The pressure and intense scrutiny finally got to former Fugees frontman
Wyclef Jean who put on an emotional show weeping during a press
conference yesterday where he defended the sloppy paperwork for his
charity organization Yele.
The charity took in $2 million in text message donations as a result of
urgent pleas by Wyclef immediately following a massive earthquake that
rocked his native Haiti last week.
Yele and its board members came under fire last week after a Smoking
Gun report revealed that Wyclef — a millionaire — paid himself and his
bass player hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, and paid
$30,000 to a man who worked in the kitchen of Wyclef’s Manhattan studio.
Wyclef also charged Yele $100,000 for a live performance and annual
rent for a small space in his studio. Additionally, the state of
Florida dissolved the charity 4 times for failing to provide required
disclosure reports.
Yele, which benefited from the star power of Wyclef, has no staff and
no resources or means to get the money and relief to the people of
Haiti in a timely fashion.
Wyclef tugged at heartstrings during the press conference by recounting
his brief time picking up corpses on the island. “My people are dying,
and I have to go back in a few days,” he said.
Though his tortuous path to Haiti and back is lined with good
intentions, the fact is that Yele is not an appropriate organization to
provide massive relief efforts which are required immediately in Haiti.
source
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Posted By Mogul to THE MOGUL GROUP at 1/19/2010 03:14:00 PM
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