Gunna is set to be released from prison after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in a sweeping gang indictment.
Earlier this year, Young Thug and Gunna were charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) with their label, YSL Records, alleged to be the centrepiece of a gang.
The case centres around the YSL label founded by Thug and two others in 2016. Authorities claim that the label, to which Gunna is also signed, is a “criminal street gang”.
The rappers’ lawyers have consistently contested the charges since their arrest.
Young Thug, Gunna and 26 other defendants were set to go to trial in January, 2023.
But now according to WSB-TV, Gunna has entered a negotiated plea, known as an Alford plea, in which he pleaded guilty on one charge because it was in his best interest while maintaining his innocence on the same charge.
As a result of the plea, the rapper was sentenced to five years with one served in prison.
The one-year sentence was then commuted to time served and the remaining four years of his sentence have been suspended and will be subject to special conditions including 500 hours of community service.
Following the sentence, Gunna released a statement (via WSB-TV) saying: “While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way.”
The rapper also said that when he joined YSL in 2016, he didn’t consider it a gang, but “more like a group of people from metro Atlanta who had common interests and artistic aspirations.”
“My focus of YSL was entertainment – rap artists who wrote and performed music that exaggerated and ‘glorified’ urban life in the Black community,” he added.
The post Gunna to be released from prison after pleading guilty to RICO charge appeared first on NME.
