Lil Wayne Reportedly Misused Pandemic Relief Loans | News

Lil Wayne has been named among other artists who reportedly squandered pandemic-relief profits during COVID-19.

In a new report from Business Insider, the 5-time Grammy winner was found to have received an $8.9 million grant as a payout from the Shuttered Venue Operations Grant, administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Disaster Assistance. President Donald Trump signed the $200 million Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) into law in 2020. Still, it was made available to affluent individuals in the music industry through “loan-out companies,” or corporations that plan tours for musicians.

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The pandemic funding was intended to support independent event spaces and art organizations. Still, rather than using it towards his music, the BI article detailed $1.3 million in private flights, $460,000 in clothes and accessories and charging taxpayers $175,000 in music festival expenses, to promote his GKUA cannabis brand.

BI also revealed that Wayne’s spending wasn’t limited to himself, as $15,000 in flights and rooming were covered for at least two women. Other expenses included $2.14 million and $1.71 million payments to his former managers, Cortez Bryant and Mack Maine, respectively; $590.7 million to his lawyers and $589.7 to his accountants.

Other artists mentioned in the report included Chris Brown and Rae Sremmurd, the latter of whom were said to have gotten a hefty portion of their $7.7 million grant through Sremm Touring. As for Brown, the singer received a $10 million grant, with $5.1 million going to him personally, while taxpayers were billed $80,000 for his 33rd birthday party.