A Tennessee rap artist who boasted in a YouTube music video about exploiting a covid relief program intended for those who lost their job in the pandemic was ordered by a federal judge to return over $700,000 in stolen unemployment insurance money and sentenced to more than six years in federal prison.
Fontrell Antonio Baines, 33, also known as Nuke Bizzle, was handed the sentence Wednesday by a California federal judge after he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, as well as two other counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon and possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute.
In relation to his mail fraud conviction, the judge found Baines filed 92 falsified Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims with California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) between July and September 2020, part of a scheme attempting to illegally extract around $1.2 million of federal funds for personal benefit, although he only succeeded in obtaining $704,760 of that.
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According to court filings, federal agents identified Baines after a music video titled “EDD,” in which he rapped about his exploits, was uploaded to YouTube.
Using third party identities, including from victims of identity theft, Baines filed relief applications with false statements about applicants’ work histories and in-state residencies. The rapper listed California addresses in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles’s Koreatown, to which he had access, allowing him to obtain debit...
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, ...