Several famous musicians have been accused of misusing Covid relief funds.
According to reporting by Business Insider, a group of prominent artists took large sums of money from a pandemic relief fund called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant that was supposed to help the arts industry.
Managed by the Small Business Administration, it was meant to keep “struggling independent venues and arts groups” afloat. Reporting suggests that the likes of Chris Brown, Marshmello, Lil Wayne and more took advantage of the grant, which offered a maximum of $10 million.
Keep reading to find out more…
The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant provided assistance to more than 13,000 members who qualified. The Small Business Administration reportedly utilized “industry-leading fraud controls” to make sure that the funds were appropriately handed out.
The outlet noted that the grants were supposed to be used to cover “ordinary and necessary” payments. Grantees were only supposed to qualify if they were able to prove a 25% reduction in their revenue between the same time period in 2019 and 2020.
However, the grant reportedly only focused on those losses and did not consider other assets that artists might own.
The use of the grants has also been called into question.
Lil Wayne reportedly allocated $1.38 million to travel in private jets. He used another $2.14 million to pay off a debt to a former manager.
Chris reportedly received the full $10 million grant. The outlet alleged that he personally pocketed $5.1 million of it and spent nearly $80,000 additionally on an extravagant birthday party.
Marshmello, a DJ, paid himself the full $9.9 million that he received, making him the artist who personally benefited the most from the grant. He was able to justify the receipt since he made that amount the prior year.
Other artists mentioned in the report include Steve Aoki, who allegedly paid himself $1.9 million of a $2.4 million grant that he received, Shinedown, Rae Sremmurd and members of Alice in Chains.
Business Insider consulted with a government-accountability expert, who hypothesized that the spending was “questionable” if not “fraudulent.”
Artists associated with the business management firm NKSFB reportedly received $207 million in support.
A lawyer for the group called Business Insider’s reporting into question in a statement shared with the outlet.
“NKSFB, one of the most respected business management firms in the world, does not comment on its clients’ financial information,” lawyer Bryan Freedman said. “Based on the uninformed questions that BI has asked, it is clear it has little to no understanding on this subject.”
In a statement shared with the outlet, the Small Business Administration noted that “some” of the grants awarded to artists “remain open due to ongoing third-party audits that the Agency is resolving.”
“Where credible evidence suggests funds were misspent or a grantee misrepresented their expenditures to SBA, the agency’s robust fraud and waste oversight structure reviewed such allegations,” a spokesperson said. “When substantiated, SBA and its law enforcement partners vigorously prosecute suspected wrongdoing. As a matter of policy, the SBA cannot comment on specific investigations or law enforcement action, whether planned or ongoing.”
Business Insider reached out to multiple artists mentioned in the report for comment. However, most did not return the request.
We will update you if we learn more about the situation.
