In 2007, Jean was appointed Ambassador-at-Large of the Republic of Haiti by President René Préval. In 2010, he filed for candidacy in the 2010 Haitian presidential election. However, Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council ruled him ineligible to stand for office, as he had not met the constitutional requirement to have been a resident in Haiti for five years prior to the election. Jean's highly publicized efforts to raise relief funds after the 2010 Haitian earthquake were channeled through his charitable organization, Yéle Haiti. The charity, which conducted education and welfare activities in Haiti between 2005 and 2010, effectively closed in 2012. ''The New York Times'' reported that much of the money raised by the organization in the ''Hope for Haiti Now'' telethon was retained by Jean for his own benefit.