L.A. rapper who sang about scamming COVID jobless benefits to plead guilty

Los Angeles rapper Nuke Bizzle had an unusual way of infusing his work with an underworld sensibility.

The rapper boasts in a YouTube music video about a scheme to steal unemployment benefits. In the music video “EDD,” a reference to the California Employment Development Department, he raps about doing “my swagger for EDD” and holds up a stack of envelopes presumably from the agency, intoning he is getting rich by “go[ing] to the bank with a stack of these.”

On Wednesday, he agreed to plead guilty to charges he ripped off more than $1.2 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

Bizzle, whose real name is Fontrell Antonio Baines, agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. He is expected to enter the plea in the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

According to a plea agreement, Baines, 33, used a series of stolen identities to fund his lifestyle in the Hollywood Hills from July 2020 to September 2020. He allegedly exploited the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provision of the CARES Act, which was designed to expand access to unemployment benefits to self-employed workers, independent contractors and others who would not otherwise be eligible, according to the affidavit filed with the criminal charges.

He faces up to 20 years in prison for mail fraud and 10 years behind bars for firearms and ammunition possession.

Baines was originally charged with three felonies — access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and interstate transportation of stolen property. If convicted of all charges, he could face a statutory maximum sentence of 22 years in federal prison.

In the music video “EDD,” a reference to California Employment Development Department, he raps about doing “my swagger for EDD” and holds up a stack of envelopes presumably from the agency, intoning he is getting rich by “go[ing] to the bank with a stack of these.”

Investigators allege that is a reference to the debit cards that are mailed to recipients of unemployment insurance. A second rapper in the video intones, “You gotta sell cocaine, I just file a claim.”

Baines, originally from Memphis, Tenn., was taken into custody by Las Vegas police when he was a passenger in a speeding Cadillac Escalade in 2020. According to the affidavit, he consented to a search.

He was arrested by Las Vegas Metro police in connection with possession of eight EDD debit cards in seven different names without the owners’ consent, the affidavit said. The Vegas police also found $49,734 under the third row of seats where Baines was seated, the affidavit said. Baines pleaded not guilty to charges related to the arrest and was released on bond.

Prosecutors said at least 92 debit cards were “pre-loaded with $1.2 million in fraudulently obtained benefits” mailed to addresses associated with the rapper on the video for “EDD.”

The debit cards were issued in the names of third parties, including identity theft victims, the affidavit states. Prosecutors allege the applications for these debit cards listed addresses to which Baines had access in Beverly Hills and Koreatown.

Prosecutors allege that Baines and several associates accessed more than $704,000 of these benefits through cash withdrawals. Some of the money was retrieved in Las Vegas. As part of the plea, he admitted to being a felon in possession of a semiautomatic pistol with 14 rounds at his Hollywood Hills home. In addition, he has agreed to forfeiture more $56,000 in cash seized by federal agents,

Baines’ video included a disclaimer: “This video was created with props and was made for entertainment purposes.”