‘MY SWAGGER FOR EDD’

L.A. Rapper Who Rapped About Pandemic Fraud to Be Charged With Pandemic Fraud

Nuke Bizzle, legal name Fontrell Antonio Baines, openly rapped and posted about defrauding California’s Employment Development Department.

Nuke Bizzle, the Los Angeles rapper who openly bragged about committing unemployment benefits fraud through his music and Instagram account, will be arraigned by a federal judge in downtown L.A. Thursday afternoon. He is accused of claiming $1.2 million in unemployment benefits under the CARES Act, which was passed in March to expand benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic. Investigators found at least 92 benefits cards linked to Baines and his co-conspirators mailed to addresses across L.A., according to the criminal complaint. When police arrested the rapper, real name Fontrell Antonio Baines, in September, they found eight Employment Development Department (EDD) debit cards.

In one of Baines’ music videos posted in September, he rapped about doing “my swagger for EDD” and getting rich by “go(ing) to the bank with a stack of these” while holding up several envelopes, federal authorities said, while also allegedly posting about it on social media.