Popular rapper Nuke Bizzle, who is currently in jail after allegedly generating a large amount of money through covid relief fraud, is asking for leniency claiming that many other people were doing the same thing.
The rapper, whose real name is Fontrell Baines, boasted the income by releasing a music video titled “EDD” and streaming it online. The song picked up enough traction for Daily Caller co-founder and Fox News host Tucker Carlson to take notice, according to The Washington Times. Carlson dedicated part of his Sept. 22 show to Bains’ video and spoke of the government’s mismanagement of pandemic relief funds. Las Vegas police arrested Bains less than a month later on numerous charges.
Nuke Bizzle, rapper who stole pandemic money, says ‘everybody around was doing it’https://t.co/X9gQTqJc3d pic.twitter.com/C8B4A1Gj9j
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) November 21, 2022
Bains allegedly filed fraudulent applications and permitted his friends to use his address for bogus checks. He then allegedly began to withhold the checks for himself, and said “everybody around was doing it,” according to The Washington Times.
Prosecutors allege the false unemployment checks totaled $1.3 million in potential benefits and claimed more than $700,000 was paid out to Bains’ address before he was apprehended, according to the outlet. Bains’ representatives pushed back on that total and stated he received far less than that projected amount.
During their investigation, Las Vegas Police located a number of unemployment benefit payment cards that were in other peoples’ names. Federal agents arrested the rapper on fraud charges and found him with a Glock .357 pistol, which he was not legally permitted to possess as a repeat felon, according to The Washington Times. (RELATED: Former Connecticut Rep Allegedly Gambled Away $1.2 Million In Covid Relief)
To hear Nuke Bizzle’s version of events, he never really had much choice but to grab as much pandemic cash as he could steal. https://t.co/PwirAki96f
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) November 20, 2022
The music video for “EDD” was featured on YouTube and saw about 400,000 hits prior to his arrest. In the video, Bains is seen sending stacks of unemployment applications and showing off huge wads of cash while singing “Unemployment so sweet,” while his rap partner, Fat Wizza, sang, “You gotta sell cocaine, I can just file a claim,” according to The Washington Times.
“I never had a birthday party. I never had a normal family dinner. I have never been to a wedding, only funerals and court dates,” Baines told a judge before his Dec. 7 sentencing, in an effort to receive leniency. “I made a rap video about it because the rap industry has a tendency in it to glorify crime and I got caught up in that, but another thing that rappers rap a lot about is prison and now I’m caught up in that too,” he added, according to The Washington Times.
Prosecutors are seeking a 96-month sentence and seek to remand Bains responsible for repayment of the money he took. Bains’ lawyer is seeking a 70-month sentence.