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COURIER L 20 IFE, FEBRUARY 21-27, 2020
Canarsie rapper Pop
Smoke murdered
S’ Park lawyer cuffed
for ripping off clients
BY JESSICA PARKS
A 70-year-old Sunset
Park attorney faces up
to 15 years behind bars
for allegedly stealing
$280,000 in down payments
from his clients
during two separate real
estate transactions.
Brooklyn District Attorney
Eric Gonzalez
announced the indictment
against the alleged
scammer, who was arraigned
before Brooklyn
Supreme Court Justice
Danny Chun on four
counts of grand larceny
and fi ve counts of issuing
a bad check on Tuesday.
“This defendant allegedly
betrayed the
trust of his clients and
abused his power as an
attorney, taking advantage
of the escrow accounts
he controlled to
steal hundreds of thousands
of dollars,” said
Gonzalez.
In one instance, the
attorney represented a
couple in the $1,350,000
sale of their two-family
home in Sunset Park between
October 2018 and
March 2019, for which
he accepted a $135,000
down payment from the
buyers, which he was to
hold in escrow on behalf
of his clients.
Following the deal’s
closure, however, the
lawyer allegedly issued
two $65,600 checks to
the victims — but both
were rejected due to insuffi
cient funds, accord-
BY JESSICA PARKS
Canarsie native and
rap artist Pop Smoke
was gunned down inside
his Los Angeles home on
Wednesday morning.
“We are devastated
by the unexpected and
tragic loss of Pop Smoke,”
read a statement from
Republic Records. “Our
prayers and thoughts go
out to his family, friends
and fans, as we mourn
this loss together.”
The 20-year-old rapper,
whose real name is
Bashar Jackson, was attacked
by gunmen who
invaded his Hollywood
Hills rental house at 4:30
am, according to a Los
Angeles Police Department
spokesperson, who
could not comment on
the motives of the shooters.
LAPD Captain Steve
Lurie said multiple police
offi cers responded to the
murder at 4:55 am, after
an East Coast caller reported
that multiple people
were breaking into
their friend’s home, including
one man armed
with a pistol.
Lurie said police
found one man suffering
a gunshot wound, whom
fi refi ghters rushed to
Cedars -Sinai Hospital,
where he was pronounced
dead.
The victim was later
identifi ed as Jackson by
the rapper’s record label,
Republic Records.
The Brooklyn-born
rapper fi rst swept the
charts last summer with
his hit song “Welcome to
the Party” and on Tuesday
his record label announced
the rapper’s
highest debut to date
when his new mixtape,
“Meet the Woo 2” landed
him in the top 10 of Billboard’s
Top 200.
He made headlines
last month when he was
charged in Brooklyn Federal
Court for transporting
a stolen vehicle from
California to his mother’s
southern Brooklyn
home.
The rapper pled not
guilty, and was released
on a $250,000 bond. He
had been facing up to 10
years behind bars.
At the time of his arraignment
on Jan. 20,
prosecutors argued
against setting bail
due to Pop Smoke’s presumed
involvement with
the 823 G Stone Crips, US
attorney Gillian Kassner
said.
She has a name.
Her health plan actually
knows it.
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