Former Haitian government official Keith Eberwein confided in friends and family that he feared for his life over his criticism of the Clinton Foundation.
His alleged suicide — just one week ahead of his expected testimony against the Foundation’s “corruption and malpractice” in Haiti — has critics of the political family alarmed.
Authorities have concluded Eberwein, 50, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a hotel in Miami. Friends of the former Haitian official were reportedly surprised by the news, and a local paper reported Eberwein had been in “good spirits” in the days leading up to his untimely dead.
“It’s really shocking,” said friend Gilbert Bailly. “We grew up together; he was like family.”
Eberwein had faced allegations of corruption during his three-year tenure as Haiti’s director general of the country’s economic development agency. Tuesday, he was expected to testify that it was the Clinton Foundation that misappropriated the funds, not him.
Billions in donations were lost after the Caribbean island was devastated by an earthquake in 2010, and the Clintons have long been accused of being at the root of the corruption.
“According to Eberwein, a paltry 0.6 percent of donations granted by international donors to the Clinton Foundation with the express purpose of directly assisting Haitians actually ended up in the hands of Haitian organizations. A further 9.6 percent ended up with the Haitian government. The remaining 89.8 percent — or $5.4 billion — was funneled to non-Haitian organizations,” World Net Daily reported.
“The Clinton Foundation, they are criminals. They are thieves, they are liars, they are a disgrace,” Eberwein said at a Clinton Foundation protest in Manhattan last year.
The Haitian government has issued an official notice thanking Eberwein for his years service and expressing sadness over his untimely death.