Ciaran McEvoy | usdoj.gov

A rapper who boasted in a YouTube music video about getting rich by committing pandemic-related unemployment benefits fraud has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud and firearms charges, the Justice Department announced.

Fontrell Antonio Baines, 33, a.k.a. “Nuke Bizzle,” of Memphis, Tennessee, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.

Baines is expected to plead guilty to the charges in the coming days in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

According to his plea agreement, from July 2020 to September 2020, Baines unlawfully exploited the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provisions of the CARES Act to obtain unemployment insurance money to which he was not entitled. 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. Baines abused the program to obtain unemployment benefits administered by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) in the names of third parties, including identity theft victims.

The applications for these benefits listed addresses to which Baines had access in Beverly Hills and Koreatown. 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 on the basis of the fraudulent PUA claim filed in the Missouri man’s name to withdraw approximately $2,500.

Baines, who has been in federal custody since his arrest in October 2020, admitted that 92 fraudulent PUA claims were filed 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 an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint in this case, 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.

Baines further admitted that in October 2020 at his Hollywood Hills residence he illegally possessed a semi-automatic pistol with 14 rounds of ammunition. Baines was prohibited from possessing the firearm because he had previously sustained felony convictions, namely 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.

Upon entering his guilty pleas, Baines will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for the mail fraud count and 10 years in federal prison for the unlawful firearm and ammunition possession count. Baines has also agreed to forfeit funds totaling $56,750 that were previously seized by law enforcement.

This matter was investigated by 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. Substantial assistance was provided by the United States Marshals Service and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Ranee A. Katzenstein, Chief of the Major Frauds Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Alexander B. Schwab, also of the Major Frauds Section, are prosecuting 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.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sold counterfeit opioid pills to Mac Miller two days before the rapper died of an overdose.

Cameron James Pettit, 28, who lives in the Hollywood Hills, is expected to appear in court later Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The 26-year-old Miller, who was known to many as Ariana Grande’s ex-boyfriend but was a respected rapper in his own right, was found dead by his assistant at his San Fernando Valley home on Sept. 7, 2018.

A Drug Enforcement Agency affidavit alleges that Miller asked Pettit for oxycodone and other drugs, but on Sept. 5, 2018, Pettit gave Miller counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl.

An autopsy found that Miller died from an accidental overdose , via a combination of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.

Authorities found drugs they believe were from Pettit in Miller’s home, and evidence that Miller had crushed and sniffed oxycodone provided by Pettit.

Pettit has only been charged with providing the drugs, however, and not with having a direct role in Miller’s death. It was not immediately known if he had an attorney, and no relative or associate of Pettit could be found for comment.

After reports of Miller’s death circulated, Pettit sent an Instagram message to a friend saying, “Most likely I will die in jail,” according to the affidavit.

Pettit goes on to write, “I’m gonna get off the grid. Move to another country.”

Investigators also obtained text messages between Miller and Pettit before the sale, in which Miller proclaims his love for oxycodone, or “percs” for the brand name Percocet, and also asks for “bars” of Xanax and a “ball” of cocaine.

“When can u get em?” Miller asks, according to a transcript of the exchange contained in court filings.

“Probably in an hour or 2. They are 30 ea,” Pettit replies.

“Any chance I can get 10 of those, 10 bars and a ball?” Miller asks.

“Yeah for sure,” Pettit replies.

The autopsy report found that Miller had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, but had not previously overdosed or been hospitalized for any reason.

The report notes that Miller’s many tattoos included one of an hourglass on his arm with the words, “Only so much time left in this crazy world.”

Miller’s assistant told investigators he was feeling positive about the projects he was working on, but had a tendency to slip into drug binges.

Miller’s family declined comment on the arrest through a spokesman.

U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement after Pettit’s arrest that “Fentanyl disguised as a genuine pharmaceutical is a killer — which is being proven every single day in America.”

The charges were first reported Wednesday by NBC News.

A Pittsburgh native whose real name was Malcolm James Myers McCormick, Miller’s rhymes included frank discussion of his depression and drug use, earning him fans among some of the biggest names in hip-hop.

Performers at a concert in his honor included Chance the Rapper and Travis Scott.

He was also in a two-year relationship with Grande that ended earlier in 2018. After his death she posted an affectionate video of him on her Instagram page and released a song, “Thank U Next,” that lovingly mentions him, saying, “Wish I could say thank you to Malcolm ’cause he was an angel.”

Miller is the latest musician whose death has been linked in recent years to a national wave of opioid abuse and overdoses. Prince died in 2016 when he took counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl that looked like a generic version of the painkiller Vicodin.

Matthew Roberts, guitarist for the band 3 Doors Down, also died of an overdose in 2016, and had fentanyl and hydrocodone in his system.

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