In August, the Obama Victory Fund received $40,000 from the owner of an entertainment company that is shrouded in controversy. Sylvester Carroll is the owner or Nevada Style LLC, Vegas Style Entertainment LLC, and Vegas Style Talent Agency LLC, which are based in New Jersey rather than Las Vegas.
On its website, Vegas Style Entertainment claims to be "directly responsible for the successful launch of the careers of the following artists: The Fugees, Nelly, Mos Def, EMIMEM, Lauryn Hill, Danity Kane, Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, Yung Joc, The Notorious B.I.G., Carl Thomas, 8 Ball, MJG, Loon, B5, Black Rob , Alicia Keys, Busta Rhymes, Monica, Cassidy, John Legend, Academy Award winning Hip Hop Group 3SixMafia, Baby & most currently Lil Wayne." It boasts an impressive client list, despite misspelling Anheuser-Bush as "Anhisher Bush" and Absolut Vodka as "Absolute Vodka."
After visiting the Vegas Style Entertainment website, one might conclude that Sylvester Carroll is the most powerful man in entertainment that no one has ever heard of. The truth might be something very different.
Carroll is being sued for scamming a London party planning company, Banana Split, out of $1 million after promising he could book Lady Gaga for a private concert. The suit alleges that Carroll has bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign concert promoters by posing as entertainment agents. In 2010, Carroll collected $825,000 for a similar scam. One of Carroll’s companies, Nevada Style LLC, filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
It is unclear if Carroll will help the Obama campaign book Eminem or Lil Wayne at any upcoming fundraisers.