As Bad Bunny prepares to take one of the most culturally visible stages in America—the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show—new scrutiny is settling not on the performer himself, but on the corporate machinery behind his meteoric rise.
According to reporting from the Dallas Express, the record label that helped propel Bad Bunny into global superstardom was founded by a man with a past deeply entangled in the Venezuelan government under Hugo Chávez. That detail alone has proven enough to make an already politicized entertainment landscape even more combustible.
Rimas Entertainment, founded in 2014, is now a dominant force in Latin music, representing chart-topping artists like Bad Bunny and Karol G. Its founder and original primary investor, Rafael Ricardo Jiménez Dan, previously served as Venezuela’s Vice Minister of Legal Security from 2006 to 2007, a period when Chávez’s government was aggressively consolidating power and expanding state control. Jiménez Dan’s own LinkedIn profile confirms his role, grounding the story in something more concrete than rumor or speculation.
Further complicating matters are reports that Jiménez Dan held a director-level role in Mission Identity, Venezuela’s controversial national ID program. That initiative has long been dogged by allegations of document fraud and claims that it enabled criminals and even terrorists to obtain Venezuelan identification.
While the most serious passport fraud accusations have historically centered on former Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, the mere association with Mission Identity places Jiménez Dan uncomfortably close to one of the Chávez regime’s most criticized programs.
Jiménez Dan has pushed back forcefully against these narratives. In an interview with Music Business Worldwide, he denied being a political actor of any kind, insisting he was never aligned with Chávez, never involved in a coup, and never a member of any political party. He maintains that his investment in Rimas came from legitimate private business ventures, not state-linked funds.
Even so, questions have continued to swirl, fueled in part by claims from Nina Valedón Santiago, a former Puerto Rican political figure, who called for an FBI investigation into Rimas over potential national security concerns. Her allegations that Jiménez Dan invested millions tied to the Venezuelan government were serious enough to attract attention, though her own party quickly distanced itself from the claims.
This backstory collides uncomfortably with Bad Bunny’s own political signaling. Just days ago, the artist reignited controversy with a Grammys acceptance speech that included a blunt “ICE out” remark before thanking God.
For critics, the juxtaposition is striking: a celebrity denouncing U.S. immigration enforcement while being represented by a label founded by a former official from an authoritarian regime notorious for corruption and repression. None of this proves wrongdoing, but it does complicate the narrative.
