50 Cent asked judge to bail dealer for European tour

Detectives in Derby said they were “shocked” after receiving a letter from US rapper 50 Cent requesting bail for a convicted cocaine trafficker so he could join the artist’s European tour. The letter, signed “My sanction is Curtis Jackson, known professionally arsenic 50 Cent.”, asked the court to vary bail conditions for Abdirahiim Hassan so he could play “a critical operational role” in the European limb of the rapper’s Legacy Tour past summer. It stated that Hassan was in charge of the tour’s food and beverage operations, including representing 50 Cent’s Sire Spirit brand in various countries, and described him as “an indispensable portion of my planetary team.” The correspondence added, “We volition beryllium flying backstage to each destinations”. Abdirahiim Hassan, 37, of Benworth Road in Hammersmith and Fulham, London, was sentenced to 18‑and‑a‑half years at Derby Crown Court on a Friday after being found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine and possession of proceeds in the form of cash in March 2026. He was one of ten men convicted as part of Operation Daybreak. Prosecutors told the court Hassan was “substantially progressive successful national-level cocaine trafficking”. Evidence showed he also used the alias Samir and displayed “staggering arrogance and comfy dishonesty” while describing a “jet‑setting, entourage‑type lifestyle, moving for an A‑list musician”. The court heard Hassan was arrested while making a fourth trip to Derby to collect “substantial amounts of cash” from Harminder Purewal. Purewal, 47, of Bridge Gate Lane, Derby, was sourcing large consignments of drugs for organised crime groups in Sinfin and Chaddesden, which supplied wholesale quantities of cocaine to dealers. He received a 20‑year prison term after being found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine. Investigators said Hassan had deposited £150,000 in cash into his personal bank account between 2022 and 2025, and a search of his residence uncovered £22,500 in heat‑sealed bags. Assistant Chief Constable Ian Green of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit described Hassan as acting “as a money‑launderer”. Green told the BBC detectives were initially doubtful that 50 Cent was supporting Hassan’s bail bid, which the judge rejected. He remarked, “When you get thing similar that travel in, it's rather a unsocial infinitesimal and I deliberation the squad were a small spot shocked,” and added, “You evidently deliberation it's fake to commencement with... it's evidently 1 of those things you'll ne'er hide arsenic portion of an investigation.” Nevertheless, Hassan’s defence team later submitted photographs and video showing him on private‑footage of him on backstage jets and at US tour dates. 50 Cent also supplied a separate letter for the sentencing hearing as part of Hassan’s mitigation. In it he said he had “known and worked intimately with him for galore years, some professionally and personally”. The mitigation letter contained the following passages: “I constitute arsenic idiosyncratic who has relied connected