The Smoking Gun says Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti has "a lackluster history of accounting for its finances." The timing of this revelation is very suspect and it is very troubling. In a web-only presentation by HMI, Haiticherie deconstructs the Wyclef Jean Foundation's investigation initiated by The Smoking Gun that lead to Wyclef Jean calling for a media press conference to defend Yele Haiti. From the information that I gathered, this is how Yele Haiti organization came about.
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Neluset Wyclef Jean (born October 17, 1972) is a Haitian-born musician, rapper, and record producer.
Wyclef moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York, when he was thirteen. He worked briefly as a Burger King crew employee as a teenager, before he was fired.
The son of a Nazarene pastor,Wyclef briefly attended Eastern Nazarene College, where his younger brother Samuel graduated with a degree in history. Wyclef, who regrets dropping out of college, has announced plans to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music.
In 1994 he married Fusha designer Marie Cladinette . In 2005 they adopted their daughter, Angelina Claudinelle Jean. The couple renewed their vows in August 2009.
Wyclef's musical breakthrough was as part of The Refugee Camp (The Fugees), a three-member group that included Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel "Pras" Michel. Jean is Pras's cousin and a fellow Haitian immigrant. The Fugees signed to Ruffhouse Records, which released the group's debut album, Blunted on Reality.
Upon information and belief, from in or about and between December 1997 and March 1998, Wyclef founded Wyclef Jean Foundation, Inc. with his brother samuel as board member and Chantal Prud'homme as executive director. The specific purpose of Wyclef Jean Foundation, Inc was to reach out and support young communities around the world.
Upon information and belief, in November 2000, Wyclef Jean faced the first legal battle in his music business side. Wyclef is been sued by Blue Mountain Music alleging for Copyright Infringement. After two months of legal battle inside the United States District Court in New York, the case was dismissed and settled by the parties.
Upon examination of legal documents and corporate filings, along with phone conversation with Sanjay Rawal, revealed that Wyclef Jean Foundation, Inc became a defunct charity organization in 2002. Around the same year, Somerset Entertainment Group had sued Wyclef Jean in the United States district court of New York alleging one of the their client's album featuring the "Coast 2 Coast" songs has been bootlegged by Wyclef Jean. After few months of legal battle inside the United States District Court in New York, this case was dismissed and settled by the parties.
Upon information and belief, from in or about and between April 2002 and January 2003, Chantal Prud'homme has quit Wyclef Jean Foundation. It was the end of Wyclef Jean Foundation and for Chantal after serving as executive director of this charity organization since its inception in 1998.
In 2003 Wyclef reached out to investors at S.A.C. Capital Management, where he met Seth Kanegis. According to Leh, the producer of film Ghosts of Cite Soleil, Seth Kanegis was Wyclef's jean partner in all business and entertainment endeavors. During the making of the film Ghost of Cite Soleil, it took Wyclef a “split second” to decide to help out with the production, getting involved with Jerry “Wonder” Duplessis and exec producer Seth Kanegis to finance most of the picture. Seth Kanegis initially had Joe Voss as new board member along with Tracey Allison as executive director to replace Chantal Prud'homme.
Upon information and belief, from in or about and between August 2003 and February 2004, Wyclef's cousin Jerry Duplessis, Seth Kanegis, Sanjay Rawal, and Wyclef came together to spin the charity organization off Wyclef Jean Foundation to market it under the Yele Haiti marketing brand. According to Sanjay Rawal, " In 2004, Wyclef and Sanjay were sitting in his music studio in New York. Clef had just met Harry Belafonte who lauded him for his humanitarian activities but also told him he had a long way to go. We wanted to start small, but the need was so great, said Sanjay Rawal the first executive director of Yele Haiti. In just two years, Yele became the best-known non-profit in Haiti. Down there we ran slum clean-up projects and gave scholarships. In the States we had meetings with World Bank President James Wolfensohn, State Department and intelligence officials, and had fundraisers with Angelina Jolie, Norah Jones, Drew Barrymore, Meryl Streep and others. It was a wild ride."
However, it was not a wild ride for Wyclef and Jerry in 2004 because they had to face another long legal battle inside the United States District Court in New York with an artist by the name of Wadena Pyatt alleging copyright infringement for his song entitled "The Other Can Make It Right". This case has been tried and the jury has rendered its verdict in favor of Wyclef and Jerry in October 3, 2008. Wadena Pyatt filed an appeal after the verdict. This case is still open and awaiting an appeals court ruling on the matter that could call for a new trial.
Upon information and belief, from in or about and between December 2005 and September 2007, both Seth Kanegis and Sanjay Rawal have resigned from Yele Haiti. Around the same period in February 2007, Wyclef Jean and his cousin Jerry Duplessis were facing another legal battle inside the United States District Court in New York with a Latin artist by the name of Luis Diaz alleging copyright infringement for his song entitled "Baile en la Calle". After eight months of legal battle inside the United States District Court in New York, this case was dismissed and settled by the parties.
Upon information and belief, from in or about and between December 2007 and June 2008, Lisa Ellis of Fireman Capital Partners became the executive director of Yele Haiti. Lisa joined the board of Yele Haiti along with two attorneys Dave Mason and David Hryrck, a lawyer from DLA PIPER.
Upon information and belief, from in or about and between February and March 2010, Wyclef's wife Marie Claudinette demanded Wyclef to get rid himself of Lisa Ellis after coming across a nake photo of Lisa Ellis on Wyclef's cell phone.
Dave Mason and David Hryrck are still members of the board of directors of Yele Haiti. See picture of David Hryrck in this youtube video.
In an attempt to defuse The Smoking Gun 's negative reaction to Yele Haiti's lackluster history of accounting for its finances, Wyclef Jean went back to the consulting company that has helped him putting Yele Haiti organization together to defend Yele Haiti - Sanjay Rawal and Hugh Locke from Orsa consulting. Whether or not this succeeds in diffusing The Smoking Gun remains to be seen. If it fails, Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti faces a rocky road ahead.
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