By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) – Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested on suspicion of ordering the 2022 murder of a rival from his position as leader of Chicago-based rap collective Only the Family, federal prosecutors said.

The arrest took place Thursday near an airport where Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, was booked on a flight leaving the United States, according to a criminal complaint.

A lawyer representing the artist did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a statement in his defense.

Lil Durk made his initial appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Florida on Friday and is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. where the charges were filed.

Lil Durk, 32, was found to be the suspect previously identified as Co-Conspirator 1 in an Oct. 17 indictment against five other suspects charged in connection with a 2022 murder, according to the indictment.

The intended target was a man identified as having tuberculosis who wanted Lil Durk dead, prosecutors allege. The five other defendants learned that TB was staying in Los Angeles, tracked him down there and opened fire, including with a fully automatic weapon, but instead killed an associate identified as SR, the indictment said.

The dispute stemmed from a November 2020 confrontation at an Atlanta nightclub where TB shot and killed another man and Lil Durk punched him in revenge, the complaint said. It was one of many bounties Lil Durk handed out to people he wanted dead, according to the indictment.

Lil Durk won the 2024 Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance for “All My Life.” According to his social media, he released his ninth studio album on October 18.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Rod Nickel)