the Post.
The New Jersey resident and Haitian native is accused of lining his and his family member’s pockets with foundation cash including funneling $250,000 to a TV station he controlled and $350,000 to his brother-in-law’s construction company.
The source called the HVS program a “grand success” that resulted in hotel jobs for 90 Haitians.
“We were never able to remit the $110,000 because we ran out of money,” he admitted.
He added that a handful of creditors—including a Haitian children’s program– are chasing Yele for unpaid bills totaling around $500,000.
The attorney general’s office declined to comment on its continuing investigation.
Reps for Jean did not return messages seeking comment.