State Champ Radio crime
Johnny Louis / Chocolate MC
Cuban rapper and Reggaeton artist Chocolate MC is heading to jail for a long time after he was found guilty of initiating a murder-for-hire plot.
According to AllHipHop, Chocolate MC, real name Yosvanis Sierra Hernández, 34, was convicted in Miami of spearheading the plot to murder the man accused of killing his friend, fellow Reggaeton artist El Taiger.
The website reports a jury found Chocolate guilty of soliciting first-degree murder and issuing written threats to kill or cause bodily harm.
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In their winning argument, prosecutors claimed that Chocolate took to Instagram to offer $20,000 and a year’s supply of commissary to inmates at Miami-area prisons to anyone who would take out Damían Valdés-Galloso.
Bruh.
Valdés-Galloso, the alleged gunman who killed El Taiger—real name José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar—in October 2024, is facing first-degree murder charges.
Courtroom footage of the moment when Chocolate learned his fate hit the web, and he was emotional, breaking down into tears as he spoke about his friendship with El Taiger.
He also had some words in Spanish, saying, “Maybe at one point I did not express myself the right way, or the way I should have. But I’m not capable of killing anyone.”
His girlfriend echoed similar sentiments as jurors read the guilty verdict: “They said he’s guilty, but it’s an injustice,” she said while crying. “He didn’t kill anyone. He’s not a killer.”
Prosecutors Also Used Chocolate MC’s Lyrics Against Him
On top of the dumb a** decision to allegedly put feelers for an assassination out on Instagram, prosecutors also used lyrics from his song “Pincha Lo” (“Stab Him”) in the trial.
The rapper is looking at up to 15 years in prison. He has been in custody at the Metro West Detention Center since June after he was arrested by law enforcement for allegedly kidnapping and robbing a fan who asked for a photo.
We’re not gonna hold you, but insert that 50 Cent meme from Power because this guy sounds like a real menace.
Ishika Samant / Kris Boyd
The NYPD has released footage of the alleged gunman in the shooting of New York Jets cornerback Kris Boyd.
Kris Boyd is currently in critical condition after he was shot in the abdomen outside of the restaurant Sei Less on West 38 Street near Seventh Avenue around 2 am on Sunday.
According to the New York Post, the shooting was the result of a dispute that became violent.
A source told the newspaper that the gunman fled the scene in a BMW after firing off two shots. A second vehicle, a silver Mercedes-Benz, was also seen fleeing the scene.
Boyd was out with friends before the shooting incident. It’s unclear if he was the intended target and remains in “critical but stable condition.”
The NYPD Shares Details On The Alleged Shooter
Newsweek shared more information provided by the NYPD on the alleged shooter:
In response to a request for comment, the New York Police Department shared a release with Newsweek and said the department is “asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual depicted in the attached media, wanted in connection with an assault that occurred within the confines of the Midtown South Precinct.”
The release said the unidentified individual they are seeking “discharged a firearm, striking a 29-year-old male victim in the abdomen”.
“The unidentified individual fled the location on foot traveling eastbound on West 38 Street to parts unknown,” the release read.
“The sought individual is described as male, medium complexion. He was last seen wearing a black cap, black sweatshirt, black pants, multi-colored sneakers, and carrying a black bookbag.”
Boyd’s NFL brethren and others have shared their thoughts and prayers; you can see those below.
Trending on Billboard
A federal judge has held Tory Lanez in contempt of court on the eve of trial in a civil lawsuit filed by Megan Thee Stallion – a move that came after the singer said: “I’m a millionaire. I don’t care.”
In a ruling Sunday evening, the judge said that Lanez (Daystar Peterson) – currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan in 2020 – had behaved so poorly during three different depositions that he must now pay a $20,000 fine.
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According to U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid, that’s an outcome Tory already shrugged off during the most recent debacle: “When told his behavior could result in contempt of court and sanctions consisting of fines and additional jail time, Mr. Peterson then said, ‘whatever the fines are, I’ll pay them. I’m a millionaire. I don’t care’.”
The ruling came a day before the start of a jury trial in a civil lawsuit Megan filed last year against social media personality Milagro Gramz (Milagro Cooper). The star claims Gramz waged a “coordinated campaign” with Lanez to “defame and delegitimize” her in the wake of the shooting.
In addition to the monetary fine, the judge also said that jurors in that trial should be told about Lanez’s refusal to answer questions about whether he ever communicated with Gramz – an unwelcome development for her defense attorneys.
Lanez was convicted in December 2022 on three felony counts for shooting Megan in the foot in July 2020 during an argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His appeal of the verdict and sentence was denied last week.
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Last year, Megan filed her civil lawsuit against Gramz, calling her a “mouthpiece and puppet” for Lanez who had been “churning out falsehoods” about the criminal case on his behalf: “Enough is enough,” her lawyers wrote at the time.
Unsurprisingly, Lanez is a key witness in that lawsuit, and Megan’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to depose him from prison. But each time, the singer has disrupted the proceedings and refused to answer questions; Megan’s lawyers have said he’s “made a mockery of the proceedings.”
In her ruling on Sunday, Judge Reid echoed those claims. She said Megan’s lawyers had been “unable to ask more than two questions before Mr. Peterson stormed out of the room.” The judge said Tory later made “derogatory comments” and hurled “multiple expletives” toward Megan’s lawyers and never answered any questions.
Lanez’s attorney, Crystal Morgan, also drew the judge’s ire. Judge Reid said she had objected to questions that were “clearly relevant” during the brief deposition, and had engaged in “coaching the witness.” The judge ordered her to pay $5,000 as her fine.
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Trending on Billboard
Music executive Ángel Del Villar will remain a free man while he appeals his convictions for doing business with Mexican drug cartels, a federal judge said.
Del Villar was scheduled to report to prison on Dec. 1 to begin serving his four-year prison sentence on the cartel-ties convictions, but Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong granted his request to stay out on bond during the appellate process. Such appeals can take a year or more to resolve.
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Siding with arguments last month by Del Villar’s attorneys, the judge said the convicted executive had cleared the low bar for remaining free: that his appeal raised sufficiently arguable points about her jury instructions that an appellate court might be persuaded.
“Del Villar need only show that his appeal raises a fairly debatable question,” Judge Frimpong wrote. “The Court finds that—although the Court does not see any error in its trial rulings or in its jury instructions—that at least the question of the deliberate ignorance instruction is a ‘fairly debatable’ one.”
Del Villar, who founded his Del Records in 2008, built the label into a powerhouse for regional Mexican music, home to supergroup Eslabon Armado, Lenin Ramirez and other chart-topping artists.
But in June 2022, federal prosecutors unveiled charges against Del Villar, 41, CFO Luca Scalisi, 56, and Del Records under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act – a statute that allows the U.S. to impose targeted sanctions on foreign individuals involved in the illegal drug trade and ban U.S. residents from doing business with them.
The feds claimed that Del Villar had repeatedly arranged concerts with Jesus Pérez Alvear, a Guadalajara-based promoter with cartel ties. And at a March trial, superstar Gerardo Ortiz took the stand to testify against Del Villar, saying he had seen Pérez Alvear at the Del Records offices and had himself performed at one of the promoter’s concerts.
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Del Villar’s defense attorneys argued back that he had been “manipulated” into working with Pérez Alvear by a “trusted” former employee. But the jury didn’t buy it, finding him guilty on 10 counts of violating the Kingpin law, as well as one conspiracy charge. In August, Judge Frimpong sentenced him to 48 months in prison on those convictions.
With that sentence looming and his appeal still in the earliest stages, Del Villar’s attorneys urged the judge to postpone his December prison report date. In the process, they also previewed how they will likely challenge the verdict on appeal.
They say they have a particularly strong argument on how the judge instructed jurors that they could convict Del Villar by finding that he willfully blinded himself to Pérez’s shady connections. They say prosecutors couldn’t prove he took concrete actions to avoid such knowledge, but that Judge Frimpong gave the jurors that option anyway.
“The government pointed to no evidence — and the record contains none — from which a jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Del Villar took ‘deliberate actions’ or made ‘active efforts,’ his lawyers wrote, later adding that the judge’s instruction “went to the heart and most hotly contested aspect of the case.”
Trending on Billboard
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ release date has been pushed back, a move that comes after media reports that he violated prison rules by drinking homemade alcohol.
After Diddy was convicted in July on federal prostitution charges and sentenced to four years in prison, the federal Bureau of Prisons inmate records initially projected his release date as May 8, 2028. But those same records, reviewed by Billboard, now say Diddy will go free on June 4, 2028.
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It’s unclear why the expected date was updated; such listings are just estimates, reflecting the “inmate’s projected release date based on BOP calculations.” But it comes after Combs allegedly violated multiple prison rules within weeks of arriving at a New Jersey federal correctional facility.
As first reported by CBS News, Combs faced potential disciplinary action for an unauthorized three-way phone call, which is barred by prison rules. His representative denied any wrongdoing to CBS, saying there “was nothing improper” about the call.
According to a report last week by TMZ, Combs was also caught in prison with homemade alcohol made from Fanta soda, sugar and apples. Combs’ family strongly denied that report, saying on social media that it was “completely false.”
In a statement to Billboard, a BOP spokesperson declined to comment on why Diddy’s date had been changed: “For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual, including release plans, timing, or procedures, or whether a particular individual is the subject of allegations, investigations, or sanctions. However, we can tell you that Sean Combs has a projected release date of June 4, 2028.”
Reps for Combs did not immediately return requests for comment on the reasons for the changed release date.
Combs was arrested and charged in September 2024 with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking violations over claims that he ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating “freak-offs” — elaborate events at which he allegedly forced ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and others to have sex with male escorts while he watched and masturbated.
Following a blockbuster trial this spring, jurors issued a verdict clearing Combs on the more serious charges that could have seen him sentenced to prison for life. But he was still convicted on two lesser counts for transporting Ventura and others across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Last month, he was sentenced to 50 months in prison.
Combs is currently appealing both his convictions and sentence; if successful, he could get out much earlier than the BOP estimates. But the appeals process is often slow, and Combs will likely serve a sizeable chunk of his term before the case is even decided. The star is also seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump, but the White House has publicly denied that it is considering that move.
Trending on Billboard
An appeals court has upheld Tory Lanez’s convictions for shooting Megan Thee Stallion, rejecting his arguments aimed at overturning his 10-year prison sentence.
Nearly three years after the singer (Daystar Peterson) was found guilty in 2022 of shooting Megan in the foot during a drunken argument on a Hollywood Hills street, a California appellate court affirmed the verdict in a ruling issued Wednesday (Nov. 12).
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Lanez and his supporters have long maintained his innocence, claiming there was insufficient proof that he was the shooter and that he received an unfair trial. But in the ruling, the appeals court said there was no reason to undo the verdict.
“Peterson contends the trial court committed a number of errors,” the appeals court wrote. “We find no prejudicial error and, accordingly, affirm Peterson’s conviction.” A spokeswoman for Lanez did not immediately return a request for comment on the ruling.
The ruling came more than five years after the July 12, 2020, shooting, which happened as a driver was shuttling Lanez, Megan and her assistant/friend Kelsey Harris from a party at Kylie Jenner’s house. According to prosecutors, when Megan got out of a vehicle and began walking away, Lanez shouted “Dance, b—h!” and fired a gun at her feet, striking her once.
Following the incident, Megan initially told police officers that she had cut her foot stepping on broken glass, but days later alleged that she had been shot. Lanez was eventually charged with the shooting in October 2022.
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During a blockbuster trial in Los Angeles court, Lanez’s lawyers tried to sow doubt over who had really pulled the trigger, painting a scenario in which Harris could have been the shooter. But a key defense witness offered confusing eyewitness testimony, and prosecutors pointed to an earlier interview in which Harris pinned the blame squarely on Lanez. Megan herself offered powerful testimony that Lanez had been the one to shoot her, and neither Lanez nor the driver took the witness stand.
Lanez and his supporters have refused to accept that verdict, calling it a “miscarriage of justice.” His legal team has filed multiple forms of appeal to challenge the verdict, each of which has now been rejected. They have also claimed publicly that new evidence exonerates him; Megan’s reps and prosecutors strongly deny that.
On appeal, Lanez raised a slew of arguments. He argued it had been unfair for jurors to hear the earlier interview with Harris, in which she placed the blame for the shooting on Lanez; he also argued prosecutors had improperly cited an Instagram post in which he appeared to say that Harris had not shot Megan.
In Wednesday’s decision, the appeals court rejected each of those arguments, including Lanez’s claim that prosecutors had “introduced racial bias into the proceedings” by referencing a tattoo of a gun on his chest.
“It was defense counsel who asked — both on direct and on redirect — if [a witness] had ever seen Peterson with a gun,” the appeals court wrote. “Neither of the prosecutors even mentioned Peterson’s tattoos — much less the tattoo of a firearm — in their closing arguments.”
Trending on Billboard
Since subscribing to Spotify in 2023, Genevieve Capolongo says she’s mostly listened to “lesser-known artists” like Próxima Parada, Julia Cooper and Brusco. But she says the streamer’s recommendation tools keep serving her “mainstream, major-label tracks” by Drake, Zach Bryan and Justin Bieber.
According to her lawyers, that’s because Spotify was paid to do so.
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In a lawsuit filed last week, Capolongo claims the streamer’s Discovery Mode and editorial playlists amount to a “modern form of payola,” allowing labels to secretly boost their tracks with a “deceptive pay-for-play” program. She says she wouldn’t have subscribed if she knew that Spotify’s recommendations had been sold “to the highest bidder.”
The case is sometimes light on specifics, like citing unnamed “industry insiders” about alleged illicit payments or “disproportionate” rates of major-label music. Spotify, for its part, called the lawsuit “nonsense” and said it was “riddled with misunderstandings and inaccuracies.”
But it targets a program that has raised eyebrows for years — and comes at a time when Spotify has faced multiple accusations about manipulation on the platform. For more, go read our full story here.
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Other top stories this week…
DRAKE’S APPEAL – As Drake asks an appeals court to revive his lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” I asked legal experts what his lawyers might argue — and whether it’ll work.
TAYLOR V. TRUMP? – Taylor Swift fans want her to sue the Trump administration after it used “The Fate of Ophelia” in a TikTok video. She probably could, but almost certainly won’t.
DISJOINT VENTURE – 10K Projects, the Warner-owned label founded by Elliot Grainge, is facing a lawsuit claiming it owes millions to Taz Taylor’s Internet Money Records under a joint venture.
FAST & FREE SONGS – How did New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani get clearance to use Bob Dylan’s iconic anthem “The Times They Are A-Changin’” in a campaign ad? It turns out he didn’t.
MJ LITIGATION – Michael Jackson’s estate is locked in a legal battle over abuse allegations from the Cascio siblings, who spent much of their childhoods with the King of Pop.
GORDIAN SLIPKNOT – Slipknot’s lawsuit against a group that has owned slipknot.com for decades has hit an unexpected snag: The shadowy entity has hired a lawyer and is fighting back.
ATLANTA ARREST – Rod Wave was arrested in Atlanta on weapon and drug charges. His lawyer — star defense attorney Drew Findling — says Wave was “unjustly profiled and unlawfully arrested.”
NAME REVEAL? – A “Jane Roe” woman who accused Garth Brooks of sexual assault is refusing to concede defeat in her fight to remain pseudonymous, filing an appeal to avoid disclosing her real name.
NOVEMBER LITIGATION – An ex-manager of Guns N’ Roses is suing the band, claiming it has unfairly blocked the release of his memoir by threatening to sue him and his publisher over a decades-old NDA.
Trending on Billboard
Fugees rapper Pras Michel must pay a whopping $64 million to the government following his conviction on illegal foreign lobbying and conspiracy charges, a federal judge ruled Thursday (Oct. 30).
The rapper’s lawyers had called such a massive order “grossly disproportionate” to his 2023 conviction, in which Michel was found guilty on accusations that he orchestrated a “foreign influence campaign” to get the U.S. to drop an investigation into fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low.
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But in the ruling on Thursday, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said that Michel had “obtained proceeds in the amount of at least $64,923,226 from his offenses,” which included conspiracy, witness tampering and failing to register as an agent of China. The judge’s written opinion explaining her rationale was not made publicly available.
Michel faces sentencing on those same convictions next month, when he could receive a decades-long prison sentence. His attorneys have called for a far lighter sentence of only 36 months. A spokeswoman for Michel did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
Composed of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Michel, the Fugees rose to fame in the 1990s with hits like “Killing Me Softly,” “Ready or Not” and “Fu-Gee-La.” After splitting up in 1998, the three each had successful solo careers and mostly stayed separate until recent years, when they’ve attempted multiple reunion tours.
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In 2019, Michel was hit with sweeping federal criminal charges over accusations that he funneled money from Low, the mastermind of the billion-dollar 1MDB embezzlement scheme, to a lobbying campaign aimed at getting the first Trump administration to drop its investigation into the disgraced financier. He was also accused of secretly funneling Low’s money to Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, and of later trying to influence an extradition case on behalf of China.
In April 2023, following a trial that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Michel was convicted on 10 counts, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.
Thursday’s forfeiture order was delayed by several months after Pras announced in August that he’d had emergency surgery for colon cancer removal. The August hearing was eventually rescheduled for last week, setting the stage for Thursday’s decision.
Following his sentencing next month, Michel will likely appeal both his sentence and the underlying convictions to a higher court.
MediaPunch / Diddy
Sean “Diddy” Combs was transferred to federal prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey, on Thursday to begin his 50-month sentence, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said.
The 55-year-old disgraced music mogul has spent his time at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, before he was sentenced to 50 months (4 years) on two counts of interstate prostitution.
Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking and pleaded not guilty while maintaining his innocence.
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According to NBC News, Combs’ new living arrangements for the next 4 years, Fort Dix prison, is a low-security prison for men that houses up to approximately 4,000 inmates.
Combs’ legal team asked U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian at his sentencing to send him to Fort Dix for drug rehabilitation and an opportunity to be closer to his family.
The news website also reports that Combs’ legal team will seek an expedited appeals schedule while calling the prosecution’s use of the “Mann Act,” which forbids by law traveling across state lines to engage in prostitution, “unfair.”
Diddy is slated to be released on May 8, 2028, and could be let out of prison earlier for good behavior, or have his whole jail sentence commuted if Donald Trump issues him a pardon. Trump is reportedly not considering it at the moment.
Speaking with reporters from the Oval Office, Trump revealed that Diddy’s team did reach out to him in hopes of securing a pardon.
“A lot of people have asked me for pardons,” Trump said. “I call him Puff Daddy, [he] has asked me for a pardon.”
Well, we hope Diddy uses his time behind bars, however long that is, to reflect on life and come out of the experience a fully rehabilitated person.
Trending on Billboard
THE BIG STORY: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was so big that it has developed its own legal system.
With a record-shattering haul of more than $2 billion face-value ticket sales — and many times that in the secondary market — it’s not surprising that legal disputes have broken out. Don’t forget the old adage in the music industry: “If you write a hit, you get a writ.”
It started immediately after the chaotic pre-sale, when Swift fans filed class actions against Ticketmaster, accusing the company of causing the “disaster” rollout. In August, the Federal Trade Commission sued a ticket broker for allegedly using bots to buy thousands of Eras tickets that it resold for more than $1 million in profit. Just this month, an angry Swiftie sued StubHub for giving her “inferior” seats after she dropped $14,000 on Eras tickets.
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The latest fallout came last week in a criminal case — over a “cybercrime crew” that allegedly stole Eras tickets from StubHub and resold them for a windfall. For more, go read our full story here.
Other top stories this week…
BAND V. LABEL – Powerhouse regional Mexican label Rancho Humilde is locked in a bitter legal dispute with one of its fastest rising acts, the California-based band Fuerza Regida, with allegations of unpaid royalties, unapproved touring deals and “sabotage.”
DIDDY RELEASE DATE – Weeks after Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to over four years in prison on prostitution convictions following a sweeping sexual abuse case, inmate records now show when he’s expected to be set free — but a lot could change before then.
MUNI LAWSUIT – Muni Long’s former managers, Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon, are suing the singer for allegedly refusing to pay more than $600,000 worth of promised fees; the Grammy-winning R&B star’s team calls the claims “unfounded.”
BEER BATTLE – Country singer Jameson Rodgers allegedly hurled a “full, unopened beer can” into a concert crowd and hit a fan in the face, resulting in “severe and permanent injuries.” Now, an appeals court says Sony Music can’t escape the ensuing lawsuit.
THE FIGHT GOES ON – Even after A$AP Rocky was acquitted on charges of shooting A$AP Relli on a Hollywood street, the former friends and collaborators continue to battle in a pair of civil lawsuits filed by Relli.
ANTITRUST CASE – Former Oak View Group chief Tim Leiweke, now facing federal bid-rigging charges, is asking a judge for permission to travel to Canada for business next month — a routine motion on paper that underscores how sharply life changes under indictment.
IMPERIAL MARCH – A Washington, D.C., man was allegedly detained after playing John Williams’ legendary “Imperial March” — aka Darth Vader’s music from Star Wars — to protest National Guard troops sent to the city by President Donald Trump, according to a new lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
SAMPLE SPAT – Lizzo is facing a copyright lawsuit over a track she teased on social media to poke fun at Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad controversy, even though she never actually commercially released it.
