MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fontrell Antonio Baines, also known by his stage name of “Nuke Bizzle” was sentenced to six years in prison for committing COVID relief fraud, on top of drug and gun charges, according to the Department of Justice.
(WHBQ)
Baines, a 33-year-old rapper from Memphis, came under investigation after posting a music video to his YouTube and Instagram accounts titled “EDD”.
EDD is an acronym for Employment Development Department. Different states have different EDDs, set up as part of the CARES Act which was created to ease the financial burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. Baines is accused of defrauding California’s Employment Development Department to the tune of $704,760.
In his song “EDD”, Baines can be heard saying “I done got rich off of EDD...My swagger for EDD” while holding up a stack of envelopes from the EDD. He then said he was getting rich by “go to the bank with a stack of these”, referring to the debit cards that he received from the EDD in the mail, according to the Department of Justice.
In all, the Department of Justice said that Baines filed 92 false claims with California’s EDD.
In a few of those claims, Baines used the identity of a Missouri man who briefly went to school but never worked in California to apply for unemployment benefits, the Department of Justice said. According to court records, Baines used a debit card issued to that man based on that false claim to withdraw about $2,500.
The Department of Justice said that Baines had these...
Over the last year, beyond traditional healthcare and federal procurement matters, the government has pursued federal False Claims Act (FCA) investigations and enforcement across high-risk areas, ...