With detention hearing looming, Lil Durk lawyer says there's 'no real evidence' against artist

Sam Charles, Chicago Tribune on Dec 5, 2024

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CHICAGO — Weeks after he was charged in a cross-country murder-for-hire plot, a lawyer for Chicago rapper Lil Durk said the allegations brought by federal prosecutors “are false and lacking in the most basic due diligence.”

Lil Durk — 32, born Durk Davontay Banks — was charged by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles last month. He’s accused of paying five associates of his South Side rap consortium, Only the Family, to kill a rival artist in 2022.

Prosecutors allege Banks also offered “lucrative music opportunities” to those who were accused of taking part in the shooting. He pleaded not guilty in November and is due back in court later this month for a detention hearing.

In a statement Thursday, Banks’ attorneys blasted the prosecution’s focus on Lil Durk’s music and noted his yearslong record of philanthropy in Chicago.

“When you see an artist’s rap lyrics quoted as ‘evidence’ against them, it is a glaring indication that there is no real evidence against that person,” Banks’ attorneys said in a statement to the Tribune.

“The real truth is that Durk Banks is a Grammy Award-winning artist, a dedicated father and a loving husband,” Banks’ attorneys added. “Mr. Banks has been intensely committed to giving back to the Chicago community he loves through his Neighborhood Heroes Foundation and has put on more than a dozen charitable events over the last few years. He is looking forward to fighting against these false allegations in court.”

In mid-October, federal authorities charged five others in a plot to kill rapper Quando Rondo — born Tyquian Terrel Bowman — in retaliation for the November 2020 shooting death of King Von, another Chicago drill rap artist and Banks’ close friend.

Banks is accused of bankrolling the effort to kill Bowman and is due in court in California later this month for a detention hearing.

Bowman, his sister and his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, 24, were riding in Bowman’s black Cadillac Escalade near a gas station in West Hollywood in August 2022 when gunmen opened fire, according to the federal charges. Bowman and his sister were not injured, but Robinson was struck multiple times and killed.

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