Drill rapper Lil Durk retained prominent Atlanta attorney Drew Findling to represent him in his federal murder-for-hire case.
Findling confirmed to Channel 2‘s Michael Seiden that he will be representing Durk. Findling is a high-profile defense attorney known for representing President-elect Donald Trump and rappers such as Cardi B.
Durk (born Durk Davontay Banks) pleaded not guilty on Nov. 14 to use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, using, carrying, and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue ordered Durk held in jail without bond, pending a detention hearing on Dec. 12. A tentative trial date was set for January 7, 2025.
Durk, 32, was transferred to a jail in L.A. three weeks after his dramatic arrest in Miami while trying to flee the country on a private plane.
He is charged in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a rival rapper as “get back” or “retaliation” for the murder of his artist King Von. Von was shot and killed during a fistfight with aspiring rapper Quando Rondo outside a hookah lounge in Atlanta in November 2020.
Prosecutors say Durk hired hit men from Chicago to kill Rondo in Los Angeles in 2022. But the shooters missed and killed his cousin, aspiring rapper Saviay’a Robinson, also known as Lul Pablo.
Prosecutors say Durk is the leader of the Chicago-based street gang and rap collective “Only the Family,” or OTF. An arrest warrant for Durk described OTF members as “individuals who engage in violence, including murder and assault, at the direction of BANKS and to maintain their status in OTF.”
The indictment alleges that Durk “would place bounties on individuals that he and other OTF members wanted to kill.”
Five members of Durk’s OTF gang were also arrested and are awaiting trial. The five defendants are expected to be arraigned in federal court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
Earlier this year, Durk shocked the music industry when he won a Grammy Award for best melodic rap performance for a subpar rap track titled “All My Life,” featuring J. Cole.
