There has still been no official word on how Rihanna's concert last
night in Saint Paul's, US went. Nor has there been any official
explanation as to why tonight's concert in Winnipeg, Canada has been
delayed by one hour. There hasn't even been any word as whether Rihanna
has crossed the international border between the US and Canada although
let's be honest we're not expecting any problems on the Canadian side.
So instead I will concentrate of the events of this coming Tuesday
(26/3/13). Although Rihanna won't be performing it will be a big day for
her as the latest round in the Robyn Fenty Versus Berdon LLP and
associates is heard in a Barbados court. Although I've not seen the
papers this case centres around an accusation that Berdon drained tens
of millions of dollars from Rihanna's tour revenues by charging
unjustified fees. This was done to such an extent that Rihanna actually
incurred a loss from the 2009 Last Girl on Earth tour despite gross
revenues (ticket sales etc) indicating a healthy profit. The case also
accuses Berdon LLP of being responsible for accountancy errors that have
seen Rihanna being under an ongoing audit by the US Inland Revenue
Service (IRS) since roughly 2010.
I am of course very interested to see the full case papers. The first
thing I will be looking for is some even vaguely legal reason why a suit
filed by a US resident against a US company in a US Court is being
heard in Barbados at all. The political reason is of course pretty
obvious. Tuesday's hearing is going to centre on the role of Rihanna's
book-keeper/accountant mother in the dispute. This is of course intended
to be used as a metaphor for Rihanna's mother's role in her life in
general and specifically her relationship with Chris Brown.
The problem for the US who are attempting to impose this survey on
Barbados is that by appointing Judge Reifer (prn Reefer - as in
marijuana joint) it is quite clear that Barbados have already concluded
that Chris Brown is the root cause of Rihanna's problems. This puts
Barbados in a very difficult position because if they refuse to allow
Chris Brown entry to the country Rihanna will simply refuse to visit
cutting her off from their positive influences and further into Chris
Brown's clutches. I think they should just go for it though. That's
because while it will take the US to limit the damage that Chris Brown
is able to do to Rihanna we can certainly limit the damage he does to
everybody else.
As for Rihanna while the IRS audit does make it very difficult she
should seriously consider dropping the case and rather then focusing on
how she got ripped off on previous tours focus on how she's getting
ripped-off on this tour. That's because while Team Rihanna are still
refusing to lift a finger her fans (the Navy) have been bending over
backwards to make sure I get the information I require. That's creating
an Us versus Them mentality between Rihanna and the Navy that is going
to leave some of them questioning why they bother.
16:20 on 25/3/13.
Edited at around 16:40 on 25/3/13 to add: Now I've had coffee I should
point out that while I've not seen the case papers I suspect what has
triggered the IRS audit is the suspicion that Rihanna and her mother
conspired with Berdon LLP to charge these fees in order to evade tax.
The untaxed income would then be re-paid to Rihanna. However if after
this length of time the IRS have been unable to find that money trail
it's because it doesn't exist. Therefore they should either proceed to
prosecution or drop the audit.
Of course the US will claim that they're keeping the audit in place as a
way to supervise Rihanna's finances to make sure she doesn't get
ripped-off that badly again. However could I be so bold as to suggest by
creating all this stress and disruption the US actually preventing
Rihanna from learning how to manage her own finances.
And yes this case does perfectly reflect my efforts to teach my newly
self-employed friend about filing tax returns. Hence the term "Mirror."
(Originally Posted on 25/3/13)
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