NEW YORK – (CMC) -The Yele Haiti foundation of former Fugees frontman Wyclef Jean is being sued by a hospitality firm that says the now-defunct charity owes it US$108,972.

According to HVS Global Hospitality Services, Yele failed to fulfill a promise for job training it gave to Haitians in 2011 .

Wyclef Jean

HVS’s lawsuit – filed in the Manhatten Supreme Court says Yele agreed to pay US$285,000 for a hospitality and education training programme in Haiti in May 2011.

According to court paper, Yele signed a contract promising to pay HVS in instalments over the course of the six-month training. But the controversial charity fell behind and ignored invoices sent by HVS.

HVS is suing the charity to recoup the initial payments it never received, plus interest lost on the amount since April 20, 2012. The company also wants Yele to pay its attorney fees.

It’s the first New York lawsuit filed against the Manhattan-based charity activated in 2005. Several Haiti-based companies have reportedly sued the organisation over unpaid debts.

Yele reported taking in US$2 million in the wake of the 2010 earthquake that rocked the French speaking nation but its heightened international profile led to questions about spotty bookkeeping and frequent payouts to members of Jean’s family.

Yele shut down in 2012 after a forensic audit challenged foundation payments to Jean, his family and associates from the US$16 million pot that the organisation raised over seven years.

The New York State Attorney General reportedly opened an investigation into its finances after it was revealed Yele did not file income tax returns for several years.

Jean, 43, an acclaimed musician born on Haiti but raised in the US said his foundation’s troubled finances were due to ignorance, not corruption.