{"id":545609,"date":"2026-07-12T08:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/545609\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T08:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:10:24","slug":"50-cent-defends-tour-team-member-sentenced-to-18-years-in-uk-drug-trafficking-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/545609\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Cent Defends Tour Team Member Sentenced to 18 Years in UK Drug Trafficking Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

50 Cent<\/a> is speaking out after a member of his touring operation was handed a nearly two-decade prison sentence as part of a sweeping UK drug trafficking case.<\/p>\n

The rapper posted a video reel to his Instagram account on Saturday, addressing the sentencing of Abdirahiim Hassan, 37, who served as the food and beverage operations manager for the Legacy Tour. <\/p>\n

“I’m sick right now,” 50 Cent wrote as the video\u2019s caption. “This guy is not a drug dealer; all the traveling he was doing was the tour…”<\/p>\n

The rapper also clarified that his post had nothing to do with promoting Fightland, his UK-set Starz crime drama set to premiere July 31.<\/p>\n

Hassan, of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, was found guilty in March of conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine and possession of criminal property. On July 10, Derby Crown Court sentenced him to 18-and-a-half years in prison.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors described Hassan as playing a leading role in organizing wholesale drug supply to one of two criminal groups involved in the scheme. Detectives described him as acting as “a money-launderer” within the network, according to BBC News<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Between 2022 and 2025, he allegedly deposited \u00a3150,000 in cash into his own bank account, and officers searching his home found \u00a322,500 in heat-sealed bags. He was arrested while making what investigators said was a fourth train journey to Derby to reportedly collect substantial amounts of cash.<\/p>\n

His defense team submitted photos and videos showing him on private jets and at US tour dates, presenting what the court described as a “jet-setting, entourage-type lifestyle, working for an A-list musician.” Hassan, who also went by the alias Samir, took the stand and gave evidence that the court called a display of “staggering arrogance and comfortable dishonesty.” Judge Jonathan Straw KC told him his claimed reason for traveling to Derby was “all a lie” and characterized him as a “Machiavellian character, cunning, scheming and unscrupulous.”<\/p>\n

50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson)<\/a> had written two letters to the court on Hassan’s behalf. The first was a bail application in which he offered to personally pay \u00a350,000 and asked that Hassan be allowed to work a “critical operational role” in the European leg of the Legacy Tour in July 2025. That request was denied. A second letter was submitted as mitigation at sentencing.<\/p>\n

“I write as someone who has relied on him directly in my own business and who knows his character through years of firsthand experience,” 50 wrote. “I am aware of the matter that brings Mr Hassan before the court, and I do not write to minimize its seriousness.”<\/p>\n

He also wrote that Hassan’s “experience, reliability, and understanding of the work make him someone I would welcome back without hesitation” and pledged that employment would be available upon his release.<\/p>\n

Detectives and the court both made clear there is no suggestion 50 Cent had any knowledge of Hassan’s criminal activities. <\/p>\n

Operation Daybreak, run by East Midlands police, targeted a cocaine trafficking network that operated from January 2022 through March 2025, importing cocaine from South America and distributing it across Derbyshire through two organized groups based in Derby. In all, 10 men were sentenced to a combined total of more than 127 years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"50 Cent is speaking out after a member of his touring operation was handed a nearly two-decade prison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-545609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}