Charlotte, North Carolina Area Hip Hop Group Indicted On Fraud Charges

Defendants Flaunted Cash and Goods Funded by $1.2 Million Bank & Identity Theft Schemes

Courtesy Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced that seven members and associates of a Charlotte-area hip-hop group known as the “FreeBandz Gang” or “FBG” have been indicted on federal charges in connection with a $1.2 million bank and identity theft fraud scheme.

The indictment charges James Murray Willingham, Jr., 23, Damonte Withers, 27, Deandre Howze, 23, Jeffrey Monteith, 22, Quadarius Thomas, 23, Laerek Williams, 25 and Nemiah Davis, 25, all of Charlotte, with multiple counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Withers and Thomas are also charged with firearms related offenses.

A federal grand jury returned the 46-count indictment on December 13, 2017.

According to allegations contained in the indictment, the defendants are members or associates of the Charlotte-area group known as FBG. According to the indictment, FBG members identify themselves through Facebook groups, social media hashtags, tattoos, and clothing that includes FBG iconography.

The indictment further alleges that FBG members use social media to raise their profile by posting hip-hop music videos and images on YouTube and Facebook that depict the members with guns, large quantities of cash, jewelry, and automobiles. The indictment alleges that members of FBG, including the defendants, financed their lavish lifestyles by engaging in fraud.

Music videos posted on YouTube depict the band members handling large amounts of cash:

As alleged in the indictment, from February 2014 through September 2017, Withers, Howze, Monteith, Thomas, Williams, and Davis defrauded financial institutions through a check-cashing scheme involving worthless checks. According to the indictment, the conspirators carried out the scheme by depositing fake or stolen checks into straw bank accounts and then quickly withdrawing the funds before the banks completed the check clearing process. The indictment alleges that, in some instances, the conspirators paid individuals to open new bank accounts or to let the conspirators use their existing accounts and PIN numbers to carry out the fraud. In other cases, the indictment alleges that members of the conspiracy stole ATM cards and PINs in order to access the bank accounts.

One video posted to YouTube follows FBG on a shopping trip to the mall making purchases of jewelry, designer clothing, shoes, and more. They even bring the kids along to enjoy the day of fun.

According to the indictment, the worthless checks deposited into the bank accounts either were stolen or had been altered. According to the indictment, within days of the worthless check deposits, Withers, Howze, Monteith, Thomas, Williams, and Davis withdrew as much money as possible from the straw accounts through ATM withdrawals, money order purchases, debit card purchases, and point of sale cash withdrawals, commonly referred to as getting “cash back.” The indictment alleges that by the time the banks had finished the check clearing process and had identified the deposited checks as worthless, the members of the conspiracy had completed the fraudulent activity with the straw accounts. The indictment alleges the conspirators caused losses of more than $235,000 to the victim financial institutions.

The indictment also alleges that between October 2016 and November 2017, Willingham, Withers, Howze, and other co-conspirators engaged in an identity theft scheme. According to the indictment, the conspirators used the Internet to obtain the personal identifying information (“PII”) of victims, including social security numbers, dates of birth and home addresses. The fraudsters then used the PII to manufacture fake forms of identification (IDs) in the victims’ names, and used the fake IDs to obtain credit, goods, and services in the victims’ names, including automobile loans, cellular telephones and apartments. In many cases, the mobile devices were resold for profit. The indictment alleges that the conspirators netted more than $1,000,000 in goods and services in this manner.

The details contained in this indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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