MSR Media was paid US$150,000 per film, not per month: Premier Mark Brantley

St Kitts and Nevis: The Nevis Island Administration deal with MSR Media was to pay up to US$150,000/EC$400,000 per film and not per month, said Premier of Nevis Mark Brantley during his press briefing.  

Premier Brantley made the major clarification during a recent press conference where he cleared the air regarding the recent claims circulating regarding NIA paying money to MSR Media owner Philippe Martinez. 

Reportedly, the French American movie director Martinez initially arrived in Nevis as part of shooting several films and promoting the island through them. However, in May 2022 he became part of the Citizenship by Investment Programme of St Kitts and Nevis following which he tried to extort money from the government of the island nation by labelling allegations against the Prime Ministers and affiliated officers of CBI Programmes. 

This issue is once again making headlines with claims being made that Martinez was taking US$150,000 per month from Nevis in the deception of making films and promoting the island. 

However, Premier Brantley has now come forward to clear the narratives being set across the media. He outlined, “The deal that we had with MSR media was up to 150,000 USD per film. That was the deal that we negotiated with them but we said to them that we will not pay you any money instead we would use that up to 150,000 USD to pay for your accommodation.”

Citing the reasons behind NIA allowing MSR Media to arrive in Nevis, Brantley said that during Covid-19 pandemic, people could not travel freely and so MSR came up with a model that MSR Media would bring in their entire crew and they would put them up locally and keep them on the island.

With this, he meant that during the rough time of COVID, the arrival of this team on the island provided some business to the locals. 

Mark Brantley emphasised that the crew stayed at the Hamilton Beach Resort right there at the foot of Cotton Road and added, “We paid, I believe, if memory serves somewhere in the order of 55 or 60,000 USD a month to Hamilton to host those individuals.”

He further expressed his pride noting that because of that initiative and how the Nevis Island administration decided to provide the support and incidentally, every jurisdiction in the Caribbean and certainly most jurisdictions around the world that have a film industry provides support for that industry. 

The Premier further cited an example of Puerto Rico where they have a rebate system in which if one spends $4 million on a film, they may get back as much as $1.5 million from the government.

“So we didn't have the resources to do the rebate system so we said, we will partner with you up to that upper limit per film, not per month, as some have tried to mislead the public, but per film. And that process worked well with us because of the money was injected directly into the Nevis economy, meaning we paid Hamilton. We kept Hamilton open during Covid. I can say that the government kept Hamilton open during Covid and all of those workers at Hamilton were able to earn a dollar during Covid because of that initiative,” outlined the Premier. 

Taking to Facebook, Brantley lashed out at the false narratives saying that it does not matter for the general public what the leaders say publicly but all that seems to matter is what the mischief makers say. 

As Brantley has cleared his part on MSR Media’s allegations towards Nevis Island Administration, other leaders should also come forward and take a bold stand against alleged fraudster Philippe Martinez who has been using RICO Lawsuit as an ‘extortion scheme’.

Who is Philippe Martinez and What is Rico Lawsuit

54 year old Philippe Martinez is a French movie producer and director and recently he is making headlines because of the various controversies he is part of. 

He arrived in Nevis in May 2022 claiming that he will be shooting films but later he became part of the CBI programme under former administration led by Timothy Harris. 

It was later discovered by the Labour administration that Martinez has a questionable past and he was also sentenced for five years in prison for fraud and had also served six months jail time in Europe. 

In a bid to extort the small island nations, Martinez filed a baseless RICO Lawsuit in May 2024 against the corruption within the CBI of St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia and targeted several individuals.

Following the filing of this case, he attempted to extort millions of money from the government of St Kitts and Nevis but failed to do so. 

Earlier this month, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis Dr Terrance Drew accused Martinez for asking a whopping USD 40 million to 100 million in order to withdraw this case and told the members of the media how Philippe Martinez almost threatened him to pay from public treasury in order to take-back this RICO suit.