Scooter Braun's $300 million purchase of Taylor Swift's catalogue was financed by an investment firm that previously accepted money from the family of late terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
The 38-year-old music manager, who represents , Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, on Sunday, announced he bought the rights to the singer's master recordings via his company Ithaca Holdings from her first label, Big Machine Label Group and owner Scott Borchetta.
The transaction came with the backing of the Carlyle Group, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Carlyle Group was previously in business with the Saudi Arabian family but broke ties in October of 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks that U.S. intelligence linked to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.
An executive for the firm told The New York Times in October of 2001 that the move was not made because Bin Laden's family - which had disowned him in previous years and denounced the terrorist attacks - 'thought they did anything wrong,' nor did the Carlyle group 'do it with relish or great glee.
'We felt and they felt that it was something that was causing more attention than it deserved, so we both decided it made sense, given the circumstances, to liquidate the position,' the exec told the paper.
Michael Moore prominently featured The Carlyle Group in his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11, noting how Bin Laden's brother was in New York City at a business conference the morning of the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Ex-U.S. President George HW Bush had been there the day before.
The $300 million transaction has been a controversial one in music industry circles after Swift, 29, complained about the deal in a Tumblr blog Sunday, calling the music manager 'manipulative' and 'bullying' in his interactions with her, adding that he was behind her embarrassing 2016 feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
'My musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,' said the songstress, who received public support from notable names such as Halsey, Iggy Azalea and Cara Delevingne.
The singer earlier this month announced via Instagram Live her next album Lover, her seventh studio album, will be released August 23. The record will be Taylor's first on her new deal with Universal Music.
