# YSL Records racketeering trial

The YSL Records racketeering trial was a criminal case in Fulton County, Georgia, which involved American rapper Young Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) and several of his associates, including some from his record label, YSL Records (Young Stoner Life Records). The trial began on November 27, 2023, following the May 2022 indictment that charged 28 individuals associated with YSL under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Prosecutors alleged that YSL functioned as a criminal street gang (Young Slime Life) while simultaneously operating as a hip hop music record label (Young Stoner Life). Fulton County Chief Judge Ural D. Glanville presided over the case until he was recused in July 2024 after complaints were registered about a secret meeting he held with prosecutors and a key witness. Judge Shukura L. Ingram replaced him, but 2 days later she recused herself due to personal connection to one of the courthouse deputies that was arrested for smuggling contraband and having a "inappropriate relationship" with one of the indicted co-defendants. She was replaced with Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, who presided over the case until it ended.
While numerous affiliates were removed from the case through actions such as taking probation and plea deals, Thug and five other individuals remained as defendants in the trial. They were denied bond numerous times, all facing multiple charges of racketeering, drug possession, and participation in criminal street gang activity, among other charges. Some indicted co-defendants involved in the case did not attend the trial dates due to various reasons, such as insufficient funding for lawyers and unavailability of public defenders. The case is currently the longest criminal trial in Georgia as well as the most expensive criminal trial in Fulton County and one of the costliest criminal trials in Georgia state history. Many fellow artists, such as Travis Scott, Nav, Drake, Future, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Ty Dolla Sign, Post Malone and others expressed support for Thug and other co-defendants during the case through songs and social media posts.
On October 29, 2024, Quamarvious Nichols pleaded guilty to a single count of violating Georgia's anti-racketeering laws in exchange for his other charges being dropped and was sentenced to 20 years in prison with seven to be served and 13 years of probation. On October 30, Marquavius "Qua" Huey pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, robbery, and several other counts and was sentenced to 25 years in prison with 9 to be served; Lil Rod (real name Rodalius Ryan) pleaded guilty to a single racketeering conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 10 years in prison which was commuted to time served due to him already serving a life sentence for a 2019 murder. Two days later, Thug accepted a plea deal that would get him released from jail, after being sentenced to 40 years: 5 years in prison (commuted to time served), 15 years of probation, and a backload of 20 years in prison if probation is violated. On December 3, the jury reached a verdict on Yak Gotti and SB, the two remaining defendants in the trial. Yak Gotti was found not guilty on all counts, while SB was found guilty on count 64, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison to serve with two commuted to time served alongside credit for time served and the balance (eight years) served on probation. The jury was officially released and the trial ended. Other indicted co-defendants uninvolved in the trial took plea deals or are still waiting to be tried in separate cases.

## Timeline

On May 9, 2022, Thug was arrested in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, at his house in Buckhead. He was charged alongside 27 others in a 56-count RICO indictment that was filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Two days later, rapper Gunna (real name Sergio Kitchens), who is a part of YSL, turned himself in to authorities after a warrant for his arrest had been issued. Thug was later charged with additional gun-and-drug-related offenses after police raided his home. The case was presided over by Fulton County Chief Judge Ural D. Glanville, who denied bond for everybody who was charged and scheduled the trial to begin on January 9, 2023. On June 14, 2022, Gunna's 29th birthday, he wrote a letter to his fans from prison, in which he maintained his innocence in the case and expressed his loneliness of being locked up. On August 10, a new indictment was filed in which Thug received six more felony charges. On October 13, Thug and Gunna were again denied release from jail ahead of the trial. On December 14, Gunna was released from jail after he took an Alford plea, pleading guilty to a single charge of racketeering. As a result, he was sentenced to five years in prison and 500 hours of community service, in which the first year was commuted to time served and the remaining four years were suspended due to probation conditions. Following his release, some fellow rappers and many people on social media felt that he "snitched" on Thug by taking the plea deal to get out of jail.
On January 18, 2023, an alleged drug exchange took place in the courtroom between Thug and YSL co-defendant Kahlieff Adams, in which the latter received new charges after deputies found him in possession of the drugs Percocet, marijuana, tobacco, and other contraband. On May 11, Thug was briefly hospitalized after falling ill during a court hearing. On June 16, Gunna released his fourth studio album, A Gift & a Curse, in which he maintained his innocence and denied the "snitching" allegations against him. Exactly a week later, Thug's third studio album, Business Is Business, was released while he was in prison. On November 9, Glanville ruled that song lyrics by defendants were allowed to be used as evidence. He explained his reasoning as he felt that using them is not an attack on free speech, saying that "they're not prosecuting your clients because of the songs they wrote" and "they're using the songs to prove other things your clients may have been involved in". The trial began on November 27, with the six defendants being Thug, fellow rapper and label signee Yak Gotti (real name Deamonte Kendrick), Lil Rod (real name Rodalius Ryan), Qua (real name Marquavius Huey), SB (real name Shannon Stillwell), and Quamarvious Nichols. Thug's lawyer, Brian Steel, explained that the "Thug" in the rapper's name stood for "Truly Humble Under God" in the courtroom the following day. On December 10, SB was stabbed in jail after a fellow inmate named Willie Brown entered his cell. The inmate claimed that SB tried to attack him with a knife and that the stabbing was an act of self-defense.
On January 3, 2024, YSL co-defendant Trontavious Stephens identified himself, Thug, and Walter Murphy as the founders of the record label, claiming that it was solely music-related and not a criminal street gang. On February 16, YSL defense attorney Nicole Fegan, who represented former co-defendant Tenquarius Mender in the case, was arrested on charges of participating in criminal street gang activity and evidence tampering. Four days later, a recording of an anonymous woman calling police played in the courtroom, where she identified Thug as the gunman in a shooting, saying: "They came to my house and told me that the guy who shot somebody's name was Young Thug, whoever that's supposed to be". On April 4, Steel filed a motion for lead prosecutor Adriane Love to be removed from the trial as he felt that she was essentially acting as an unsworn witness in order to coerce defendants into admitting to wrongdoing, which Glanville denied.
On June 10, Steel revealed in the courtroom that he found out that Glanville allegedly had a secret ex-parte meeting with prosecutors, along with a key witness named Lil Woody and his lawyer, Kayla Bumpus, early that morning. Steel asked Glanville why he was not told about the meeting, to which Glanville asked him to reveal who told him this information. Steel refused to reveal his source of information, citing the common law doctrine attorney–client privilege as a reason to not tell Glanville, to which Glanville disagreed and had him taken into custody. Nearly an hour later, Steel was brought back into the courtroom and still declined to answer Glanville's question. Glanville then held him in contempt of court and sentenced him to 10 weekends in jail, which would have started on June 14 and ended on August 18. Steel filed a motion on the same day to appeal the ruling, which was granted and approved. He then filed another motion for Glanville to recuse himself as he believed that the judge was "acting unethical" and "morphed" into the prosecutor. Glanville denied the motion and the trial was paused on July 1 until a higher court ruled on the recusal. Exactly two weeks later, Glanville was recused from the trial. The trial then resumed under the direction of Shukura L. Ingram, who recused herself three days later due to "an improper relationship between a defendant and one of her former deputies" that caused a conflict of interest that involved her. Paige Reese Whitaker was then assigned to the case and presided over it until it officilly ended. On September 30, Whitaker chastised Love due to her allegedly mishandling a witness, stating that she appeared to be "purposefully [hiding] the ball to the extent you possibly can, for as long as you possibly can... unless it's just that you are so unorganized that you are throwing this case together as you try it". This came after Love asked a witness to authenticate a document immediately after Whitaker had allowed her to do so on the condition that the witness should not authenticate the document.
On October 29, Quamarvious Nichols pleaded guilty to a single count of violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering laws in exchange for his other charges being dropped and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with seven to be served and 13 years of probation. On October 30, several other individuals took plea deals in order for them to be removed from the trial. Qua pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, robbery, and several other counts, to which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison with 9 to be served. Lil Rod pleaded guilty to a single racketeering conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which was commuted to time served due to him already serving a life sentence for a 2019 murder. On Halloween, Thug accepted a plea deal. Later the same day, Williams was sentenced to 40 years: 5 years in prison (commuted to time served), 15 years of probation, and a backload of 20 years in prison if probation is violated. His release and probation conditions include him being banned from the Metro Atlanta area (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau) for 10 years, not being allowed to make gang references in his music, being required to do four annual anti-gang presentations or concerts for Atlanta, and not being allowed to have any contact with known gang members or co-defendants other than Gunna and his older brother, Unfoonk (real name Quantavious Grier). He may return to Atlanta only briefly and under strict conditions: to deliver anti-gun and anti-gang presentations to local youth four times a year or to attend the weddings, funerals, graduations, or medical emergencies of his immediate family members. He must agree to be searched at any time, undergo random drug tests, and refrain from promoting gangs in any way. His five years in prison was commuted to time served and he was released from prison the same day. On December 3, the jury has reached a verdict on the two remaining defendants, Yak Gotti and SB. Kendrick was found not guilty on all counts, SB was found guilty on count 64, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and was sentenced to 10 years to serve 2 commuted to time served with credit for time served and the balance (8 years) served on probation. The jury has been officially released and the trial has ended. Yak Gotti and a few other indicted co-defendants that were not a part of the trial are still to be tried on separate cases.