Rappers Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Marshmello, and several other artists are being accused of misusing government-provided COVID relief funding to pay for lavish parties and to fill their own pockets.
The musicians are accused of filing for and misusing Shuttered Venue Operations Grant money, which was supposed to help arts groups weather the COVID shutdowns during the pandemic and was meant to be used for operating expenses and employee salaries.
The SVO grant was signed into law by Donald Trump in 2020 and offered up to $10 million for arts organizations, studios, theaters and similar outlets to spend on “ordinary and necessary” expenses to remain viable during the shutdowns. To be eligible, filers had to show that the pandemic cost them at least 25 percent of revenue over previous quarters.
Other artists who filed for the funding includes Alice In Chains, Shinedown, Rae Sremmerd, and Steve Aoki, acording to Business Insider.
Business Insider, though, notes that many entertainers did not spend the money as directed.
Rapper Lil Wayne reportedly received $8.9 million, but spent the relief funds on personal expenses including $1.3 million on private jets, over $460,000 on clothing, and $2.14 million to pay off a debt to his former manager Cortez Bryant.
Many people got rich from the covid scam. The top one is RAT FACE fauci who collected over $2 million will closing businesses costing actual working people their jobs. 🖕🖕
🖕🖕 Rat Face !! Go the Hell you Sons-a-Bitch !!! I can’t wait to read of your passing on to Hell.