A metro Atlanta rapper who wrote a song called “Fraud God” will spend years in prison after prosecutors said he built a fraud scheme involving thousands of stolen checks and sold tutorials teaching others how to commit financial crimes.
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Shamarri Brooks, who performed under the name “Juney Knottzz,” pleaded guilty in May to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. A federal judge sentenced him to six years in prison.
“The scheme here was for people to steal checks from the mail, get them to Mr. Brooks, and Mr. Brooks would try to get them into bank accounts so that he could profit from the stolen checks,” Theodore Hertzberg, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said.
Hertzberg said Brooks obtained thousands of checks stolen from the mail, with a combined face value of more than $6.5 million.
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Hertzberg says Brooks used his role as a rapper to help his scheme.
“He, as an influencer, tried to influence other people to engage in fraud,” Hertzberg said. “He created an entire brand around it. No free sauce.”
Prosecutors say Brooks sold fraud tutorials known as “Sauce Books” and marketed merchandise featuring the same “No Free Sauce” branding. Brooks was pictured wearing a branded balaclava while attempting to deposit stolen checks at ATMs.
“One of the interesting things about this entire saga is how brazen the fraud was as well as how unsuccessful it was,” Hertzberg said.
Despite getting possession of thousands of checks, investigators found no evidence Brooks ever successfully cashed a stolen check.
“The basic lesson here should be that crime doesn’t pay,” Hertzberg said. “And second, that even if your scheme fails, you will still be prosecuted for trying to rip off other people. You’ll go to prison for it.”
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