A judge sentenced Crestview, Florida man Aaron Barnes-Burpo, 29, to seven years in prison for pretending to be part of the Wu-Tang Clan and scamming hotels for free services. From WSBTV:
"For several weeks, these men defrauded multiple businesses by posing as famous musical artists and their retinue," said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. "Thanks to an alert hotel clerk, their phony hit parade came to an abrupt halt."
In court documents and testimony, Barnes-Burpo and his co-defendant, Walker Washington, admitted that they "falsely portrayed themselves as affiliated with the Roc Nation production company and the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan as early as September 2019, and used those fictitious representations along with fraudulent and stolen credit cards to rent luxury limousines and defraud hotels, caterers and production studios of thousands of dollars in goods and services in multiple cities, primarily in the Southeast."
