Rapper’s Mail Theft Check Fraud Empire Ends With A Prison Sentence

Drying dollars hanging on a clothesline. Money laundering concept.

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Shamarri Tache Brooks who, as a rapper performs, or now that he is going back to prison I should say performed, primarily in Atlanta under the name Juney Knotzz was recently sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors described Brooks as a multi-convicted felon with past convictions including drug trafficking, weapon possession, obstruction of law enforcement and battery on his record.

Beyond his rapping skills, Brooks apparently was also a bit of an entrepreneurial criminal. The starting point for his crimes was the stealing of checks from the mail. As I wrote most recently in my June 17^th Forbes column, the theft of checks from mailboxes is a huge problem.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) reported that in the six months after FINCEN issued an alert on mail theft related check fraud, banks reported more than $688 million in check fraud related to checks stolen through the mail.

But where others saw a major problem, Brooks saw an opportunity. According to prosecutors from January 2022 until November 2025, Brooks stole checks from the mail and then altered the checks by “washing the check” with chemical solvents to remove the names of the legitimate payees and changing the names of the payees to the names of people with existing bank accounts who he recruited through social media. Brooks would then deposit the checks at various ATMs in the Atlanta area into the accounts of his recruits. Videos of Brooks depositing the checks often showed him wearing a balaclava-style mask with a logo stating, “No Free Sauce.” During his crime spree, Brooks and his associates stole and deposited checks totaling $6,574,288.

However, Brooks, ever the enterprising businessman, not only stole and deposited checks, but he also sold tutorials on how to commit various forms of financial fraud including the stolen check scheme of which he now stands convicted. He titled his collection of tutorials on financial crimes the “Sauce Book.”

But Brooks’ related activities didn’t stop with marketing tutorials to other would-be criminals, he also sold balaclava-style masks with bank logos like the mask he wore while depositing stolen checks as well as other clothing with the logo “No Free Sauce” or “NFS” through his limited liability company Brooks Merchandise.

According to FBI Special Agent Marlo Graham, “The defendant built a criminal enterprise around stealing checks, exploiting bank accounts, and teaching others how to commit fraud. His actions put millions of dollars at risk and victimized individuals and financial institutions across our community.”

Ultimately, however, neither Brooks’s crimes nor his related business activities ended up being very profitable for him. During the investigation, law enforcement recovered many of the checks and according to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, “Thankfully, Brooks’s ineptitude matched his boldness — his efforts to negotiate the checks failed, sparing his victims from any known loss.” Along with the checks recovered before being deposited, banks may also have reversed credits or rejected checks upon discovering the crime. Hertzberg went on to say, “Although Brooks sought to teach his followers how to commit fraud, the real lesson here is that crime does not pay. We will catch you, and you will go to prison –even if your scheme is unsuccessful.”

However, while Brooks’s efforts at mail fraud check theft was more a comedy of errors, the theft of checks from mailboxes is a major problem