T.I. Granted $3 Million Bond, According To Report
Rapper T.I. will be released on $3 million bond — $1 million secured by his Atlanta-area house and the rest in cash — but he must remain under house arrest until his trial on gun charges, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. T.I. (real name: Clifford Harris Jr.) is charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
T.I.’s attorneys brought to the bond hearing two cashier’s checks totaling $2 million provided by the rapper and Atlantic Records, according to the Journal-Constitution.
Baverman put the singer under house arrest at a home in Georgia’s Henry County (further details were not available at press time). T.I. must also submit to monitoring, 24 hours a day, by a private monitoring service at his own expense. The only times T.I. will be allowed to leave the home will be for medical appointments and court appearances; he’s also been forbidden from owning firearms and is not allowed to have contact with any witnesses or informants in his case, according to The Associated Press. He is also not allowed to have any safes in his house or car, according to the Journal-Constitution.
Noting that T.I has a team of powerful lawyers, Baverman said, “You shouldn’t do anything that will undermine their ability to represent you.”
At press time, T.I. had not yet been released from jail, but he is expected to be freed before the end of the day, as soon as he posts bond — which, his lawyers assured, would not be a problem. One of the rapper’s attorneys, Ed Garland, argued to Baverman that, based on the amount of money his client will have to put up, there was no reason why T.I. shouldn’t be released immediately.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Alley countered that the facts of the case suggest the rapper should be kept in custody, pending trial; however, he said that if the judge ordered him released on bond, the government wouldn’t oppose it.
On Friday morning, according to AP, federal agents and representatives from the monitoring service searched the home where T.I. will be staying for the foreseeable future, making sure it was free of contraband. They secured it and no one has been allowed inside since.
Prosecutors allege that T.I., 27, asked his bodyguard to buy three machine guns and two silencers on his behalf, an act that is illegal because, as a convicted felon, T.I. is not allowed to possess or purchase firearms. His bodyguard, whose name has not been released, was arrested on October 10 after he attempted to make the purchases without legally registering the sale, using money that, according to an affidavit, was taken out of one of the rapper’s bank accounts on his orders.
At a hearing last week, it was revealed that T.I. had up to a half-pound of marijuana in his vehicle at the time of his arrest, in addition to three handguns. If convicted, T.I. will almost certainly face prison time, which could run up to 10 years, as well as a $250,000 fine for each charge.
The rapper, who has a number of film and musical projects on hold pending the outcome of his trial, has received words of support from many members of the hip-hop community.
