Lil Wayne Hit With Federal Gun-Possession Charge

Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Neiman Marcus

Lil Wayne was charged with weapons possession in South Florida federal court, documents filed Tuesday reveal. The rapper turned Trump supporter, real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.

Carter is not in custody nor was he arrested. The document filed is a criminal summons that requires he appear in court on December 11.

There aren’t a lot of details in the court document, but the exact charge Carter faces — “possession of firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon” — relates to his criminal history. Carter was convicted in a weapons case in New York more than ten years ago, according to the Miami Herald. 

Carter’s lawyer, Howard Srebnick, confirmed that this charge was related to a December 2019 search of his private jet in Miami.  “Carter is charged with possessing a gold-plated handgun in his luggage on a private plane. There is no allegation that he ever fired it, brandished it, used it or threatened to use it,” Srebnick said in an e-mail statement to Vulture.

“There is no allegation that he is a dangerous person. The charge is that because he was convicted of a felony in the past, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm,” Srebnick said.

The Herald was first to report on Carter’s jet being searched. According to the newspaper, Miami-Dade police and FBI agents entered the airplane on December 23 at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport, shortly after it landed from California. The pilot let them search the plane.

These cops said that “it was readily apparent” that Carter “was under the influence of illicit narcotics based on his delayed speech and partially closed eyes,” the newspaper said, citing a search warrant. Two police dogs sniffed the plane. An FBI agent asked Carter if he had any weapons on the plane, to which he allegedly responded, “There is a gold-plated Glock firearm inside his book bag … which was given to him as a Father’s Day gift.”