U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Rapper Who Boasted in Music Video About Committing COVID Fraud Sentenced to Over 6 Years in Prison on Fraud, Gun and Drug Crimes (USAO CD-CA 12/07/2022) (2022-12-13)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, dated December 7, 2022, announcing that Fontrell Antonio Baines, 33, a.k.a. "Nuke Bizzle," of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced by United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald to 77 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $704,760 in restitution to the California Employment Development Department. The sentence was imposed in connection with three criminal cases: mail fraud, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute. The release states that Baines filed 92 fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims, with attempted losses of approximately $1,256,108 and actual losses of at least $704,760. According to court documents, Baines bragged about defrauding EDD in a YouTube music video called "EDD".

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Full text

                                      Department of Justice
                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                     Central District of California


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                  Wednesday, December 7, 2022

  Rapper Who Boasted in Music Video About Committing
COVID Fraud Sentenced to Over 6 Years in Prison on Fraud,
                 Gun and Drug Crimes
    LOS ANGELES – A rapper who boasted in a YouTube music video about getting rich quickly by
scamming a COVID relief program was sentenced today to 77 months in federal prison.

      Fontrell Antonio Baines, 33, a.k.a. “Nuke Bizzle,” of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced by
United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, who also ordered him to pay $704,760 in
restitution to the California Employment Development Department (EDD).

      Today’s sentence was imposed in connection with three criminal cases. Baines pleaded guilty
on July 11 to one count of mail fraud and, in a separate case, to one count of unlawful possession of a
firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. He also pleaded guilty on August 30 to possession of
oxycodone with intent to distribute in a case transferred from the Western District of Tennessee.
Baines has been in federal custody since his arrest in October 2020.

     From July 2020 to September 2020, Baines unlawfully exploited the Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance (PUA) provisions of the CARES Act to obtain unemployment insurance money –
ultimately more than $700,000 – to which he was not entitled.

     As the COVID-19 pandemic’s grip tightened, Congress implemented the PUA provisions to
expand access to unemployment benefits to self-employed workers, independent contractors, and
others who would not otherwise be eligible for them.

     Baines defrauded the program to obtain unemployment benefits administered by the EDD in
the names of third parties, including identity theft victims. The applications for benefits also
included false statements about the work histories and in-state residences of the named applicants.
Through his fraud, Baines turned the taxpayer-funded program into “his personal piggybank,”
according to a sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors.

     The applications for these benefits listed addresses in Beverly Hills and Koreatown to which
Baines had access. As a result, Baines was able to take possession of and use the debit cards that
EDD pre-loaded with the unemployment benefits obtained through the fraudulent applications.

      For example, Baines used the identity of a Missouri man who briefly attended school – but
never worked – in California to apply for unemployment benefits. In September 2020, Baines used a
debit card issued based on the fraudulent PUA claim filed in the Missouri man’s name to withdraw
approximately $2,500.

     Baines filed 92 fraudulent PUA claims with EDD, resulting in attempted losses to EDD and the
United States Treasury of approximately $1,256,108 and actual losses of at least $704,760.

     According to court documents, Baines bragged about his ability to defraud the EDD in a music
video posted on YouTube and in postings to his Instagram account. In the music video called “EDD,”
Baines boasts about doing “my swagger for EDD” and, holding up a stack of envelopes from EDD,
getting rich by “go[ing] to the bank with a stack of these” – an apparent reference to the debit cards
that came in the mail.

      In addition, in October 2020 at his Hollywood Hills residence, Baines illegally possessed a
semi-automatic pistol with 14 rounds of ammunition. Baines was prohibited from possessing the
firearm and ammunition because of his prior felony convictions, including a conviction in 2011 in
Tennessee state court for unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and a
conviction in Nevada federal court in 2014 for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

     Lastly, Baines also trafficked narcotics. On January 31, 2020, at Memphis International
Airport. Baines attempted to check a bag containing various controlled substances, including
oxycodone, promethazine with codeine, alprazolam and more than seven pounds of marijuana.

     The United States Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General; the United States Postal
Inspection Service; IRS Criminal Investigation; and the California Employment Development
Department investigated this matter. The United States Marshals Service, the Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of
Tennessee provided substantial assistance.

     Assistant United States Attorneys Ranee A. Katzenstein, Chief of the Major Frauds Section, and
Alexander B. Schwab, also of the Major Frauds Section, prosecuted this case.

      Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report
it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at (866) 720-
5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-
disaster-complaint-form.
Topic(s):                                               Contact:
Coronavirus                                             Ciaran McEvoy Public Information Officer
Drug Trafficking                                        ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov (213) 894-4465
Firearms Offenses
Identity Theft                                          Press Release Number:
                                                        22-258
Component(s):
USAO - California, Central


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