Singer Wyclef Jean as he speaks with a journalist in the home he is staying in while he waits to hear if he is eligible to run for the November 28th presidential election on August 19, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Singer Wyclef Jean (C) greets his neighbors before heading off for a meeting with Haitian President Rene Preval on August 19, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Singer Wyclef Jean (C) is greeted by supporters as he exits a hotel while waiting to hear if he will be considered eligible to run for the November 28th presidential election on August 20, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(L-R) Singer Wyclef Jean and Haitian presidential candidates Michel Martelly and Charles Henry Baker ride on top of a truck during an impromptu election protest on November 28, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Following widespread allegations of fraud, 12 of the 19 candidates asked that the results be canceled. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
Musician Wyclef Jean (C) and his wife, Marie Claudinette Jean (L), walk through a crowd of supporters before he submitted paperwork to run for president of Haiti August 5, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Jean announced that he would run for president of his native Haiti despite being a naturalized U.S. citizen. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images)
Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean’s charity Yele Haiti has closed down following the resignation of its chief executive, Derek Q. Johnson.
Johnson took over as chief executive of the N.Y.-based charity after Jean decided to run for president of Haiti. The rapper’s candidacy was disqualified because his residency was in New Jersey, not Haiti.
The New York attorney general’s office has an ongoing investigation into Yele’s finances that dates back to issues with pre-earthquake finances.
According to the New York Times, Johnson’s resignation came after Jean “declined to accept a settlement proposed by the attorney general covering the charity’s pre-earthquake activities.”
The settlement proposed by the NY attorney general required Jean and Yele’s other founders to pay $600,000 to cover acquired debts and pay for a forensic audit covering the years since the 2010 earthquake.
The Haitian-born Jean created Yele Haiti in 2005 in an effort to give back to his native community. The charity was fairly small until the devastating earthquake in 2010, after which Yele raised a reported $16 million.
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Audits following the quake revealed that $9 million of the money raised was spent by Yele on salaries, travel, and office expenses. Yele’s questionable spending also includes paying Eric Warnel Pierre, Jean’s brother-in-law, over $600,000 for projects that were never completed and with a mysterious Florida company called Amisphere Farm Labor that has no record of even existing.
In the midst of Yele’s multiple financial scandals, Jean’s spokesperson released a statement stating that the rapper and his lawyers are trying to resolve all issues prior to the charity’s closing and that “Mr. Jean continues his tireless commitment to his beloved country.”
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