Litigation

Creating a fraudulent criminal history

By Tracy Coenen

I’ve heard of plenty of people fabricating their pasts in order to make themselves look better. Fake degrees, false work histories, and phony certifications aren’t all that uncommon these days. Changing one’s name or otherwise trying to hide one’s criminal past isn’t out of the question today either.

But fabricating your past by creating a fraudulent criminal history? Bragging about prison times and crimes you never really committed?

Apparently that’s the way you sell records in the music world. The Smoking Gun released a report today on R&B singer Akon (real name Aliaune Thiam). It seems that he created a fictional rap sheet for himself, including total prison time of 4.5 years, activities as a ringleader of a notorious car theft operation, high-speed police chases, and ownership of four chop shops. The stories were elaborate, including tales about being involved in multiple prison fights.

Akon called his song “Locked Up” an account of what he experienced in prison, and media like the New York Times has called him a “prison-obsessed R&B singer.” His company is named Konvict Music, and his second album was entitled Konvicted.

But it’s apparently all fake. The Smoking Gun looked at police, court, and corrections records to determine that his whole stary is fabricated. They say he really has been arrest 6 times, and he has been convicted of one felony of gun possession. But he got three years of probation for that guilty plea and hasn’t done prison time. A 1998 arrest that Akon says landed him in prison for three years was actually an arrest for possessing one stolen car, and he was held for a few months but then released, and all charge were dropped.

No conviction. No prison. No lengthy rap sheet.

Who knew it would be cool to make up a fake arrest and prison record?

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Full post as published by The FRAUDfiles Blog on April 16, 2008 (boomark / email).