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Fake Ginuwine Might Face Real Time
01/03/2002 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Kastle
(1/3/02, 4 p.m. ET) -- Minnesota resident Ronrico Madison was indicted on Wednesday (January 2) in New York City on federal charges of mail and wire fraud for impersonating R&B star Ginuwine and DeVante Swing of the R&B quartet Jodeci.
Madison pretended to be R&B star Ginuwine from April 2000 until December 2001. The impostor booked performances with promoters and agents, and fooled several victims into sending him money and paying his personal bills. Madison even received a $25,000 advance from a promoter for a show in Ohio. In addition, Madison secured photos and phone numbers from aspiring models on the pretense that he was searching for new models to feature in his new video.
Madison, 23, was arrested on December 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is currently being held without bail pending his transport from Minnesota to New York by federal marshals. If convicted of the wire and mail fraud charges, Madison could face up to five years in prison and a substantial fine. The fine would be the greater of $250,000 or the gross gain or loss resulting from the crime on each of the two counts. Assistant United States attorneys Jonathan S. Kolodner and Alexander H. Southwell have been assigned the case.
The real Ginuwine released his third album, The Life, in April 2001. The set is currently Number 130 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and has sold 1.2 million copies to date.
-- Yves Erwin Salomon, New York
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