On Saturday 16th January 2010, @wyclef said:

Well, Hugh Locke, President of Yéle Haiti, has responded in a statement to AllHipHop early Saturday morning and says that founder of Yele, Wyclef Jean, has quote “never profited from his organization” and it is a quote “shame that during this international emergency” they had to pull much needed time from the response efforts to the Haiti earthquake and relief effort to “address these allegations.”

Regarding the claim that Wyclef Jean was paid $100,000 profit for a performance at a 2006 benefit concert, Yele’s “financial facts” report released claim that yes Wyclef Jean was paid $100,000 in connection with the benefit concert but it was organized by a for-profit organization and a majority of the money went towards costs related to the performance such as hiring musicians and other related production costs.

In regards to the claims that the organization hasn’t filed taxes, the “financial facts” state that Yele Haiti, which originally was called the Wyclef Jean Foundation, filed a tax return in 2000 and then suspended activities until 2005 so was not required by law to file a tax return while not in operation.

Furthermore, the “financial facts” state that the firm of Tempesta & Farrell, P.C. gave Yéle Haiti a clean bill of health in independent external audits conducted in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 as well as all transactions involving board members Wyclef Jean and Jerry Duplessis are guided and watched over by the firm of Grant Thornton LLP to insure they ‘handle good business’ in such matters.

As far as the rent being paid for space in Wyclef’s studio, the “financial facts” state that the reason for that is to quote “save money” instead of paying considerable amount more for another arrangement such as in midtown Manhattan.

Last but not least, “financial facts” say regarding the $250,000 of airtime on Telemax in Haiti, they have documentation which will reveal 100’s of hours of Yéle programming, over several years, that addressed not only development but social issues in Haiti.

http://current.com/items/91924238_wyclef-responds-to-yele-haiti-s-financial-scru...

Wyclef is a great musician, but he is not a great business man. And I don't trust everyone around him.

"the first red flag of poor accounting practices was that three years of returns were filed on the same day — Aug. 10 of last year."

"An Associated Press review of tax returns and independent audits provided by Jean's foundation showed that it was closely intertwined with Jean's businesses.

Three of the five foundation board members — Jean, Jerry Duplessis and Seth Kanegis — are involved in his personal music and business endeavors."

"According to an IRS tax return from 2006 reviewed earlier by the Web site The Smoking Gun, the foundation paid $250,000 to buy airtime from Telemax S.A., a for-profit TV station in Haiti that is majority owned by Jean and Duplessis.

Part of that money went to pay for a concert in Haiti put on by Jean himself, Locke said.

Another $160,000 that year was spent on a concert in Monte Carlo that Jean participated in, of which $75,000 paid for backup singers and $25,000 went to Jean through a company he owns with Duplessis, Platinum Sound Recording Studios Inc., Locke said."

http://current.com/items/91927132_groups-raise-doubts-about-wyclef-jeans-charity...

It smells pretty bad, and where there is smoke, there is usually fire.