Over 130 people who say they were molested at a school in Haiti connected to Fairfield University, have settled a lawsuit for $60 million, pending approval by a federal judge in Hartford.

The Jesuit university agreed to the settlement with several other defendants, including the Haiti Fund, the Society of Jesus of New England, the Order of Malta, and others that had supported the now-defunct charity, Project Pierre Toussaint.

The lawsuit claimed that the Haitian school's founder, Douglas Perlitz, molested over 100 boys while operating the facility, which housed and taught children as young as six. Perlitz is currently serving a 19-year prison sentence for the abuse after being convicted in 2011.

Perlitz graduated from Fairfield in 1992 and was the university’s commencement speaker in 2002, years after the Haitian school opened. The university also honored Perlitz with its humanitarian award and an honorary degree.

Of course... /s

The lawsuit also named the university’s then-director of campus ministry, Father Paul Carrier, who was alleged to have been responsible for supervising Perlitz.

School officials denied they did anything wrong, according to court records, but lawyers for the victims said there were many warning signs that should have alerted Fairfield University and the other defendants to the abuse.

Attorneys for the victims initially sought $120 million in damages and legal fees.

Source.

@cantsleepawink did a post about the case:

The Knights of Malta, the Vatican, another Haitian orphanage and another child sex abuse scandal

In September 2007, the Knights of Malta (KOM) gave an award to Douglas Perlitz for his ten years of charitable work with Haitian orphan children. The Knights’ publications praised Perlitz repeatedly – in 2005 and in 2008, as well as in 2007. Perlitz, a Fairfield University graduate who had been a commencement speaker for the school in 2002, set up a child care project in Haiti: Project Pierre Toussaint (PPT). He had active support – including over $2 million in donations to his Haiti Fund – from the Knights of Malta (KOM), affluent alumni and benefactors of Fairfield University, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (a Canadian order), and other prominent Catholics from the Diocese of Bridgeport. (One of the board members for this Haiti Fund was Philip Allen Lacovara, the attorney who represented the Bridgeport diocese in the failed attempt to block release of documents relating to clergy sexual abuse cases, and his wife, Madeline. She is a member of the Dames of Malta, and Lacovara is legal counsel for the Knights of Malta.) Douglas Perlitz's "charity” was organized and chaired by Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J., long time Campus Minister of Fairfield University, Magistral Chaplain in the Knights of Malta – and a close mentor and friend of Perlitz. Funding and support for the PPT were actively solicited from persons associated with Fairfield University (whose alumni/benefactor list contains heavy hitters in the world of Opus Dei's Mammon), and from the KOM - both corporately and in individual contributions from its Knights and Dames

Another clergy member involved who had ties to the Knights of Malta was Cardinal Edward Egan, the former Bishop of Bridgeport from 1988 until 2000 when he was promoted to the Archdiocese of New York (which he ruled until 2009). As the Diocesan bishop for Bridgeport, he had a degree of influence over Fairfield University (a Jesuit school).

Egan was the Principal Chaplain of the Knights of Malta in the US until he retired in 2009, and he oversaw the activities of all of the Knights’ chaplains in the US.

After Egan became a Cardinal in 2001, he was given a new title by the Knights: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion. Therefore, Egan was a leading Chaplain of the Knights of Malta during the period of PPT’s establishment and the period of the abuse.

The bishop of Bridgeport since Egan's departure for NYC is Bishop William Lori. He is a Chaplain of the KOM (since 2000), and is also the Supreme Chaplain for the Knights of Columbus.

The successor to Egan as Ordinary of the Archdiocese of NY (from 2009 onward), and Principal Chaplain of the Knights of Malta in the US, is Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

It is a matter of public record that Egan has been a part of the hierarchical cover-up of the abuse scandal.

The same is true for Lori and Dolan, his episcopal associates.

The Knights of Malta didn't back off of the project, but instead gave their money to another charity, called Kids Alive.

"Fairfield University and the Order of Malta are in the works of financing a $850,000 project to help feed, educate and counsel the boys left [behind] after the closing of Perlitz’s Haitian school, according to the Connecticut Post. Fairfield University president, Rev. Jeffrey von Arx and a representative from the Order of Malta have negotiated with a Haitian charitable ministry, Kids Alive International, to finance this five-year support program."

Kids Alive is an evangelical Christian entity, not in any way Catholic. The smooth transfer of the PPT ministry from Catholic control to Evangelical Protestant control is anomalous.

Because of the little-publicized connection between Opus Dei (and other right-wing Catholics) and right-wing Evangelical Protestants (30), the Catholic-to-Protestant transfer of PPT points to possible Opus Dei involvement in the whole sordid mess.

UPDATE: 'Kids Alive', the charity that has been taking care of the kids after the school was closed, and is also funded by the Opus Dei, is member of the Christian Alliance For Orphanages which we found to be fishy in previous posts, see this one f.e.:

Do you think the Roasted Chicken featured on the 'Christian Alliance For Orphans' Google Maps site (Wash DC) means that 'CAFO' might cater to the needs of #ChicklenLovers / Lovers of Little Boys?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H5CWTuaAJI

TL;DR: A pedophile who was mostly funded by the Knights of Malta.

I wonder who of them went to Haiti to 'visit' the project?

Well, Father Carrier not only visited, but also called Perlitz daily, when he wasn't in Haiti.