LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk pleaded not guilty Thursday in downtown Los Angeles to federal charges stemming from an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy near the Beverly Center two years ago.

The 32-year-old Chicago rapper, whose real name is Durk Banks, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, using interstate facilities to commit a self-inflicted crime resulting in death and using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death, according to the US Department of Justice.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue ordered Banks held without bail pending a December 12 detention hearing. A status conference has also been set for Nov. 25 before the federal judge who will oversee the case. A Jan. 7 trial date was also scheduled, but is expected to be postponed.

Banks is being held at the federal prison downtown.

The rapper was arrested on Oct. 17 near Miami International Airport after law enforcement learned he was booked on several international flights.

An updated indictment filed in federal court in Los Angeles names Banks as the lead defendant in a case that also charges five alleged members and associates of his rap collective — known as Only the Family, or OTF.

Banks is accused of placing a bounty on the life of Tyquian Bowman, a Georgia rapper known as Quando Rondo. The alleged hit squad of OTF members traveled from Chicago to kill Bowman, but a botched ambush near the Beverly Center Mall resulted in the death of one of Bowman’s relatives who was traveling with him, according to the DOJ.

The other five defendants are expected to be arraigned in federal court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

Prosecutors say Banks gave Bowman the reward after an associate of Bowman’s killed a close friend of Banks’ two years earlier in an Atlanta, Georgia, nightclub.

Around August 18, 2022, the alleged conspirators learned that Bowman was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, Banks’ five friends traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles with the goal of killing Bowman, federal prosecutors allege.

OTF members and associates allegedly used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, chase and attempt to kill Bowman at the gas station, according to court documents.

The co-conspirators fired at least 18 rounds into Bowman’s vehicle, striking and killing one of Bowman’s family members who was traveling with the intended target, the DOJ alleges.

The 19-page superseding indictment charges Banks and five others — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston — with crimes stemming from the murder, including first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit crime. -rented soldier with death.

Federal prosecutors allege that Banks ordered Bowman’s murder and eventually paid for the alleged co-conspirators to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles the day before the murder. Around the time the flights were purchased, records show a phone number associated with Banks sent a text message to a co-conspirator: Don’t book no flights under no names included wit (sic) me,” according to a statement on own responsibility submitted to the criminal. complaint.

The affidavit says Banks flew on a private jet from Miami to Los Angeles with Grant. Grant used Banks’ credit card to book a room at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, where the alleged five-man crew stayed the night before finding Bowman, according to the affidavit, which claims Grant bought masks ski to use their shooters. commits the crime.

In the meantime, Banks stayed at a rented house in Encino, the document said.

The rapper won a Grammy earlier this year for Best Melodic Rap Performance. His albums ‘The Voice’ and ‘7220’ both sold over 1 million copies each. A new Lil Durk album, his ninth studio album, is set for release on November 22nd.

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