Fraud Charges Announced In Scam To Book Migos, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty

John Davisson – Migos
Migos is on the bill for Wild 94.1’s The Last Damn Show at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., Nov. 3.

Nearly a year after Emory University paid $37,500 from its speaker’s fund to Global Talent Agency to secure a concert with Migos that never ended up taking place, the man who allegedly posed as the hip-hop trio’s third-party booking agent has been indicted on federal fraud charges. 

Octaveon Woods – who allegedly operated Global Talent Agency, GTA Bookings, National Artist Agency and Blueprint Group-Client Exchange CA Inc – was charged with five counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, according to the university newspaper The Emory Wheel. The 26-year-old was indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 6 and arraigned last week. 

Woods is accused of scamming other universities and entities, including the University of Missouri, for a total of $66,250. He also received a $12,500 wire transfer in March 2017 to book Lil Yachty, as well as a $16,250 wire transfer in May 2017 for a Lil Uzi Vert performance, according to the paper.  

The website for GTA Bookings says that the company works with dozens of hip-hop artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky and Miguel, as well as comedians, DJs and gospel artists. 

Woods could face fines of up to $500,000 and up to 20 years of prison for each count of money laundering and wire fraud. The so-called booking agent, who allegedly began committing wire fraud as early as April 2015, pleaded not guilty and posted a $10,000 unsecured bond last week, according to The Emory Wheel. The paper noted that the indictment refers to an individual identified as M.N. who was allegedly involved in the scheme. 

“Woods allegedly convinced others to pay him thousands of dollars to ‘book’ these artists for concerts and festivals – when he had no relationship with the artists at all,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said in a Feb. 16 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia posted to Justice.gov. “Woods immediately laundered the money to try and conceal his fraud.” 

The press release notes that the U.S. Department of Education is investigating the case.

Pollstar reached out to Migos’ agent, ICM Partners’ Jacqueline Reynolds-Drumm, for comment after noticing that the “About Us” section on GTA Bookings’ website proclaims that “GTA has grown to become one of the largest urban booking agencies in the United States because of its strong alliance with ICM and WMA agencies with larger acts.” Reynolds-Drumm was not immediately available for comment. 

A representative for the trio released a statement last March when the story first broke that the Emory Student Programming Council had been duped when trying to book an artist for the university’s April 2017 Dooley’s Week event. 

“It’s never acceptable for people to try to get over on others. We do not condone this type of behavior,” the statement said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Emory University was not immediately available when Pollstar reached out for comment. 

As for Global Talent Agency, a phone number listed on the agency’s website is out of service.