Barbra Streisand used $200,000 in PPP money intended to help small businesses during the pandemic to pay her groundskeeper at her $20 million mansion.
Streisand’s film company, Barwood Films Ltd, received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020 and 2021 and then had them written off by the federal government.
Workers paid through Barwood Films were the groundskeeper responsible for the gardens at her $20 million Malibu clifftop home.
However, Streisand’s spokesman claimed the gardener had not been paid with taxpayer funds despite the groundskeeper being employed by Barwood Films when taking the public money.
According to Forbes, Streisand is worth 430 million and is known for her luxurious living, even owning a replica antique shopping mall at her mansion.
The New York Post reported:
The mall is in the basement of the eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom mansion, itself valued at at least $20 million, and whose gardens have been called “an idyllic oasis” by Homes & Gardens. There are 3,000 rose bushes alone.
On April 7, 2020, four days after the Small Business Administration opened applications for loans for the program, Barwood Films Ltd., was approved for $103,662, which it said was for six workers.
Six days later, Streisand tweeted her anger at then-President Donald Trump for his handling of the COVID crisis, saying money he had spent on a border wall should be spent on “testing, ventilators and personal protective equipment for our health care professionals.”
Trump is obsessed with wasting money on his wall. Maybe all that money should have been spent on testing, ventilators and personal protective equipment for our health care professionals. The virus doesnât care about the wall that he falsely said Mexico was paying for.
Days after her production company took taxpayer money intended for small businesses to make payroll, $430 million Democrat Barbra Streisand was lashing out at Donald Trump on Twitter for not spending on public health.
The next year, her film company received $103,127, saying it would protect six people on its payroll.
Companies that spent at least 60% of the PPP check on payroll and did not cut workers’ pay could apply to have their loans forgiven, along with any interest accrued on them.
Barwood Films did that, meaning it netted $209,069 from the taxpayer-funded bailout. PPP recipients could spend up to 40% on utilities, essential purchases, protective equipment and rent.
Almost all PPP loans have been forgiven: Out of $793 billion issued, the SBA has written off $762 billion.
At the time of the loans, one of Barwood’s employees listed her job as “executive support,” a role she had previously held for Bette Midler. A former Barwood employee from years before the pandemic detailed their duties as “personal errands” for Streisand.
Barwood, which produced films such as “A Star Is Born” in 1976, “Yentl” in 1983 and “The Prince of Tides” in 1991, last produced “Barbra: The Music, the Memoirs, the Magic” in 2017.
Since then, Streisand released a new album and in 2022, a best-selling memoir, “My Name is Barbra.”
Public records show Barwood is registered to the office of money manager Lester Knispel, who is also assistant secretary of the Barbra Streisand Foundation.
His Boulevard Management manages money for Kardashian family members and Sylvester Stallone, among others. Calls and an email to Boulevard Management were not returned.
READ: Barbra Streisand Vows to Leave US If Trump Becomes President
