LOS ANGELES — Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk must remain behind bars in downtown Los Angeles while awaiting trial on federal criminal charges stemming from an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy near the Beverly Center two years ago, a judge ruled Thursday.

What You Need To Know

  • The 32-year-old Chicago rapper, whose real name is Durk Banks, pleaded not guilty last month to charges of conspiracy, use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and using, carrying, and discharging firearms and a machine gun and more

  • At the conclusion of a detention hearing Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue ruled that Banks should remain jailed based on what prosecutors argued was significant risk of flight, ongoing danger to the community and witnesses, and risk that he could obstruct of justice
  • Banks is being held at the federal lockup downtown with a tentative trial date of Jan. 7, if convicted of all counts, he faces the possibility of a mandatory life term in federal prison, according to court papers

  • Banks was arrested on Oct. 17 near Miami International Airport after law enforcement learned that he had been booked on multiple international flights

The 32-year-old Chicago rapper, whose real name is Durk Banks, pleaded not guilty last month to charges of conspiracy, use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and using, carrying, and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

At the conclusion of a detention hearing Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue ruled that Banks should remain jailed based on what prosecutors argued was significant risk of flight, ongoing danger to the community and witnesses, and risk that he could obstruct of justice.

Banks is being held at the federal lockup downtown with a tentative trial date of Jan. 7. If convicted of all counts, he faces the possibility of a mandatory life term in federal prison, according to court papers.

The rapper was arrested Oct. 17 near Miami International Airport after law enforcement learned that he had been booked on multiple international flights, including at least one destined to a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the United States, court papers show.

An updated indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court names Banks as the lead defendant in a case that also charges five alleged members and associates of his rap collective — known as Only the Family, or OTF.

Banks is accused of putting a bounty on the life of Tyquian Bowman, a Georgia rapper known as Quando Rondo. The alleged hit team of OTF members traveled from Chicago to kill Bowman, but a botched ambush near the Beverly Center shopping mall resulted in the death of one of Bowman’s relatives who was traveling with him, according to the DOJ.

The remaining five defendants pleaded not guilty and are tentatively scheduled for trial in January.

Prosecutors contend that Banks put the bounty on Bowman after an associate of Bowman killed a close friend of Banks’ two years earlier at a nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia.

Around Aug. 18, 2022, the alleged conspirators learned that Bowman was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, Banks’ five friends traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles “for the purpose of murdering” Bowman, federal prosecutors allege.

Members and associates of OTF allegedly used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, stalk and attempt to murder Bowman at the gas station, according to court papers.

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The co-conspirators fired at least 18 rounds at Bowman’s vehicle, striking and killing one of Bowman’s family members who was traveling with the intended target, the DOJ alleges.

The 19-page superseding indictment charges Banks and five others — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston — with crimes arising from the murder, including murder-for- hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death.

Federal prosecutors contend that Banks ordered Bowman’s murder and ultimately paid for the alleged co-conspirators to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles on the day before the killing. Around the time that the flights were purchased, records show that a phone number associated with Banks texted a co- conspirator: “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit (sic) me,” according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.

The affidavit says Banks flew on a private jet from Miami to Los Angeles with Grant. Grant used Banks’ credit card to book a room at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, where the five-man alleged hit team stayed the night before they tracked down Bowman, according to the affidavit, which contends Grant purchased ski masks for the shooters to use to commit the murder.

Banks, meanwhile, stayed at a rented home in Encino, the document says.

In court papers unsealed Wednesday in Chicago, federal prosecutors allege that Banks was behind the January 2022 killing of a 24-year-old rival in the city’s Roseland neighborhood as revenge for the slaying of Dontay Banks, Banks’ brother, who was fatally shot outside a nightclub in 2021.

The rapper won a Grammy earlier this year for best melodic rap performance. His albums “The Voice” and “7220” both sold more than 1 million copies each. A new Lil Durk album, his ninth studio album, is scheduled to be released in January.