How extremely wealthy singers like Post Malone, Chris Brown, LeAnn Rimes, and Nickelback received emergency grants from Covid totaling up to $10 million that they were not required to repay was revealed.
Megastars in the music industry including Post Malone, Chris Brown, LeAnn Rimes, and Nickelback are said to have gotten millions of dollars from a taxpayer-funded initiative designed to aid venues and musicians who were having trouble during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) administered the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, which was established in 2021 and created to provide as a lifeline for live entertainment businesses that had been devastated by lockdowns.
It distributed $14.5 billion to organizations that included artists as well as cinema theaters, ballets, performing arts centers, and talent agencies.
In contrast to the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided a loan, qualified candidates were qualified for up to $10 million in replacement funding for lost income, which they did not have to repay.
An Insider investigation found that this was used by limited liability corporations connected to arena-filling performances.
R&B performer Chris Brown, who is thought to have a net worth of around $50 million, and singer Post Malone were reportedly among the artists to earn the maximum $10 million reward.
Post Malone is thought to be worth at least $45 million, and he owns a number of residences, including a lavish $3 million property with five bedrooms and seven baths in northern Utah.
LeAnn Rimes and Nickelback each received $2 million, while rapper Lil Wayne reportedly collected $8.9 million.
There is no evidence that these payments to well-known artists violated the law, even though it is unclear how the money was used.
When tours or concerts had to be cancelled, the aid could have been used to pay the lighting and sound engineers, costumers, drivers, security guards, and other contractors who were left without work.
Corporations and limited liability businesses were not required to utilize the funds to support these employees, nevertheless.
The money might be used by the recipients to cover their own salaries as well as their existing mortgage, tax, and payroll obligations.
The research discovered, in instance, that one Los Angeles asset-management company alone was successful in submitting grants on behalf of 97 artists, venues, and managers, including electronic music sensation Steve Aoki, metal band Korn, and Post Malone.
The company, NKSFB, is said to have assisted in securing payouts of $260 million.
During the Covid-19 outbreak, the Shuttered Venue Program, according to an SBA representative, “helped save thousands of entertainment venues and operators across the country.”
‘According to the spokesman, nearly half of the grants were awarded to “the smallest of small businesses,” defined as companies with less than five full-time employees.
It happens at a time when the government is still figuring out how much help from the epidemic era was used for bogus claims.
A SBA analysis from earlier this year indicated that $200 billion in COVID-19 assistance programs may have been lost.
The staggering figure is equivalent to around 17% of the $1.2 trillion distributed by the SBA.
The watchdog, however, disregarded the possibility of widespread fraud surrounding the Shuttered Venue Program and estimated that less than 1% of awards awarded were false.
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