R&B musician Chad Focus is currently in hot water, facing jail time after allegedly using the company card from his day job to fund his musical career.
Look, there’s a good chance that at some point in your life you’ve been tasked with the company card from your job. Maybe your boss recruited you to buy a few pizzas for the folks in the office, or maybe you bought a birthday cake for one of the employees.
Usually though, these purchases max out at maybe $50 tops, and rarely – if ever – are these purchases made solely for your own benefit. Well, it seems that the employer of Chad Focus never quite gave him that memo.
To most people, the name Chad Focus won’t mean anything, but the Baltimore-based musician made waves in the music industry last year after he landed on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, and even scored a T-Pain remix for his song ‘Dance With Me’.
In fact, Chad Focus’ career seemed on the up-and-up, with the musician’s name and face even appearing on a massive billboard in New York City’s Times Square.
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However as Pitchfork notes, Chad Arrington (the real name of Chad Focus), has been arrested and indicted on fraud charges which could carry up to 20 years in prison.
Indicted by a federal grand jury last week, Arrington has been accused of using a company credit to make over $4.1 million in unauthorised purchases in order to help further his career.
Facing up to 20 years in prison, these federal charges include conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, Arrington worked as an SEO specialist between 2015 and 2018, during which time he and four co-conspirators allegedly used a company credit card in order to charge his employer for audio equipment, concert tickets, travel, and even the aforementioned billboards.
Add in allegations of purchasing artificially-increased plays on streaming services, and followers for his social media accounts, and it certainly looks like these were purchases made to help a musician’s burgeoning career.
Additionally, Arrington has also been accused of spending $250,000 on purchases related to a bike-sharing business. We’re not sure what that entails exactly, but it seems that Chad Focus will be making more appearances in court than on the live stage in the coming months.
Check out ‘Dance With Me’ by Chad Focus:
