Lil Durk Asks for Bail, Offering All Future Music Royalties as Security
Lawyers for the rapper Lil Durk asked a federal judge on November 4 to release him on bail, and they offered all of his future music royalties as security. Royalties are the payments songwriters and recording owners earn each time a track is streamed, sold or played. Billboard reported the request, which came after more than two years in jail.
Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, was found not guilty in September of murder-for-hire charges. Prosecutors had alleged he arranged a hit on the rapper Quando Rondo. He still faces a separate charge, and his lawyers say that is the reason he should be freed while it is pending.
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald heard the bail request at a hearing on November 4. He did not rule from the bench. Instead, he took the motion under submission, meaning he will decide on the written papers, and he said he will issue a written ruling. No date for that decision has been given.
Defence lawyer Christy O'Connor told the court that the proposed bond package covers all of Lil Durk's future music earnings. Drew Findling, another defence attorney, argued that his client wants a second jury to find him not guilty again. Jay-Z and J. Cole have each sent letters supporting the bail request.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Weiner opposed release. He argued that Lil Durk would flee to a country that does not extradite, meaning it would not send people back to the United States, and that he would make new music while awaiting trial. Prosecutors also pointed to an earlier attempt to flee. Lil Durk tried to get to Dubai before his arrest in 2024.
The case centres on a dispute between rival rap camps. Prosecutors accused Lil Durk of putting a bounty on Quando Rondo in retaliation for the 2020 killing of King Von, a rapper linked to Lil Durk's circle. Quando Rondo survived a 2022 shooting at a gas station in Los Angeles, but his cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, also known as Lul Pab, was killed. These are allegations, and no court has found them proven.
The charge that remains falls under the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity statute, known as VICAR. It is a federal law that targets violent crimes carried out to benefit a criminal organisation. A second trial is set for next summer, and prosecutors plan to argue that Lil Durk used his leadership of his Only the Family (OTF) record label to direct the Quando Rondo incident, a 2019 shooting in Atlanta and a 2022 killing in Chicago. Lil Durk denies wrongdoing in the remaining case.
For the music side of the story, the bond would tie future income from his recordings and songwriting to the court process. The judge has not said whether the offer is enough, or whether he will accept it at all. Until a written decision arrives, Lil Durk remains in custody.
