Rapper Lil Durk charged with murder-for-hire conspiracy

LOS ANGELES – Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk was charged Friday in a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court for his involvement in a murder-for-hire plot in which a man was killed in a botched ambush near the Beverly Center in 2022.

The 32-year-old Chicago rapper, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire using interstate facilities resulting in death. Five alleged members of Banks’ Chicago-based “rap collective” are charged separately in the case.

The rapper was arrested Thursday in Broward County, Florida, according to jail records. He was not given any bond. He is also being held by the U.S. Marshals Office, records show.

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Banks is accused of ordering the killing of Georgia rapper Quando Rondo Tyquian Bowman, whose cousin was killed in a botched ambush near the mall two years ago. Five alleged members of Banks’ “rap collective” were also charged.

FBI Special Agent Sarah Corcoran alleged in an affidavit filed Thursday that Banks put a bounty on Bowman after an associate of Bowman killed a close friend of Banks’ at a nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia, two years ago.

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

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – APRIL 07: Lil Durk performs during J. Cole’s headlining set at the 2024 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 07, 2024 (Photo: Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage)

According to testimony, multiple members and associates of the Banks collective (known as the Only Family, or OTF) used two vehicles and worked together to track down, pursue, and attempt to kill Bowman at a gas station.

The agent’s affidavit states that the co-conspirators fired at least 18 shots into Bowman’s vehicle, attacking and killing one of Bowman’s family members who was traveling with the intended target.

On October 17, a Los Angeles federal grand jury returned an indictment charging five alleged co-conspirators (Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston) with crimes stemming from the murder, including murder. -conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder for hire resulting in death.

Banks is identified in the indictment as the primary conspirator, the document states.

The rapper won a Grammy for best melodic rap performance earlier this year. The albums “The Voice” and “7220” have sold over 1 million copies each. A new Lil Durk album is scheduled to be released next month.

According to the investigation, evidence shows that Banks ordered Bowman’s murder and ultimately paid the alleged co-conspirators to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles the day before the murder, according to the FBI. Around the time the flights were purchased, records show a phone number linked to Banks texted her accomplice: “Do not book flights under any name unrelated to me,” according to the affidavit.

According to the FBI agent, Banks flew with Grant on a private jet from Miami to Los Angeles. Grant used Banks’ credit card to reserve a room at the Sheraton Universal Hotel; stayed there the night before the five-man hit squad found Bowman, according to the affidavit; This affidavit claimed that Grant had purchased ski masks from the shooters. commit murder.

The document states that Banks, meanwhile, was staying in a rented house in Encino.

Early Thursday, federal and local law enforcement executed multiple search warrants at locations linked to OTF members in and around Chicago and arrested Grant, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey and Houston, Corcoran wrote.

Following execution of the arrest warrants, the FBI learned that Banks had booked at least three international flights scheduled to depart the United States on Thursday. Banks was arrested by law enforcement upon arrival near one of the departure airports.

It was not immediately clear when Banks and the other defendants would make their first appearance in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.