Wyclef Jean probably should have cleaned his slate before he asked the world to donate money to his Yele Haiti charity. Apparently, Wyclef was paying his mistress, Zakiya Khatou-Chevassus, $105,000 as an independent contractor with the Yele charity donations back in 2008. So what did she do for that money? Zakiya Khatou-Chevassus is currently listed on Yele’s web site as the organization’s vice president. But according to five sources familiar with Yele’s operations, in 2008 she served as Jean’s personal assistant—working on his commercial endeavors as well as his charitable ones—and was involved romantically with the former Fugees star.
“She worked for Wyclef on all Wyclef matters,” says one source who has worked with Jean in the past. “She did whatever Wyclef needed that day, whether it was related to Yele or not. She would do things like book flights, and she wasn’t very good at it. It’s a shame that she made that much money.” The source said Khatou-Chevassus’ salary amounted to more than three times what Suzie Sylvain, Yele Haiti’s dedicated program director who is credited by many Yele Haiti insiders with actually keeping the organization running, was paid.
“Everyone knows they were in a relationship,” says another source familiar with Yele Haiti. “A dozen people, including me, saw and knew. It wasn’t a secret.” Jean is married, but he has said in the past that he has an open relationship with his wife.
Jean has a long history of using Yele Haiti’s money for his own commercial gain. In 2005, 2006, and 2007, the foundation paid out a total of $410,000 to commercial entities controlled in whole or in part by Wyclef, including a whopping $250,000 for advertising time on a Haitian television station he co-owns. In 2006, he demanded a $100,000 fee to perform at a Yele Haiti fundraiser designed to raise money for his own hometown.
