Imposters posing as Wu-Tang Clan ‘scam hotels and recording studios’

Men also pretended to represent Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label to book rooms and recording studios with stolen and fake credit cards

Fraudsters posed as the Wu-Tang Clan, pictured at Sundance Film festival in January 2019, to stay in luxury hotels (Getty Images for Stella Artois)

Imposters posed as the rap group Wu-Tang Clan and representatives of Jay-Z’s record label to defraud a string of luxury hotels, US prosecutors have said.

Walker Washington and Aaron Barnes-Burpo booked rooms and racked up bills at hotels in Georgia before leaving without paying, according to a criminal complaint filed at the US District Court in Atlanta this week.

They allegedly told staff they worked for Jay-Z’s entertainment firm Roc Nation, and in one case said the booking was for the Wu-Tang Clan.

The pair are also accused of scamming two Atlanta recording studios, which lost a total of more than $17,000 (£13,000), according to the complaint.

The city’s Georgian Terrace Hotel, where where cast members from Gone With The Wind stayed during the film's premiere, was left with a $45,000 (£35,000) unpaid bill, while the Hyatt Regency Atlanta told the FBI the imposters walked away without paying a $39,000 (£30,000) tab.

They had been driving a Roll Royce Phantom – worth nearly £365,000 – fraudulently rented from A-National Limousine, which reported a loss of nearly $60,000 (£46,000).

Credit cards used in the pair’s scams included one that was stolen and another that was likely fake, prosecutors said.

Mr Washington and Mr Barnes-Burpo have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Their alleged scam unravelled at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Augusta, Georgia, where they booked 10 rooms supposedly for an artist and his entourage. The reservation listed Roc Nation and the Wu-Tang Clan, prosecutors said.

Staff suspected a scam and the hotel’s sales director called Roc Nation, who said it had no connection to the men booking the rooms.

Mr Barnes-Burpo and others with him were arrested by Richmond County sheriff's officers when they tried to check in under the reservation.

Two of the group told officers they were homeless men from Atlanta who had been recruited by the defendants to be bodyguards. They and others with them were not charged.