Former rapper Ca$h Out (real name John-Michael Hakim Gibson) was sentenced to life in prison plus 70 years on Monday, July 21, after a Fulton County jury convicted him on several charges connected to a sex trafficking ring that prosecutors say operated across the Atlanta area. But what came as a surprise for much of the world wasn’t the severity of the sentence; it was Ca$h Out’s final words to the courtroom.
“I would like to first off thank you for letting us publicly crucify him,” he added to the judge as he was escorted away. “The time up on this trial, I felt victim to that myself, and I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that, and I wanted to understand how these jurors are forced into that tough situation of having to sit there and judge someone’s life,” he continued, adding, “I felt like they made the wrong judgment.”
The former chart-topper, who had a hit in 2012 with “Cashin’ Out,” was convicted of two counts of sex trafficking, as well as rape, pimping, and aggravated sodomy. He was acquitted on one charge of trafficking but eventually had charges of sexual servitude and aggravated assault dropped. The judge made him eligible for parole since the 70-year sentence will run concurrently with his life term. He won’t be serving after life, but it’s also clear he won’t be walking free again.
And still, throughout, Cash Out fronted the court in his thanks to them. A hyperreal gesture given what was spoken mere moments ago.
In sentencing, family members of the victims provided wrenching, emotional statements. One woman says she doesn’t feel “normal anywhere” after her experience, while others have described feeling “unlovable,” or “disgusting.” Some recounted decades of struggling with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The parents of one of the victims told the court that Ca$h Out used his celebrity status to manipulate and abuse.
What prosecutors detailed was not just an ugly chapter; it was an organized criminal enterprise. Ca$h Out, they said, ran an organized sex trafficking operation that used women for profit over several years. He was accused under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, known as RICO, which is more often used to impugn mob bosses or cartel leaders.
The number of witnesses in the case exceeded 50. Some of those who testified to their experiences said they had been raped, or denied food unless they performed sex acts. Some claimed Ca$h Out or his mother, Linda Smith, known in the industry as “Mama Ca$h Out,” had paid for their work.
Smith was convicted on one count of trafficking and sentenced to 30 years. Two of Ca$h Out’s co-defendants were also convicted and given lengthy prison sentences of their own. One co-defendant, Tyrone Taylor, was convicted on all but one charge in the indictment and received the same punishment as Ca$h Out: life plus 70 years. In a case that stripped away the gilded veneer of a criminal venture stoked by celebrity, the sentencing sounded one last discordant note.
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