When the government Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the height of the pandemic, it was to SBA-backed loan that helped businesses keep paying their workers during the historic slowdown. Some bad actors exploited this federally funded program and used it to pocket money.
The U.S. Department of Justice claimed the Pretty Ricky member attempted to scam the government out of $24 million in loans provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
He was only one of the big-name celebrities who went to jail for PPP fraud.
TMZ reports that he has been released on Tuesday, Feb. 7 from the Federal Correctional Institution Coleman Low in Florida, serving more than 20 months in prison after going into the facility in February 2022.
Twitter went crazy, asking why didn’t they scam the system like Blue.
“I should’ve did me a ppp loan scam 😂 he literally the only mf that went to jail for that s### baby blue mfs know you wasn’t making no 24 million”
I should've did me a ppp loan scam 😂 he literally the only mf that went to jail for that s### baby blue mfs know you wasn't making no 24 million https://t.co/OXBvD6Q01N
— 🅀🅄🄰🄻 ❤️ (@jaquaaal_) February 8, 2023
“Still can’t believe I was trying to be a good civilian and missed the PPP wave and no one went to jail except baby blue.”
Still can’t believe I was trying to be a good civilian and missed the PPP wave and no one went to jail except baby blue. 🥹
— Jumanah (@hanamuj) February 8, 2023
“And baby blue already out the feds for scamming 50 MIL in PPP funds. Smh.”
Blue is not totally free. He will now be transferred to the Miami Residential Reentry Management Office, an agency that helps inmates transition back to public life. He will remain in some sort of halfway house until Apr. 4 when he officially freed from under the thumb (not the eyes) of corrections. The singer still has three years of supervised release, and still has to pay $1,111,345.23 in restitution as part of his sentence.