On Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a statement regarding rapper Nuke Bizzle’s, born Fontrell Antonio Baines, pending guilty plea of illegally procuring COVID relief funds during 2020. Baines is expected to plead guilty to fraud charges in the United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
Baines, 33, boasted about committing unemployment fraud in one of his music videos called “EDD,” which is thought to be in reference to the Employment Development Department (EDD).
The DOJ said, “According to his plea agreement, from July 2020 to September 2020, Baines unlawfully exploited the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provisions of the CARES Act to obtain unemployment insurance money to which he was not entitled,” which is closely aligned with the contents of his song.
The Memphis rapper bragged about defrauding the EDD in a music video that he posted to both Youtube and his Instagram. Baines rapped about his “swagger for EDD” by holding up a handful of envelopes addressed from the EDD, he boasted that he was often “go[ing] to the bank with a stack of these.”
The dummy flaunted and taunted his fraudulent comeup on social media.
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His last post on Instagram appeared to be more humble. Seemingly behind bars, Baines wrote, “Birthdays was the worst days. All my life it’s been funerals and court dates. But a few bad chapters does not mean my story’s over, ya dig? #FREEME”
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The DOJ reported that the rapper used the names and personas of other people to apply for over 90 pre-loaded cards. He fraudulently applied for approximately $1,256,108 in unemployment benefits, which he initially denied. The debit cards were sent to a slew of different addresses that all belonged to or were owned in association with Baines. From the fraudulent bounty, the federal government only recouped roughly less than $60,000.
In addition to the financial crimes, Baines admitted to being in felony possession of a semi-automatic pistol. The previous charges that Baines faced were more extensive federal crimes: access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and interstate transportation of stolen property. With the stipulations of Baines’ new plea bargain, he is pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud and the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Another part of the agreement was that Baines had to turn over much of the cash that was seized upon his arrest; Now, under the new conditions, Baines is looking at up to 30 years in prison between his two charges at a maximum.
