Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, was arrested in October 2024 in South Florida. The Chicago native and five members of his crew, "Only The Family" (OTF), were federally charged with an alleged murder-for-hire plot aimed at rapper Quando Rondo in Los Angeles. Durk and the five men were charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, committing murder-for-hire resulting in death, as well as the use of carry and discharge firearms and a machine gun in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death. Durk pleaded not guilty and has been held without bond ever since.

Federal prosecutors added the pair of racketeering charges on June 3. They claim Lil Durk allegedly runs an enterprise that engages in racketeering through violence against rivals and drug trafficking. The feds named two incidents to back up their claims: a 2019 shooting in Atlanta and a 2022 murder in Chicago. In a motion filed two weeks ago, the rapper's attorneys argued that the two new charges should be dismissed entirely or tried separately. Today, Judge Fitzgerald agreed to exclude the charges from Durk's trial on August 20.

After the hearing, Durk's legal team, led by Drew Findling, addressed the press outside the courthouse in Chicago just before the judge issued his ruling. See what Findling had to say below.