A Decade of Abuse

Douglas Perlitz founded and operated the Project Pierre Toussaint (PPT) school for homeless boys in Haiti. From 1999 to 2009, Fairfield University raised funds and sent university student volunteers to work at the school. He used these funds to finance his trips to Haiti and to groom his minor victims in exchange for sexual acts. The university and affiliated groups did not institute safeguards to prevent the abuses that occurred.

Haiti’s National Police and the United Nations began digging into claims of misconduct exposed by Cyrus Siebert, a radio journalist in Haiti. Criminal investigations headed by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Interpol, and the United Nations found that he was sexually abusing boys who lived at and attended the school.

Ultimately, Perlitz pleaded guilty in August 2010 to one charge of traveling overseas to engage in sex with a minor. He was convicted of sex abuse by a Connecticut court and is currently serving 19 years and 7 months in federal prison.

“What we learned in these cases is that impoverished Haitian children were sexually abused and then left in pain, agony and without hope,” Garabedian said.

$12M Settlement for 24 Victims

In 2013, Mitchell Garabedian as lead counsel obtained a $12 M settlement for 24 Haitian victims of Douglas Perlitz. See a video of the Garabedian press conference. (should we provide a transcript so that it is more searchable?)

The payouts enabled the victims to receive occupational, physical, and psychological treatment.

The Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian continued to work to obtain substantial settlements for victims and survivors.

$60M Settlement for 133 Victims

In 2019, after many months of mediation, a settlement was reached turning 51 separate lawsuits into one class action matter. The settlement, for which Mitchell Garabedian was co-lead counsel with Paul J. Hanly Jr., calls for the creation of a $60 M fund to help the 133 victims and a $1.2 M fund to administer the payments. All the victims in the latest settlement claim they were abused by Perlitz, with one of those also alleging to have been sexually abused by the Rev. Paul E. Carrier, a Jesuit priest.

The settlement settles claims against Perlitz, Fairfield University, Carrier, the Society of Jesus of New England, and the Order of Malta, which provided a grant and additional monies to PPT. It also settles claims against the defunct Haiti Fund Inc., which served as PPT’s nonprofit fundraising arm, and Hope Carter, a philanthropist and former member of the Haiti Fund’s board of directors.
Fairfield University provided most of the funds along with the Order of Malta, and conducted fundraisers for PPT. According to an amended complaint from January 25, 2019, the University had enough access that the institution “knew or should have known that Perlitz was traveling to Haiti to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors in Haiti.” The University had no hand in managing the school, nor were they directly involved in the abuse.

The Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian had been scouring the area for nine years, and believes that all victims have come forward.

The order, which became final on August 27, 2019, will allow survivors to receive the counseling and aid they require and to move on with their lives as best they can.

Let us help you obtain justice

For a free consultation with an attorney of the Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian, call (888) 995-2214 or contact us online.

You are not charged any fees unless we recover money for you. We represent victims and survivors in Massachusetts. Outside of Massachusetts we work with local counsel to represent victims and survivors across the United States, as well as in other countries.