The Whole Delivery

Emotion was never going to be a question in this afternoon's press conference from Wyclef Jean about Haiti. But answers to the questions surrounding the shady money situation of his Yele foundation still are far from given in my perspective. After showing tears and speaking in Creole to any Haitians watching the press conference, Wyclef called on the world to provide habitation to the hundreds and thousands who survived the tragic earthquake. "America, the Middle East, the world, I call on you" he said in his belief that a mass exodus out of Port-au-Prince is the only answer. But there was no convincing answer in regards to the allegations of foul play from his charity organization in benefiting him instead of doing what a charitable organization is suppose to do. Wyclef's only response in the press conference to those reports was to mention how his father warned him of people criticizing him for doing good deeds. He vehemently denied profiting from Yele and...

Long before the world has focused squarely on Haiti, Wyclef Jean has been a prominent ambassador for his homeland since establishing himself as a music superstar. But in the midst of urging aid support for Haiti by going to the Yele website , that foundation's ethics and managing of funds has now been serious questioned in this devastating report from Smoking Gun released early this afternoon. Really devastating However, Internal Revenue Service records show the group has a lackluster history of accounting for its finances, and that the organization has paid the performer and his business partner at least $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean's appearance at a benefit concert. Though the Wyclef Jean Foundation, which does business as Yele Haiti Foundation, was incorporated 12 years ago--and has been active since that time--the group only first filed tax returns in August 2009. The evidence is pretty damaging, with the foundation actually playing Wyclef and s...