Lil Durk Acquitted in Murder-for-Hire Case

Lil Durk was found not guilty Friday of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot, closing a federal case that had followed the Chicago rapper for nearly six years. The jury reached its decision after a trial that began in August.

Prosecutors argued that Banks, 33, helped arrange a scheme to kill Quando Rondo as retaliation for the 2020 shooting death of King Von, an artist on Banks’ Only the Family label. A gunfight in Atlanta involving the two men’s camps left Von and another man dead that year. Quando Rondo was never charged.

The government alleged Banks offered money and music opportunities to five men who tracked Quando Rondo to a Los Angeles gas station in 2022. Quando Rondo escaped unharmed; his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, was fatally shot. A credit card linked to Banks and Only the Family Records was used to buy plane tickets for four of the men, according to the indictment.

During the trial, OTF affiliate Kacey Hester, known as OTF Jam, and two other men testified against Banks. Defense attorneys Brian Steel and Drew Findling cast those witnesses as unreliable and self-interested. The jury ultimately sided with the defense.

Banks remains in custody on a separate racketeering charge, with a trial set for October 5, and he also faces a civil lawsuit involving another death.