Report: Troubling New Questions on Wyclef Jean's Haiti Charity

When allegations that former Fugee's singer Wyclef Jean had mishandled funds intended for his Haitit relief fund Yele Haiti back in 2010, the musician was apologetic, but claimed the problems were simply errors made due to hasty decision-making.

“Have we made mistakes before? Yes,” Jean said at the time. “Did I ever use Yele money for personal benefits? Absolutely not. Yele’s books are open and transparent.”

A recent New York Post article based on the charity's tax filings, however, is raising new questions about questionable financial misdealings, including implications of potential tax fraud.

The charity reportedly only spent 1/3 of the $16 million it raised on actual relief efforts, and the company spent a sizable amount of contracts with Jean's family members, according to the article.

"For all the desperation, records show that Yele Haiti spent just $5.1 million for emergency relief efforts, including food and water delivery to makeshift survivor camps, according to a review of the charity’s 2010 tax filings...Yele Haiti paid five contractors to accomplish its goals, including P&A Construction — which received $353,983 and is run by Warnel Pierre, the brother of Jean’s wife, Claudinette," according to the New York Post.

Perhaps more troubling are the allegations that the charity claimed it had spent over $1 million on a contract with Amisphere Farm Labor Inc., a food distributor reportedly owned by someone named Amsterly Pierre.

The Post discovered that, according to the State of Florida, the business doesn't actually exist. While the firm incorporated in 2008, it reportedly never filed the paperwork needed to do business in the state. As for their offices? Apparently they don't exist either.

"The address listed for the business is an auto-repair shop in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, where a worker said he had never heard of Pierre or Amisphere. Pierre did not return a call for comment," said the article.

Perhaps more damning is the fact that, according to state records, a gentleman named Amsterly Pierre bought three properties in Florida last year, including a condo in an upscale waterfront community.

While none of the allegations have been proven, do the math, and it sure seems like an unaccounted for $1 million + a mysterious non-existent company + three condo properties could = serious potential problems for Wyclef Jean.