The rapper appeared in court on Tuesday to answer to new federal charges laid against him in the $1.5 million fraud case, which includes a number of his associates as co-defendants.
The hearing took place over Zoom with the rapper in California tuning into U.S. District Court located in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The charges filed in May accuses G Herbo, whose real name is Herbert Wright, of lying to a federal agent in 2018 while investigations were going on in the fraud and identity theft case. He is among six other defendants, and the allegations are that the rapper is connected to the head honcho of the scam.
According to federal authorities, the leader of the scam is Antonio “T-Glo” Strong, a rap promoter who is known to be associated with G Herbo. The allegations are that he supplied G Herbo with private jets, exotic sports car rentals, pets, and he procured luxury accommodations, including a vacation to Jamaica using money from the scam since 2016. G Herbo has denied the allegations and has denied having any connection to Strong.
“Wright falsely said he’d never provided Strong any money, never received anything of value from Strong and had no direct relationship with Strong,” the charges say. “In fact, since at least 2016, Wright had received valuable goods from Strong, including private jet charters, luxury accommodations and exotic car rentals.”
During the Zoom hearing, Herbo’s lawyer Jim Lawson told U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni his client is aware of the gravity of the charges against him. “Mr. Wright is an intelligent man; he understands the concept,” Lawson told the judge.
It seems that the judge might be hinting at Herbo’s actions in the past which includes him releases a Dipset-sampling called “Statements,” in which he denied the allegations. It’s the first time he has addressed the allegations since they became public.
In the song, he raps, “Let’s talk about this paper, Let’s talk about them jets/Yeah, let’s talk about Jamaica/Ask about me, I ain’t never been a fraud/I went hard from the start/In my city, I’m a God muthaf**a/If you know, you know/Never been no phony though.”
The rapper is currently on bail and has his next pre-trial hearing set for August 5, 2021.
