Baby Blue is out of the slammer!
The Pretty Ricky entertainer got released from prison this Tuesday after serving a year in prison over his $24M PPP loan scam.
Back in 2020, Blue was arrested for filing fraudulent loan applications in order to receive funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. In total, he reportedly raked in $24 million from the COVID relief program. Blue pleaded guilty on Aug. 4, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In February 2022, the artist officially turned himself in and before he did, Blue sent a message to his fans while accepting his L.
“We all make mistakes… I admit I made a mistake, I’ve learned from it the hard way and won’t make it again. My mistakes don’t define me as a man and I will come out of this more than I was before. With more integrity, more character, more knowledge of my self, more wiser, more stronger! Thank you to everyone that has endured this pain with me. This case has been over a year long. Thank you to my friends, family, and my fans! All of your kind words, dms and texts are received and appreciated. Love Reciprocated.
Love,”
More On His PPP Loan Scandal
Blue allegedly took out loans for his company Throwbackjersey.com LLC. He received a loan of $426,717, and for his other company, Blue Star Records LLC he got $708,065. Eventually he later admitted to falsifying documents and information and using the money at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and to purchase luxury items including a Ferrari. As a result of his crime, his car was seized by authorities when the rapper was arrested.
On top of being handed down prison time, he was also ordered to pay $1,111,345 in restitution and $1,134,782 in forfeiture.
Before turning himself in, Blue previously spoke about where things went wrong. He said while speaking with VladTv last year,
“I still don’t know how I got the money, I’m thinking it came from the football agent’s loan company,” he told DJ Vlad. “I don’t know the details of what’s going on because this the beginning of the pandemic. Don’t nobody know what a PPP is. It don’t exist, it’s brand new…n***a, I’m a musician. I don’t know shit about no PPP. I barely know how to file my motherfuckin’ taxes.” He went on to say that his name has been run “through the mud” and that he was the center of headlines, when he was only used in a “marketing tool at that point, it’s called influencer marketing.”
He added, “The n***as who got us the loans turned informants,” Blue claimed. “They turned to the confidential informants and now they start telling, ‘Oh, we did loans for them and them and them, and they bought this and this and that. But these the same people you ain’t even tell them where the money came from. You told them it was coming from a football agency.”
Let’s just say Blue definitely learned his lesson.
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