Lil Durk pleads not guilty to murder-for-hire and gets a court date

Chicago rapper, Grammy winner Lil Durk pleaded not guilty to the charge he led the assassination plot it led to the death of Georgia rapper Quando Rondo’s cousin at a gas station in Los Angeles two years ago.

The 32-year-old entertainer, born Dark Banks, pleaded guilty Thursday and was booked into the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles after receiving a preliminary court date of Jan. 7, 2025, online records and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Office confirmed.

Prosecutors asked for Banks to be remanded in custody pending trial, saying there was a “serious risk of the defendant fleeing.” In court documents, federal authorities say Banks was trying to board a private jet bound for Italy when he did so arrested last month in Miami They claim he was booked on separate one-way flights to Dubai and Switzerland on the same day.

Prominent attorney Drew Findling, known for representing other high-profile clients including Cardi B, NBA YoungBoy and Donald Trumpapplied to participate as one of Banks’ attorneys. He did not comment on Friday. Banks is due back in court on Nov. 25 for a status conference. A detention hearing is set for December 2.

According to the Nov. 7 indictment, Banks “was the leader” of a hip-hop group founded in Chicago in 2010 called Only the Family, or OTF. While the group made and sold music, it also allegedly “engaged in violence, including murder and assault,” largely at the “direction” of Banks, the indictment said.

Prosecutors say Banks is responsible for the killing at the center of the indictment because he allegedly sought revenge for the fatal shooting of young Chicago rapper King Vonborn Davon Bennett, near the club in Atlanta on November 6, 2020. Bennett and Banks were childhood friends, and Banks signed Bennett to his label in 2018, the same year Bennett released his debut single, “Crazy Story.”

Prosecutors say Quando Rondo, born Tykwian Terrell Bowman, was allegedly involved in an “altercation” with Bennett shortly before one of Bowman’s associates pulled out a gun and shot Bennett several times. “After the murder, defendant Banks made it plainly coded that he would pay a reward or monetary reward and/or pay anyone involved in (Bowman’s) murder for his role in (Bennett’s) murder,” the indictment replaces. (The banks were previously charged in a separate complaint.)

Prosecutors say Banks and his co-defendants traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles in August 2022 after learning Bowman was staying at a hotel. They allege that Banks’ co-defendants “used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, follow and attempt to kill (Bowman) for several hours,” culminating in the shooting at the gas station. The gunmen fired at least 18 shots into Bowman’s car, striking and killing Bowman’s cousin, Savaiah Robinson, who was riding with him, authorities said.

Prosecutors say they have bank and flight records linking Banks’ partner to the travel plans. They say that around the time the one-way flights were purchased, Banks allegedly told a partner, “Don’t book flights under any names like me.”

On the same day that several of the men left for California, Banks flew in on a private jet with another alleged co-conspirator, 28-year-old Kavon London Grant, the indictment alleges. Prosecutors say Grant purchased ski masks for the shooters and used a credit card in Banks’ name to pay for the other men’s hotel room.

When Banks’ co-defendants were arrested in Chicago on the morning of Oct. 24, Banks was allegedly planning to leave the country, an FBI agent alleged in an affidavit filed last month. The agent said that “shortly after officials made the arrests in Chicago and began executing search warrants, US Customs and Border Protection notified the FBI that Banks was booked on separate one-way flights to Dubai and Switzerland departing from Miami . region. He did not board any of the flights and was arrested near the Miami airport an hour before his private jet was due to depart for Italy, the agent wrote.

If convicted of the charge, Banks faces up to life in federal prison.

“Mr. Banks is accused of orchestrating a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of a rival family member,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Not only did the shooting happen out in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, putting many others in the area at risk. This type of violent gun crime is devastating to our community and we will have zero tolerance for those who commit such heartless acts of violence.”