Chad Arrington is a Baltimore singer who performs and records under the name Chad Focus. While Arrington isn’t a household name in the music world, his song “Dance With Me” landed on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart last year and received a T-Pain remix. He also appeared in an enormous Times Square billboard (below), which advertised both his real name and his Chad Focus project.

On May 29, a federal grand jury indicted Arrington in connection with allegations that he used a company credit card to make over $4.1 million in unauthorized purchases—many directly connected to his music career. He faces federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The indictment, unsealed today and viewed by Pitchfork, claims that while Arrington was employed as an SEO specialist at an unnamed company, he and four unnamed co-conspirators used a company-issued American Express card to spend millions in fraudulent purchases. Between January 2015 and August 2018, Arrington allegedly used company money to promote his music, purchase audio equipment, artificially increase plays on Spotify and other streaming services, purchase followers and views for his social media platforms, and yes, purchase Chad Focus billboards throughout the country.

Arrington also allegedly spent more than $250,000 on the company credit card in purchases related to a bike-sharing business. The indictment claims that the credit card was also used for concert tickets, travel, and other nightlife expenses. Arrington and his co-conspirators also face allegations of funneling payments to one another.

Arrington and two of his co-conspirators are accused of concealing the crime by falsifying credit card statements submitted to the company. Arrington is accused of forging a supervisor’s signature multiple times to make it appear that he had permission to make those purchases. He allegedly sent those false authorizations to other employees at the company, and the credit card balance was subsequently paid off by the company.

Pitchfork has reached out to Arrington’s representatives.

https://pitchfork.com/news/baltimore-singer-indicted-for-allegedly-spending-dollar41-million-on-company-card-to-fund-his-music