Nuke Bizzle, a Los Angeles-based rapper, has been sentenced for defrauding the government of unemployment compensation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nuke (real name Fontrell Antonio Baines) accepted a plea deal on Wednesday (December 7) and received a six-year prison sentence after scamming the California Employment Development Department (EDD) of over $700,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits from July 2020 to September 2020. He was also ordered to pay $704,760 in restitution (via VLAD TV).
Per the report, Bizzle hatched the scheme by submitting false applications with completely made-up work histories with addresses from locations such as Beverly Hills and Koreatown. Additionally, he obtained “pre-loaded debit cards totaling $704,760 after submitting 92 fraudulent claims.”
Las Vegas authorities initially arrested Baines in September 2020 after he was found carrying eight debit cards, seven of which were under different names.
“Through his fraud, Baines turned the taxpayer-funded program into his personal piggybank,” federal prosecutors said during sentencing.
During the sentencing, he apologized for his involvement in the scam and asked the judge for mercy. He also said that the scheme was devised by his friends, and he allowed them to use his address to receive mail.
“They said they will give me money for letting mail come to the house. They would send the envelopes, and all I had to do was give them the mail when it arrived. When I found out how much…
