The talent booking agency at the center of a scandal involving $200,000 in missing University of Hawaii funds for a Stevie Wonder concert has only a "virtual" office in a Miami high-rise where it gets its mail, and does not have physical space there, the company that runs the Florida business center said.
Epic Talent LLC says on its website — alongside photos of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Prince, Taylor Swift and other celebrities — that for the past 15 years and formerly as BAB Productions, the agency has "become a reliable source for accessing big-name entertainment."
But there is little or no public record of Epic Talent brokering or producing big-name talent.
UH taps familiar firm for Wonder investigation
The University of Hawaii is engaging the downtown law firm of Cades Schutte to investigate the Stevie Wonder fiasco, the Star-Advertiser has learned.
UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple on Wednesday promised an external investigation of the canceled Aug. 18 concert and said the school would use an investigator with whom it was familiar.
UH officials refused to say who it has retained or how much it expects the inquiry to cost.
UH paid Cades Schutte $225,000 for two cases the firm handled on behalf of the school through 2011, one of them involving Daniel Smith, the football player who sued the school for revoking a scholarship offer.
In addition, UH hired the firm last summer to investigate allegations against its basketball program, coach Gib Arnold and the athletic program. Calvert G. Chipchase, who oversaw the investigation, declined to comment Friday about whether he would also oversee the Wonder inquiry. Chipchase is a graduate of the UH Richardson School of Law and has been a lecturer there since 2004, according to his online biography.
Star-Advertiser staff
|
Local promoter Bob Peyton told the Star-Advertiser that he wired $50,000 of his money for the Wonder concert to an account at an Orlando, Fla., bank belonging to Epic Talent. Peyton said UH officials wired $200,000 to the same account.
The phone number listed for Epic Talent on its website now only offers a busy signal. A cellphone number provided by the company on bank account information for the transfer of the funds has a full voice mailbox.
But Peyton insisted Friday that the concert is still possible and that UH’s and his funds are not lost.
Although he acknowledged he has never met Sean Barriero, listed as the director of Epic Talent on its website, Peyton said he spoke Thursday with Barriero, who told him he sent the concert down payment money to Wonder.
"To my knowledge, he (Sean Barriero) doesn’t have the money. … We sent it to an escrow account in Miami with the stipulation that when it went out I would know about it, and when it went out it would go to Stevie Wonder," Peyton said. "And it went out, and I was told it went to Stevie Wonder. I’ve asked for a receipt. I haven’t gotten it."
Epic now is getting a lot of questions about what happened, "and they get tired of it," and that’s why they are not answering their phones, he said.
"They are just working. They haven’t given up," Peyton said. "As far as they are concerned, the show is still viable, and they get tired of telling people who call them thieves."
Epic Talent has a "virtual" office and gets its mail at the Regus business center on the 11th floor of the 31-story Sabadell Financial Center in Miami but has no physical office there, a Regus representative said. Sean and Reggie Barriero have the Miami mailbox account, and Epic Talent has rented meeting rooms for use, the Regus employee said.
On Wednesday, UH officials placed athletic director Jim Donovan and Stan Sheriff Center manager Rich Sheriff on indefinite paid leave pending an investigation. Donovan announced the cancellation of the concert Tuesday. As many as eight UH officials in different departments face scrutiny for their roles in the botched concert, sources have told the newspaper.
The Star-Advertiser reported earlier this week that UH sources said the FBI has begun a criminal investigation and told university officials that it found no trace of the $200,000 wired to the Florida bank account. The money was to be used as a down payment on a Wonder fundraising concert for UH athletics planned for Aug. 18 at Stan Sheriff Center, UH sources told the Star-Advertiser.
In a letter to the "UH ohana" posted Friday on the university’s website, President M.R.C. Greenwood said, "I want to assure you on behalf of your university that we are doing everything we can to understand the facts and circumstances regarding this regrettable situation. Unfortunately, the university may have been the victim of fraud."
[Editor’s note: See the letter from President Greenwood, posted below.]
The university has started its own probe and is "fully cooperating" with the FBI investigation, she said.
A UH spokesman Friday disputed the Star-Advertiser report that the FBI has told officials they found no trace of the money wired to the account. The newspaper stands by its report.
The spokesman also said that Greenwood knew about plans for the concert "well before" last week but only learned about the problems Monday. The newspaper reported Friday that Greenwood said she had only learned about the concert after being contacted by Wonder’s agent Monday.
Peyton, 66, who arranged the now-canceled Wonder contract and has been involved in producing and promoting concerts for 45 years, said he hadn’t been contacted by the FBI as of Friday.
"I’m happy to have them (the FBI) aboard," Peyton said by phone. "Nobody is going to hide any money from them. It’s going to come clean one way or the other."
Peyton said he’s "been working with (booking) agents in Europe for decades," and he turned to someone in England to secure Wonder for the UH concert. The contact in England referred him to Helen Williams with the Elite agency in Spain, and Williams came up with Epic Talent in Miami, he said.
Peyton said he had not dealt with Williams or Epic Talent before.
"I relied on Helen Williams because my agents in England, who I have booked shows with for 20 years, have worked with her and they turned me on to her," Peyton said. "I felt real comfortable because the people that I trust, trust her."
Williams could not be reached for comment Friday.
Peyton said he worked through Wonder’s representatives at Creative Artists Agency in 2009 in a failed effort to try to bring the singer to Honolulu for a UH benefit, but CAA wanted $750,000 at the time.
"So when Stevie Wonder was offered to me for a benefit for less money, it was my obligation to explore it," he said. Williams, with the Elite agency in Spain, quoted $730,000, Peyton said.
Epic Talent came on board because Peyton said he insisted on the concert down payment money going into a U.S.-based escrow account.
"There’s no way I’m going to do this show without an escrow account in the United States. I’m not sending any money overseas anywhere," Peyton said.
That’s when Williams "brought the Miami agents (Epic) into it," Peyton said, adding that Epic "had an escrow account and that’s where the money went."
Peyton said he was told "the last (booking Epic) worked on was Prince, (and) they began by offering me Prince, but Prince isn’t strong enough."
President’s letter to the UH ohana
July 13, 2012
Dear University of Hawaii Ohana, Colleagues, and Friends,
I am writing to you today to update you about the Stevie Wonder concert. I want to assure you on behalf of your university that we are doing everything we can to understand the facts and circumstances regarding this regrettable situation. Unfortunately, the university may have been the victim of fraud. We have referred this matter to the FBI and are fully cooperating with their investigation.
The Board of Regents and I have also initiated a thorough internal investigation of this matter, which will be reported directly to the Chair of the Board of Regents’ Committee on University Audits and myself.
To discover all the facts will take time. In the meantime, we urge you not to prejudge the university or any individuals with respect to roles, responsibilities, and actions. We have taken swift action to refund ticket holders, and 98 percent of refunds have been processed. Our student athletes and our fans are of the utmost concern. The Board of Regents and I fully support the efforts of our new Chancellor Tom Apple as he oversees Manoa athletics.
There has been broad coverage in the media, some of it inaccurate, with statements attributed to anonymous sources. Please know that many of these statements are at best speculation and at worst falsehoods, by people both not authorized to speak on behalf of the university and without firsthand knowledge. Any statement not made by Chancellor Apple or the university’s designated spokesperson should be viewed with great caution.
Please remember that the university was a victim here. Although mistakes may have been made, we will do our absolute best to try to prevent something like this from ever happening again. We will not let this deter us from moving forward with the mission of the University of Hawaii. We have many exciting stories and successes at the university, and we should not let the current situation overshadow these. Thank you for your support.
With Aloha,
M.R.C. Greenwood
Source: University of Hawaii
|
Consultant: Scope of Services
Provide strategic communications counsel to the University of Hawaii President for a wide range of University of Hawaii research projects and issues including, but not limited to, the Pacific Health Research Lab at Kalaeloa, the Thirty-Meter Telescope Project on Mauna Kea, the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope project on Haleakala, and any other research enterprises or projects that the university is involved with that may become the subject of publicity or community discussion, as agreed to by the President and Consultants as being suitable for inclusion within the scope of their services.
Strategic communications counsel will include monitoring local print, radio, television, and electronic media regarding significant University research projects, as determined by the President or her designee. Counsel will also monitor formal and informal discussions regarding these same projects within various business, government, and community circles and be prepared to make suggestions to the President or her designee for long-range management of said issues.
The consultant will identify and outline the most significant community concerns being expressed about the University’s major research projects and issues, particularly those concerns that appear to be gaining attention within the community. The consultant will critique the University’s proposed and ongoing communications regarding these research projects and issues and provide strategic advice to the President or her designees.
The Consultant will meet with the President at least monthly, or as many times as the President requests. Some of these meetings may be done by teleconference or the internet. Consultant will provide one written report at the end of each month summarizing the projects and issues monitored, the community concerns identified, and the perceived effectiveness of the University’s communications.
Source: University of Hawaii
|
