Two plead guilty to $1.35M fake concert fraud scheme

A former rapper and his friend have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity theft for their involvement in promoting a fake music festival.

The U.S. Department of Justice brought the charges.

Terronce Morris, 41, of Missouri City, Texas, pleaded guilty on Feb. 13 to conspiring with Blake Kelly, 36, of Los Angeles, California, for fraudulently receiving more than $1,350,000 from victim J.R. Morris to produce a music festival.

Morris and Kelly had created fake concert performance contracts and forged the signatures of the artists. During a video call with the victim, they had an accomplice pose as artist J.B. to trick the victim into believing that he had agreed to perform at the festival.

Morris’s sentencing is scheduled for May 2 at 1:30 p.m. Kelly’s sentencing is scheduled for March 28 at 1:00 p.m. The pair face up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and an additional two years in prison for the identity theft charge.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.