Excessive-profile artists together with Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, and Marshmello obtained and misused hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in government-issued COVID-19 aid cash, in line with a brand new report from Enterprise Insider’s Jack Newsham and Katherine Lengthy. The exposé particulars how the musicians allegedly exploited the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG)—a program signed into regulation in 2020 to assist hard-hit impartial venues and struggling artists—to pad out their already luxurious life with lavish events, designer clothes, leisure journey, and extra.
In response to in depth accounting paperwork considered by Enterprise Insider, Lil Wayne acquired $8.9 million in grant funds from SVOG. He reportedly allotted over $1.3 million of that cash to private-jet journey and over $460,000 to clothes from high-end manufacturers akin to Balenciaga, Marni, Raf Simons, and Gucci. Wayne additionally reportedly billed taxpayers upward of $175,000 for “bills associated to a music pageant selling his marijuana model, GKUA, together with clothes for artists related together with his report label,” as Enterprise Insider put it.
Extra alleged misuse of the funds included virtually $15,000 on flights and luxurious lodge rooms for ladies with no obvious connection to Wayne’s touring operation. The rapper additionally billed taxpayers just below $88,000 for bills associated to a live performance he by no means carried out (scheduled to happen on New 12 months’s Eve 2021 in California).
Enterprise Insider experiences that Chris Brown’s firm CBE Touring acquired a $10 million grant—of which Brown acquired $5.1 million personally. His lavish thirty third celebration additionally reportedly value taxpayers virtually $80,000, which was spent on “environment fashions,” an LED dance ground, bottle service, hookahs, and “nitrogen ice cream,” amongst different issues.
Producer and DJ Marshmello reportedly acquired $9.9 million in grant cash from SVOG—all of which he awarded to himself. As a result of he made greater than that quantity touring in 2019, he was capable of declare the grant in its entirety. In response to Enterprise Insider, Marshmello paid himself greater than another musician who was granted SVOG cash, as Wayne, Brown, and others, paid among the funds towards their managers, crew, and extra employees.
Steve Aoki and members of Alice in Chains have been additionally named within the report for allegedly misusing SVOG funds. The SVOG program was helmed by the Small Enterprise Administration, which claimed, in an announcement to Enterprise Insider, that it was directed to look at income, not the property of recipients. This allowed a gaping loophole for millionaire musicians to obtain funds meant for struggling artists.
