How Post Malone, Chris Brown, Nickelback, and other stars scored $200m in pandemic taxpayer cash

[TheProle]

https://www.insider.com/sba-svog-grant-pandemic-relief-fund-post-malone-chris-brown-2023-8

The program, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, was a lifeline for the live-entertainment business. Administered by the Small Business Administration, it doled out $14.5 billion to institutions like movie theaters, ballets, operas, talent agents, performing-arts venues, and museums. Unlike the Paycheck Protection Program, which many venues didn't qualify for, the Shuttered Venue program was a grant, not a loan. Qualified applicants were eligible for up to $10 million with no obligation to repay it.

snip

But the Shuttered Venue program was also plagued by ineffective oversight and loopholes that allowed some of the biggest names in the music industry to get huge payouts, an Insider investigation found.

R&B artist Chris Brown got $10 million. Rapper Lil Wayne got $8.9 million. Nineties rockers The Smashing Pumpkins got $8.6 million. Nickelback — yes, Nickelback — received $2 million.

All told, Insider identified dozens of corporations and limited-liability companies controlled by high-profile musical artists that received grants through the program. A single financial-management firm in Los Angeles successfully submitted grants on behalf of 97 artists, venues, and managers, amounting to more than a quarter of a billion dollars in grant payouts, Insider's analysis found, including more than $200 million for big-name artists alone.

[MagickMuffin]

1. So the question remains Did the artists receive the money.....

Or

Did the corporations and LLCs keep it?


And

Did the artists even know about this?

[aocommunalpunch]

2. I love when govt operates poorly because

the donors pay to make it that way. Fuck our BRIBED government.