Rapper G Herbo could be sentenced to more than a year in jail in fraud plot
Rapper G Herbo faces just over a year in prison after pleading guilty for his role in a scheme that used stolen credit card information to pay for a lavish lifestyle including private jets and designer puppies.
Under a deal reached with prosecutors last year, the 28-year-old Chicago rapper, whose real name is Herbert Wright III, has entered a guilty plea in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. commit crimes and make false statements. In return, prosecutors dismissed several aggravated identity theft charges.
G Herbo will be sentenced on Thursday.
Prosecutors say in their sentencing memo that he should serve a year and a day in prison and 36 months of supervised release. They also want him to pay a $55,000 fine, enter a restitution order of nearly $140,000 and forfeiture of nearly $140,000.
Those fines would be in addition to the $140,000 he forfeited. The amount he benefited from what prosecutors have said was a $1.5 million scheme involving several other people.
Prosecutors argue that the recommended sentence takes into account “the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the suspect” and adequately reflects “the seriousness of the offense.”
Defense attorneys are calling for probation, noting that G Herbo has expressed remorse for his crimes. They also highlighted his contributions to the community and the fact that he has matured “as a person, as a family man and as a father.”
“Under the circumstances of this case, probation will reflect the seriousness of the charges and protect the public,” G Herbo’s sentencing memo said.
From at least March 2017 to November 2018, G Herbo and his promoter, Antonio Strong, used text messages, social media posts and emails to share account information from dark websites, authorities said.
On one occasion, stolen account information was used to pay for a chartered plane to fly the rapper and members of his entourage from Chicago to Austin, Texas, authorities said. On the other hand, a stolen account was used to pay nearly $15,000 for Wright and seven others to stay in a six-bedroom Jamaican villa for several days.
In court documents, prosecutors allege that G Herbo “used the proceeds of this fraud to travel to various concert venues and further his career by posting photos and/or videos of himself in the private jets, in the exotic cars and in the Jamaican villa . .”
G Herbo also helped Strong order two designer Yorkshire terrier puppies from a Michigan pet store using a stolen credit card and a fake Washington state driver’s license, the indictment said. The total cost was more than $10,000, prosecutors said.
When the pet store owner asked to confirm the purchase from G Herbo, Strong instructed her to do so via an Instagram message, and G Herbo confirmed he was purchasing the puppies, authorities said.
Because the stolen credit card information was authentic, the transactions continued and only later did the real credit card holders notice and report the fraud.
G Herbo’s music focuses on his experiences growing up on the East Side of Chicago in a neighborhood called Terror Town, including gang and gun violence.
In 2014, he released his debut mixtapes ‘Welcome to Fazoland’ and ‘Pistol P Project’, both named after friends who had been murdered in the city. His first album was 2017’s ‘Humble Beast’ and his latest is ‘Survivor’s Remorse’, released last year.
His 2020 album ‘PTSD’ debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.
G Herbo also started a program in Chicago called Swervin’ Through Stress, aimed at giving urban youth tools to navigate mental health crises, after publicly acknowledging his own struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2021, he was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 music list.