Grammy-winning Chicago rapper Lil Durk has pleaded not guilty to the charges he led a murder plot for money that led to the shooting death of Georgia rapper Quando Rondo’s cousin at a Los Angeles gas station two years ago.

The 32-year-old artist, born Durk Banks, entered the plea on Thursday and was remanded to a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles after being given a tentative trial date of Jan. 7, 2025, online records and a spokesman for the US Attorney. Office confirmed.

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Prosecutors asked that Banks be held pending trial, arguing that there was “a serious risk that the defendant would flee.” In court filings, federal authorities say Banks was trying to board a private plane bound for Italy when he was arrested last month in Miami. They claim it was booked on separate one-way flights to Dubai and Switzerland on the same day.

Prominent defense attorney Drew Findling, known for his representation of other high-profile clients including Cardi B, NBA YoungBoy and Donald Trumpfiled to appear as one of Banks’ attorneys. He had no immediate comment Friday. Banks is due back in court on Nov. 25 for a status conference. A detention hearing is set for Dec. 2.

According to a Nov. 7 indictment, Banks “was the leader” of a hip-hop collective founded in Chicago in 2010 called Only the Family, or OTF. While the group produced and sold music, it allegedly “engaged in violence, including murder and assault,” largely at the “direction” of Banks, the indictment said.

Prosecutors say Banks bears responsibility for the crime at the center of the indictment because he allegedly sought retaliation for the fatal shooting of rising Chicago rapper King Vonborn Dayvon Bennett, outside a club in Atlanta on November 6, 2020. Bennett and Banks were childhood friends, Banks signed Bennett to his label in 2018, the same year Bennett released his debut single , “Crazy Story.”

Quando Rondo, born Tyquian Terrel Bowman, was allegedly involved in an “altercation” with Bennett shortly before one of Bowman’s associates pulled out a gun and shot Bennett multiple times, they claim the prosecutors. “After the murder, defendant Banks made it clear, in coded language, that he would pay a bounty or reward money and/or pay anyone who took part in (Bowman’s) killing for his role in (Bennett’s) killing ),” replacing the accusatory states. (Banks was previously accused in a separate complaint.)

Prosecutors say Banks and his co-defendants traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles in August 2022 after learning Bowman was staying at a hotel there. They allege Banks’ co-defendants “used two vehicles and worked in tandem to stalk, pursue and attempt to kill (Bowman) for hours,” culminating in the gas station shooting. The gunmen fired at least 18 rounds into Bowman’s vehicle, hitting him and killing Bowman’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, who was traveling with him, authorities say.

Prosecutors say they have bank and flight records linking an associate of the Bank to the travel plans. They say that around the time the one-off flights were purchased, Banks allegedly told the associate, “Don’t book any flights under any name associated with me.”

The same day several of the men traveled to California, Banks flew on a private jet with another alleged co-conspirator, Kavon London Grant, 28, the indictment alleges. Grant allegedly bought ski masks for the shooters and used a credit card in Banks’ name to pay for hotel rooms for the other men, prosecutors allege.

When Banks’ co-defendants were arrested in Chicago on the morning of Oct. 24, Banks was allegedly planning to leave the country, an FBI agent claimed in an affidavit filed last month. The agent said that “shortly after” officials made the arrests in Chicago and began executing search warrants, the FBI was notified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that Banks was booked on separate one-way flights to Dubai and Switzerland, departing from Miami. area. He did not board any flights and was arrested near a Miami airport an hour before his private jet to Italy was to depart, the agent wrote.

If convicted, Banks faces up to life in federal prison.

“Mr. Banks is accused of orchestrating a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of a family member of a rival,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Not only that, the shooting took place outdoors, at a gas station at a busy intersection, putting many others in the area at risk. Gun violence like this is devastating to our community and we will have zero tolerance for those who commit such cruel acts of violence.”

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