A story in the TimesNews.com reports on a potential scam involving Gospel promoter Wade Weaver:

“According to reports, in previous cases checks written by the agency may be returned for insufficient funds, some scheduled gospel programs might be canceled, and some money collected at gospel shows might not go to the local organization that sponsored it or to the performing artists.”

The above video is a follow up story from WXII news about Wade Weaver and an event in Mount Airy, NC where Weaver skipped town without paying his bills. You can see the first part (the clip includes the local weather and some other stories; the Wade Weaver story is about 1:25 into the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiH2tnUWaM8)This isn’t the only case of reported fraud by the Heaven Bound Talent Agency or its owner, Wade Weaver. A quick Google search brings up testimonies and news stories – from bloggers to artists to Pollstar magazine – of artists and promoters who got stuck with bad checks and fictitious artist line ups. While Weaver hasn’t been brought to trial, I wanted to give you a head’s up in case you’re an artist looking for representation or a venue looking to host a gospel event. It’s always a good idea to get references and to fully check out any company wanting to represent you.UPDATE 3/19/09: MSNBC reported last week that charges against Mr. Weaver were dropped in North Carolina.Get the Gospel Soundcheck headlines delivered daily to your email inbox. Just sign up for the RSS feed by going to the “Subscribe” box on the right hand side of this blog and entering your email address. Follow me on Twitter!