Russell Brand’s production company has posted a profit of £2.9 million ($3.7 million), according to accounts filed this week.
Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm Limited, of which Brand is the sole director, filed its 2022 accounts at U.K. business registrar Companies House on Dec. 21.
Covering the 12-month period up to Dec. 31, 2022, they show that the company’s total turnover was £4,878.863, over £800,000 more than the previous year.
The company’s principal activities are audiovisual productions and live shows. Brand and his wife Laura are shareholders of the company.
Among the disbursements were a dividend of £2.1 million and a “charitable contribution” of £126,055 to Brand’s Stay Free Foundation. As per its website, the Stay Free Foundation focuses on “supporting people through recovery from addiction, their mental health issues and the non-profit organisations that help them.”
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Under the heading of “revenue,” the accounts set out how turnover from audiovisual productions, live shows, royalties and merchandise are calculated.
After rising to fame as a comedian and actor in films such as “Get Him to the Greek,” Brand largely turned away from mainstream media and has focused on his YouTube channel, live shows and book publishing in recent years.
The accounts cover the period before Brand was accused of sexual assault by four women in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times of London and Channel 4 documentary “Dispatches,” which was published and broadcast in September. Brand pre-emptively denied the allegations via a YouTube video, saying he “absolutely refutes” the “litany of astonishing, rather baroque, attacks.”
Last week Brand was reportedly questioned by the U.K.’s Metropolitan Police over nine offences. According to the BBC, he was interviewed under caution at a police station in South London. He was previously questioned by the police in November.
The initial accusations of sexual misconduct and assault were alleged to have taken place in both the U.K. and the U.S. between 2006 and 2013.
In the wake of the Sunday Times and “Dispatches” story, both the BBC and Banijay U.K., for whom Brand worked at the height of his fame, said they were launching internal investigations. The BBC also said it was removing his content from their platforms while Pan Macmillan imprint Bluebird suspended its publishing deal with Brand.
YouTube, where Brand has focused on building a substantial following over the past decade, stopped short of removing the actor and comedian from its platform but said he could no longer monetize his content.
