Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, And More Accused Of Misusing Funds From COVID-19 Pandemic Grants

That's a little selfish....

Music stars Lil Wayne and Chris Brown are on the list of celebrities accused of using funds from a COVID-19 grant designed to assist independent venues and artistic groups struggling during the pandemic for personal gains, Variety reported.

A report alleges both Brown and Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., used the money to pay themselves or throw parties at the expense of taxpayers. Hip-hop group Rae Sremmerd was also named as an artist who was eligible to receive up to $10 million from the Shuttered Venue Operations Grant (SVOG) to spend on “ordinary and necessary” expenses. They were required to make a good-faith statement to the Small Business Administration (SBA), showing their companies lost at least 25% of revenue between one quarter in 2019 and the same quarter in 2020.

Instead, the pandemic funds were allegedly used for personal use or for unrelated expenses.

Brown received $10 million for his company CBE Touring, and the “Sensational” R&B crooner is accused of paying himself $5.1 million. He allegedly spent close to $80,000 on a lavish 33rd birthday party. According to Business Insider, the grand event, held in Los Angeles, featured an LED dance floor worth $3,650 and “atmosphere models” – women in the nude covered in body paint – going for $2,100 each. The bill included over $29,000 spent on hookahs, bottle service, “nitrogen ice cream,” and damages like burn holes on rented furniture.

The party didn’t stop there. Allegedly, Brown used $24,000 in grant funding to cover the cost of driving his tour bus from the US to Tulum, Mexico, and back, in fall 2020, which included a month-long stay for him and his crew at a resort town. Close to $200,000 was also spent on a celebrity basketball tournament broadcast on YouTube, with a $20,000 payment that went to Indianapolis Colts tight end Mo Alie-Cox.

Carter was given an $8.9 million grant, spending over $1.3 million from the grant on flights aboard a private jet and more than $460,000 on items from high-end brands, including Gucci and Balenciaga. American taxpayers footed a bill totaling more than $175,000 in music festival-related expenses promoting his marijuana brand, GKUA, and artists signed to his record label, Young Money Entertainment. Money was also allegedly used to cover nearly $15,000 worth of flights and luxury hotel rooms for women, including a waitress and a porn actress, in connection to the “Lollipop” artist’s touring operation.

Chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Sen. Gary Peters, labeled the accusations “an abuse of federal resources.” He also said that the pandemic relief was intended to assist businesses and workers in need, “not super wealthy celebrities.”
Thirteen thousand art groups received funds from SVOG. The program included more than $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues after musicians initially weren’t eligible, until the SBA reversed the decision in late 2021.