Rapper Diamond “Baby Blue” Smith has been sentenced to over a year after being arrested in a COVID-19 loan scheme.
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We previously reported, Smith, 37, was arrested late last year for using coronavirus relief money to fund a luxury lifestyle, such as splurging on a $96,000 Ferrari.
Smith and his co-conspirator Tonye C. Johnson were charged in a $24 million COVID-19 relief fraud scam. The duo faced charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, per Complex.
Smith, who was featured on “Love & Hip Hop: Miami,” allegedly falsified documents for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, for which he received $427,000. He’s also accused of fraudulently obtaining another loan worth almost $1 million.
Investigators linked Smith to another loan scam involving 11 other defendants, according to the report.
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Here’s more from a press release from the Department of Justice:
Smith, a recording artist, is alleged to have obtained a PPP loan of $426,717 for his company, Throwbackjersey.com LLC, using falsified documents. Upon completion of that loan, Smith then sought and obtained another PPP loan of $708,065 for his other company, Blue Star Records LLC, using falsified documents. Smith allegedly purchased a Ferrari for $96,000 and made other luxury purchases using PPP loan proceeds. Authorities seized the Ferrari at the time of Smith’s arrest. He is also alleged to have withdrawn $271,805 in loan proceeds. The complaint further alleges that Smith sought PPP loans on behalf of others in order to receive kickbacks for those confederates.
Johnson is alleged to have obtained a PPP loan of $389,627 for his own company, Synergy Towing & Transport LLC, using falsified documents. The complaint alleges that Johnson then paid a portion of the loan proceeds to co-conspirators in the scheme.
The scheme involved the preparation of at least 90 fraudulent applications, most of which were submitted.
According to court documents, Smith will go to prison for 20 months after pleading guilty on Aug. 4 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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