Conman jailed for near $3m bogus concert scheme

The leader of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme in the US involving bogus music concerts has been jailed for almost five years.

Terronce Morris, 42, was sentenced to 57 months in a federal prison after admitting conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft charges.

Morris and co-defendant Blake Kelly, 37, initially conned a promoter “who specialised in producing music festivals in large venues” out of $1.35 million between December 2019 and March 2020, under the pretence of financing a non-existent music festival in San Antonio, Texas, which they claimed would be headlined by Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Billie Eilish.

The Miami Herald reports that Morris posed as a Texas music producer, while Kelly, who worked in the music business in Los Angeles, claimed to be “intimate friends” with Bieber and could secure the Canadian “to headline and perform at a live musical concert series in 2020”.

The duo, who admitted the offences earlier this year, were charged in Miami because much of the communication happened while the victim was visiting South Florida.

According to the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, Morris and Kelly – who was sentenced to 13 months in prison on 13 March for his part in the scam – forged the artists’ signatures to create “several false and fraudulent” performance contracts.

Prosecutors say the total fraud loss from the scheme was close to $3 million

Additionally, they had an accomplice pose as Bieber during a video call to trick the victim into believing the singer had agreed to perform.

Court documents say that Morris continued his scheme despite receiving several cease and desist letters from lawyers for the music artists, using bogus contracts to swindle another victim out of $500,000 in October 2020 and a further $250,000 the following month.

Post his arrest, Morris stole an additional $850,000 from two more victims. In November 2021, he received a $350,000 cheque in Bieber’s name, claiming he represented the singer and the sum was to procure his performance on a livestreaming event during the pandemic. In December of that year, he opened a bank account in Texas, using the personal identifying information of a victim who shares the same name as Bieber.

As recently as December 2023, Morris met one of his victims while free on bond and promised him the Bieber concert would proceed “someday in the near future”.

Prosecutors say the total fraud loss from the scheme was close to $3m, with Morris and Kelly using the money to “enrich themselves and finance a lavish lifestyle for themselves and their accomplices”, spending it on travelling, luxury goods and services, and dining at high-priced restaurants.

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