It was the summer of 2007. At a hotel in Italy, guests started arriving in the early evening. The location was kept secret, and security was extremely high.
People were dressed in the most expensive fashions. There was plenty of gourmet food, and expensive liquor and fine wine flowed freely. Everyone was in high spirits.
Then the lights dimmed, and Canada’s Nelly Furtado stepped onstage. Although she was very busy touring and promoting an album called Loose, she made time for this performance.
Who could turn down a million U.S. dollars for a 45-minute private set at a luxury property in front of what she assumed was a room full of very powerful, influential, and obviously very rich people? Easy money, right? It was less a gig than an all-expenses-paid mini-vacation.
The evening went off without a hitch. She collected her cash and went about her business. But what she didn’t know was that she had been paid with blood money—profits from massive corruption and the oppression of an entire country by a family of international terrorists.
Nelly Furtado was far from the first person to be duped into such a performance. A surprising number of A-listers have found themselves performing for some of the worst people in the world.
Some of these artists were horrified when they learned the truth. Others just shrugged, cashed the cheques, and accepted further such gigs.
This is Episode 52 of Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry. This is the inside story of playing gigs for dictators, oligarchs, and criminals.
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