EXCLUSIVE: Bald Faced Stag Lease Holder Accused Of Theft Over Missing Band Fees
The venue is now in discussions with police.
The lease holder sacked from Sydney's Bald Faced Stag last week has been accused of stealing money from bands owed from gigs at the venue in the last ten months.
Since the Leichhardt establishment's landlord, Marvan Hotels, confirmed it had removed Ulladulla Property Services Ltd and general manager Scott Mackenzie for "abandonment and non-payment of rent", it has been alleged bands such as The Dillinger Escape Plan are out of pocket by over $40,000 while Melbourne's The Go Set confirmed to The Music they are still owed over $1,000 from a show last April.
In a statement given to The Music, Mackenzie claimed bands weren't able to be paid because "the business was not able to sustain itself just through music based on the inconsistent revenue".
However a source from the Stag who wishes to remain anonymous has slammed Mackenzie's comments.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
"The monies being talked about being owed to bands not only consists of guaranteed performance fees for artists that were employed by the venue and who are still chasing fees as far back as ten months ago from the start of Scott's period at the Stag such as The Go Set and Nancy Vandal," the source told The Music.
"We are also talking about bands like Anglecorpse, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Genetix, The Peep Tempel and various other bands who were not forwarded their pre-sale ticket monies held in trust by Moshtix on completion of their respective shows.
read more:
"It is industry standard practice to settle all monies held in trust by the venue on behalf of the band within seven days of the completion of the show.
"To put what happened into perspective, it means these funds were obtained by deceit and stolen. This was not a case of inability to pay due to the venue not making enough revenue."
Mackenzie, who was jailed for over three years in 2009 after pleading guilty to stealing more than $5.7 million from a group of companies, has also been accused of "fraudulent behaviour" towards beer and food suppliers, contractors and the Stag's own employees who are "still reportedly owed for weeks worked, leave entitlements and super to which no employee has been paid a cent of since he took over the lease".
See the full statement below.
The Music has contacted Mackenzie for comment.
The monies being talked about being owed to bands not only consists of guaranteed performance fees for artists that were employed by the venue and who are still chasing fees as far back as ten months ago from the start of Scott's period at the stag such as The Go Set and Nancy Vandal. We are also talking about bands like Anglecorpse, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Genetix, The Peep Tempel and various other bands who were not forwarded their pre-sale ticket monies held in trust by Moshtix on completion of their respective shows.
It is industry standard practice to settle all monies held in trust by the venue on behalf of the band within seven days of the completion of the show. To put what happened into perspective it means these funds were obtained by deceit and stolen. This was not a case of inability to pay due to the venue not making enough revenue.
It was the responsibility of Ulladulla and Scott to make sure the monies held in trust were settled and transferred directly to the band,s but instead the monies were settled to Ulladulla accounts leaving bands chasing money that was always theirs from the moment tickets went on sale. So to be clear, this was not a performance fee that the venue could not afford to pay because of slow times, this was the bands' money that was stolen by Mackenzie citing excuses such as "my accountant messed up the transfer" to "an employee had the wrong bank account details on settlement and it ended up in my loan account which will take some time for me to retrieve" to "your money has been loaded in our system to be paid out tomorrow" to then also then rubbing it in after being repeatedly chased for monies and passing on cheques that bounced and fake remittance advices.
This same fraudulent behaviour mentioned above was demonstrated to beer and food suppliers, liquor suppliers, contractors, tradies, his landlord and even his employees who are still reportedly owed for weeks worked, leave entitlements and super to which no employee has been paid a cent of since he took over the lease. Let's be clear again, a one-month quiet period over December and January or a few thousand dollars spent painting a few walls can hardly be blamed for non-payment of the majority of the above mentioned people not being paid for goods or services provided and supplied as far back as March 2017.
More From Our Network
