Fake Wu-Tang Member Sentenced to Prison For Fraud

by HHL JT

The Wu-Tang Clan has a lot of members.  

 Aaron Barnes-Burpo used that ambiguity to defraud 19 businesses for close to $300K.

Federal prosecutors say Burpo, 29, posed as a member of the Wu-Tang clan and/or a Roc Nation artist to rent luxury limos and steal from hotels, caterers, and studios across the Southeast with his accomplice 52-year old Walker Washington.

He was caught in 2019 when a hotel clerk figured out his ruse and contacted the authorities.

“For several weeks, these men defrauded multiple businesses by posing as famous musical artists and their retinue,” Acting U.S. Attorney David Estes said in a news release. “Thanks to an alert hotel clerk, their phony hit parade came to an abrupt halt.”

Burpo has now been sentenced to seven years and has to pay back the business he deceived.