By Richard H. Levey

A class action complaint against three top American Red Cross leaders, the boards of directors of both the American Red Cross and the International Red Cross and unnamed associated individuals accuses the defendants of being “poverty pimps” who allegedly diverted more than $500 million in Haitian relief funds for “personal gain and administrative overhead.”

Within 14 counts, the plaintiffs accuse the defendants of fraudulently misrepresenting that donated funds would directly benefit the people of Haiti; breaching an implied contract; unjust enrichment; conversion / theft / embezzlement; intentional misrepresentation; civil conspiracy; negligent hiring, training and supervision; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and, negligent infliction of emotional distress. The papers were filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida – Miami Division.

The plaintiffs are requesting monetary damages of between $500 million and $1 billion, reimbursement for litigation expenses, not less than $150 million in punitive damages and judgments against the defendants for $1 billion.

“There is no merit to the Office of the Haitian Diaspora and the Haitian Diaspora Political Action Committee lawsuit regarding American Red Cross relief and recovery efforts in Haiti,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement to The NonProfit Times.

“The American Red Cross has spent and distributed all funds designated for Haiti relief on shelter, emergency relief, health, cholera prevention, water and sanitation, livelihoods, and disaster preparedness,” the statement continued.

“The Red Cross is proud of our response and recovery efforts following the earthquake in Haiti as we navigated the unique and complex realities on the ground. Our long-term recovery program engaged more than 50 partners over 10 years to reach 4.5 million Haitians with a diverse range of interventions from housing and community reconstruction to economic recovery assistance to cholera prevention and treatment, Red Cross officials said via the statement.

“Money donated for Haiti earthquake relief went into a restricted account that could only be used for programs and services for Haiti. Designated funds are never used for operational deficits or payment of debt,” according to the Red Cross statement.

Plaintiffs include four individuals who either donated or raised money for the American Red Cross, a former mayor of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince who is currently living in Miami, three Haitian residents labeled “intended recipients” of aid, and The Haitian Diaspora Political Action Committee (Haitian Diaspora PAC), an organization that supports incumbent political candidates at the federal level, conducts civic education in the community and educates policy makers regarding issues important to the Haitian-American community.

The court papers also identify two potential classes: “[A]t least 2 million individuals residing in Haiti and the United States who were personally victimized by the earthquake(s) in Haiti, including those who lost property or loved ones and were intended recipients of over five hundred million dollars raised by the defendants; and (2) the Class of Donors, consisting of thousands of individuals in the United States and worldwide who donated over 500 million dollars to the Defendants from 2010 to 2024 specifically to aid earthquake victims in Haiti.”

Haitian Diaspora PAC is based in Washington, D.C., according to its website, although the court papers state it is “a 527 political organization registered in the State of Washington.” GuideStar did not have any records on the Haitian Diaspora PAC. The organization’s social media feeds do not appear to have been updated since early 2022. Messages requesting comment from the organization as well as its attorney were not returned.

One of the named plaintiffs who donated an unspecified amount of money, Nathaniel Ballantyne, shares a last name with Renee A. Ballantyne, who is listed as president on a press release on the organization’s website. Renee Hasler, who donated several hundred dollars to the defendants, is a second complainant. An individual named Renee Hasler Ballantyne had a LinkedIn profile, although it is uncertain whether Hasler Ballantyne and Ballantyne are the same person.

Both Hasler Ballantyne and Ballantyne are listed as residing in Washington State, according to the complaint. An online source showed individuals with the surnames Hasler and Ballantyne at the same address in Spokane, Washington.

The complaint features more than a dozen photos of individuals either in distress or amid wreckage, although there are no captions indicating where or when the photos were taken. In a preliminary statement to the complaint, the plaintiffs cite Thomas Sowell’s 1998 poem, “The Poverty Pimps’ Poem,” (Let us celebrate the poor, Let us hawk them door to door. There’s a market for their pain, Votes and glory and money to gain. Let us celebrate the poor. Their ills, their sins, their faulty diction Flavor our songs and spice our fiction. Their hopes and struggles and agonies Get us grants and consulting fees. Celebrate thugs and clowns, Give their ignorance all renown. Celebrate what holds them down, In our academic gowns. Let us celebrate the poor.)

According to the complaint, “Thomas Sowell’s poem encapsulates how crises are often exploited for self-enrichment, neglecting the needs of those ostensibly being helped. This exploitation mirrors the actions of the defendants in this case, who leveraged the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake, and several subsequent earthquakes, and other natural disasters occurring in 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2023, to raise over five-hundred millions of dollars in donations, purportedly for relief efforts in Haiti. Instead, significant portions of these funds were diverted for personal gain and administrative overhead, leaving the intended beneficiaries in Haiti to continue enduring hunger, poverty, and despair.” 

The Red Cross provided a publicly available link to a chart detailing expenditures within Haiti starting in 2010 and running through today (https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/uncategorized/11/RedCross-Projects-Partnerships-Haiti.pdf). The total of expenditures listed was more than $490 million.

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