Fairfield U. and Haiti Group Settle Abuse Suits for $12-Million

Twenty-four Haitian boys who claimed they were molested by one of the founders of a charity trade school on the island will receive $500,000 each under a settlement of lawsuits arising from the alleged abuse, the Fairfield Citizen and the Connecticut Post report.

The agreement was reached Friday by lawyers for the alleged victims and several nonprofit entities and officials named in the suits because they promoted and raised money for Project Pierre Toussaint in Cap-Haitien, including Fairfield University; the Society of Jesus of New England; and leaders of the now-defunct Haiti Fund.

The suits, filed in January 2012, contended the organizations did not do enough to supervise Project Pierre Toussaint co-founder Douglas Perlitz, who pleaded guilty in 2010 to traveling overseas to engage in sex with a minor. Mr. Perlitz, a graduate of the Jesuit university in Fairfield, Conn., is currently serving a nearly 20-year term in federal prison.

Lawyers for the civil defendants said the settlement was not an admission of liability. The payments, to be disbursed immediately in lump sums, will be largely covered by insurance.