Funds and Controversy
The two Madison Square Garden shows raised US$243,418.50, which was given to UNICEF to administer on 12 August 1971. By December, Capitol Records presented a cheque to Apple Corps for around $3,750,000 for advance sales of the Concert for Bangladesh live album.
Aside from complaints regarding the high retail price for the three-record set, particularly in Britain − a result of the government's refusal to waive its tax surcharge − controversy soon surrounded the project's fundraising. Because the event had not been registered as a UNICEF benefit beforehand, and was therefore not granted tax-exempt status − the blame for which Harrison lay squarely at Klein's feet − most of the money generated was held in an Internal Revenue Service escrow account for ten years. In interview with Derek Taylor for his autobiography in the late '70s, Harrison put this figure at somewhere between $8 million and $10 million. Before then, in early 1972, New York magazine reported that some of the proceeds remained unaccounted for and had found their way into Klein’s accounts. Klein responded by suing the magazine for $150 million in damages, and although the suit was later withdrawn, the accusations attracted unwelcome scrutiny at a time when questions were also being asked about Klein’s mismanagement of The Beatles’ finances. That year, an estimated $2 million had gone to the refugees via UNICEF before the IRS audit of Apple got under way; finally, in 1981, $8.8 million was added to that total following the audit.
By mid 1985, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, nearly $12 million had been sent to Bangladesh for relief. Around this time, Harrison would give Bob Geldof "meticulous advice" to help ensure that Live Aid's estimated £50 million found its way, as intended, to victims of the Ethiopian famine.
Sales of the DVD and CD of the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
Read more about this topic: The Concert For Bangladesh
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