Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Marshmello allegedly misused pandemic grants to pay themselves or throw lavish parties

Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Marshmello are just some of the musicians who have applied and received payouts through the Shuttered Venue Operations Grant, a government program designed to support independent venues and arts groups struggling during the pandemic. However, according to a new report, they allegedly used the money to pay themselves or throw lavish parties at taxpayer expense.

In a detailed report by Business Insider, the musicians who received the grants – including Alice in Chains, Shinedown, Rae Sremmerd and Steve Aoki – applied for support after the grant was signed into law by Donald Trump in 2020. The artists were eligible to receive up to $10 million for “ordinary and necessary” expenses earmarked for their loan businesses and were required to make a good faith statement to the Small Business Administration and prove that their businesses had suffered a loss of revenue at least 25 percent between a quarter in 2019 and the same quarter in 2020.

More of diversity

However, the report claims that many of the musicians who received the grants, none of whom responded to the publication’s requests for comment, used the money either for their own living expenses or for independent expenses. Wayne, whose representatives did not respond diversityWhen reached for comment, he received $8.9 million, which he divided for personal use, including $1.3 million for private jets, over $460,000 for designer clothing and $2.14 million dollars to settle a debt to his former manager Cortez Bryant.

Brown, meanwhile, received $10 million for his company CBE Touring. The artist paid himself $5.1 million and spent almost $80,000 on his lavish 33rd birthday party. Marshmello received a $9.9 million scholarship, all of which went into his pocket as he earned more than $9.9 million from touring in 2019.

Aoki’s company, DJ Kid Millionaire Touring, used $2.4 million for payroll costs, of which $1.9 million was paid to Aoki. Three members of Shinedown shared $2.5 million of their $8.3 million grant, while the 15 tour staff received a combined $650,000. Rae Sremmurd received $7.7 million for his Sremm Touring, with a sizable portion going to the duo.

A total of 13,000 art groups received money from SVOG. Initially, musicians were not specifically eligible until the SBA reversed the decision in late 2021. According to the SVOG website, the program included over $16 billion in grants for closed venues.

The best of diversity

Sign up for Variety’s newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.