Rapper Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge After Bragging in Music Video

Rapper Nuke Bizzle has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over his allegedly fraudulent COVID-19 unemployment claim. The 33-year-old rapper's real name is Fontrell Antonio Baines, and in October of 2020 he released a song called "EDD" where he boasted about collecting excessive pandemic-related financial aid. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, he has agreed to plead guilty to charges of fraud and illegal firearm possession.

Baines will reportedly enter his guilty plea in a court in Los Angeles, although the rapper is originally from Memphis, Tennessee. Authorities say that he admitted to making 92 false claims to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) for financial aid. Using the names of his collaborators, Baines reportedly managed to secure about $1.2 million from this program. He then bragged about the scheme in his song "EDD" and the accompanying music video, though it's not clear if those are admissible evidence or if they are the reason authorities caught him.

In the music video, Baines held up a stack of EDD envelopes. The department sent financial aid in the form of pre-paid debit cards, and some of those may have been visible in the video as well. Baines lyrics include lines like "unemployment so sweet / We had 1.5 land this week" and "You gotta sell cocaine, I can just file a claim."

Baines reportedly told police that he contrived to have the debit cards sent to various addresses in the Los Angeles area where he could pick them up. He would then use the cards to withdraw cash, making the funds untraceable. He was arrested in October of 2020 shortly after his music video came out.

Under the plea agreement, Baines will be charged with one count of mail fraud and one count of unlawful firearm and ammunition possession. He could face a maximum of 30 years in prison, but it's not clear if his plea bargain comes with the promise of a reduced sentence. The rapper has already been in prison since October of 2020 when he was first arrested in connection with this case.

Baines was taken into custody at an apartment in Hollywood Hills, California where police found a semi-automatic pistol and 14 rounds of ammunition. Baines has previous felony convictions, so he is barred from possessing those weapons. The police also found $57,750 in his belongings, and Baines has agreed to forfeit that sum as part of his plea deal.