Bay Area rapper sentenced to 7 years for $2M identity theft scheme
Mark "Kafani" Hicks
OAKLEY, Calif. - A Bay Area rapper was sentenced to over seven years in federal prison for his role in a complex loan fraud and identity theft conspiracy, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
Mark "Kafani" Hicks, aka Amir Rashad, 42, out of Oakley, was at the center of a ring that stole approximately $2 million from banks and lending institutions, the DOJ said.
Within months of being released from prison in 2017, Hicks obtained the personal identity of nine people, along with their credit history, and used the information to create fraudulent bank accounts, emails, and phone numbers in the victims' names. Hicks then applied for mortgage refinance loans in the victim's names as well.
Hicks applied for eight loans; in some cases they were not approved, the DOJ said, but in other cases, Hicks convinced lending institutions to forward funds to fraudulent accounts.
Prosecutors called the two-year scheme "sprawling," saying it involved impersonating the victims in phone calls.
With the money he collected, he bought gold bars and coins that his co-conspirators sold for cash. A safe deposit box controlled by Hicks' relatives yielded over $480,000. Five other co-conspirators were sentenced for the scheme, the DOJ said, with sentences ranging from 15 to 48 months.
As ringleader, Hicks received the most time, 87 months in prison. Each defendant was also ordered to pay $1.9 million in restitution.
A seventh alleged co-conspirator remains a fugitive, according to the DOJ.