Fetty Wap, who’s been sentenced to six years in prison. Photo Credit: Aneesh Mandava
Approximately 19 months after he was arrested at Rolling Loud on drug distribution charges, rapper Fetty Wap (real name Willie Junior Maxwell II) has been sentenced to six years behind bars for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Judge Joanna Seybert handed down the six-year sentence (to be followed by half a decade of supervised release) today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced in a formal release. Reports and video from regional outlets show that 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles appeared alongside Fetty Wap (as well as the Paterson, New Jersey-born artist’s family and counsel) at the sentencing hearing.
And according to the release, the “Tonight” artist (who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge last August and had been facing a maximum 40-year prison sentence) and his five co-defendants “distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine across Long Island and New Jersey.”
This operation took place between June of 2019 and June of 2020, per the resource, which likewise states that the narcotics in question were picked up on the west coast and then transported to Suffolk County through the mail and by “drivers with hidden vehicle compartments.” Fetty Wap across a six-month period personally drove over 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds) of cocaine from New Jersey to Suffolk, per local reports.
The drugs were subsequently distributed to and sold by dealers, according to the release, which identifies 31-year-old Fetty Wap as “a kilogram-level redistributor for the trafficking organization.” Ultimately, authorities are said to have recovered $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms (35.27 pounds) of cocaine, two kilograms (4.41 pounds) of heroin, “numerous fentanyl pills,” and multiple firearms during the course of the investigation.
At the time of this piece’s writing, the team of Fetty Wap (who’s been imprisoned since last August for allegedly violating the terms of his bond) didn’t appear to have weighed in on the sentence on Instagram or Twitter. Co-defendant Anthony Cyntje was previously sentenced to six years in prison, while the four other co-defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Back in February, two organizers behind a failed Iowa music festival were sentenced to a combined 33 months in prison on bank fraud charges. And across the pond, a vinyl bootlegger in April managed to avoid prison time with a suspended sentence – though the 55-year-old was given a three-month electronically monitored curfew and ordered to perform 250 hours of “unpaid work.”