The Baltimore rapper “Chad Focus” used his company credit card to rack up more than $4 million in unauthorized purchases, including at online music platforms that helped artificially inflate how often his songs were played, according to a federal indictment.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Focus, whose real name is Chad Arrington, 31, of Randallstown, also used his American Express card to make more than $1.5 million worth of fraudulent purchases at businesses owned by unnamed accomplices, who then kicked back hundreds of thousands of dollars to the singer.
The federal indictment is short on specifics, not even naming which company Arrington worked for, how he was able to use the card so freely from 2015 until 2018, or who else may have been helping him in the alleged scheme. The indictment was returned May 29 and unsealed Tuesday.
Arrington is being held without bail pending a bond hearing scheduled for Friday.
According to the indictment, Arrington worked as a Search Engine Optimization specialist for several years at an unnamed company that gave him an American Express card. In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said “Arrington used the credit card to purchase sound equipment, studio kits, instruments, and music technology, which he then used to create an artist alter-ego ‘Chad Focus,’ and produce a number of hip-hop songs through the company he formed, Focus Music Entertainment LLC.’’
Arrington is charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identify theft. He faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for each of the four aggravated identify theft counts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.