Nancy Pelosi Profited as Luxury Napa Resort Won COVID-19 Bailout; Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, And More Accused Of Misusing Funds From COVID-19 Pandemic Grants, and other C-Virus related stories

Nancy Pelosi Profited as Luxury Napa Resort Won COVID-19 Bailout:

The Auberge du Soleil, a five-star hillside hotel and spa with a panoramic view overlooking the vineyards of Napa Valley, appears to be first-rate in all ways but one. While the glamorous resort, an hour’s drive from San Francisco, fills rooms that routinely go for $2,000 a night with A-list celebrities and tech titans, financial records suggest it did not provide much of a return to at least two of its investors – Rep. Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul. That changed when it received millions in congressionally authorized COVID-19 relief in 2020 and 2021.

The Auberge du Soleil investment, held for decades by Paul Pelosi, has rarely turned a significant profit, according to Nancy’s financial disclosure forms. In some years, he has recorded a loss or a profit of between $50,000 to $100,000. But the year of the bailout money stands apart. In 2021, Pelosi’s ethics forms show that her family’s income from the resort surged to a range of $1 million to $5 million.

The French Riviera-themed resort may not be most people’s idea of a struggling business in need of a government bailout, yet the Auberge du Soleil – which shuttered briefly at the outset of the pandemic before swiftly rebounding – received about $9 million from a series of special taxpayer-funded emergency relief programs.

The previously unreported windfall is among several COVID bailouts that flowed to Pelosi-backed restaurants, hotels, and properties, including several Courtyard Marriott hotels.

A RealClearInvestigations analysis found that Pelosi’s profits spiked from a variety of holdings that won significant government rescue funds – which amounted to $28 million, a total more than previously known. For their family’s stake in the Auberge du Soleil, the Pelosis received more income in 2021, when bailout funds channeled to the resort, than any other time over the last 10 years.

Pelosi is hardly alone among lawmakers whose businesses reaped awards from pandemic-era financial programs designed for small businesses. Rep. Greg Pence, the brother of the former vice president, received $79,441. Rep. Dean Phillips, who briefly campaigned in the Democratic presidential primary, is an investor in a small event production company, Geniecast, that received two forgivable loans that totaled $373,185. Other members with investments in car dealerships and restaurant companies also received scrutiny over COVID rescue funds.

Yet Pelosi’s personal stake in the unprecedented taxpayer gusher has never been fully explored. Pelosi, during her previous stint as leader of the House of Representatives, shepherded all federal COVID stimulus measures, which totaled about $5.5 trillion – one of the largest domestic spending efforts in U.S. history outside of wartime. “These Republicans seem to have an endless tolerance for other people’s sadness,” said Pelosi at a press conference in December 2020, admonishing her opposition for delays in passing additional pandemic spending programs. The programs were touted as disaster measures designed to save the economy and help needy businesses and families.

The exact amount of Pelosi’s profits from the Auberge Du Soleil is unclear. The hotel is a privately held company, and the lawmakers file ethics reports that show a range of income and assets rather than a precise amount. Her office did not respond to a request for comment. —>READ MORE HERE

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

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. —>READ MORE HERE

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