Levine abuse scandal rocks $truggling Met

The Metropolitan Opera, already bleeding financially while struggling to sell tickets, is now reeling from a new blow — the sexual-abuse scandal involving its most celebrated conductor.

Ticket sales for Met productions have dwindled over the past decade, sinking to record lows as the opera company has fought to fill its 3,800-seat auditorium at Lincoln Center.

In fiscal year 2016, the storied organization operated at a deficit of $177,000, despite slashing its budget.

The Met took in only 65 percent of its potential box-office revenue that year, filling just 72 percent of seats, a financial report showed.

In September, the Met announced it was offering voluntary buyouts to 21 of its 243 administrative employees to help balance its budget.

Now it is in the midst of an investigation of legendary conductor James Levine, 74, following allegations by three men who claim the maestro sexually abused them as teens.

Levine (inset), a major draw who stepped down as music director last year over health problems, has been suspended by the Met and will no longer conduct its planned production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” which was set to open New Year’s Eve.

Scott Greenspan, who identified himself as a “patron member” of the Met on Facebook, wrote that if “it is proven that Met leadership knew about it and did nothing or settled Levine’s sex abuse cases and let him stay in that position then ALL of those leaders who were complicity MUST resign or be fired.

“If they are not the Met will NOT see another dime of my money.”

Still, it was unclear what effect Levine’s suspension would ultimately have on the Met’s bottom line.

A Met rep said ticket sales were “brisk” Monday, two days after The Post exclusively reported that Ashok Pai of Illinois claimed to have been abused by Levine in the 1980s, beginning when Pai was 15.

The Met has said that it was aware Pai filed a police report in Illinois last year but that it didn’t investigate after Levine denied the claims.

“No other complaint has ever been brought to the Met’s administration during [current general manager] Peter Gelb’s tenure,” the rep said. “According to previous general managers, Joe Volpe and Bruce Crawford, no complaints were ever received by them during their tenures, either.”

Opera lover Bill Martin, 76, of Long Island called the allegations against Levine a “major tragedy.

“My daughter and I actually attended his last performance on Saturday,” Martin said while at Lincoln Center on Monday.

“It should have been addressed [when the accusation first came to light]. For all his greatness, what he did was horrible. People look the other way sometimes depending on the value of the person,” he added.