Federal prosecutors told a judge this week that Lil Durk hid an Apple Watch inside his body while in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles and used it to make hundreds of phone calls, a new allegation that landed in the middle of his fight for release on bond.
After hearing both sides, United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald took the request under submission and did not issue a ruling from the bench. A decision had been expected on November 5, and as of this morning no ruling has been announced.
The allegation came up on November 4 during a hearing on Durk's latest request for pretrial release. Prosecutors argued that the Chicago rapper remains a flight risk and a danger to the community, and they pointed to the Apple Watch claim as proof that he keeps breaking detention center rules even while locked up. The government also said Durk is under investigation for allegedly helping bring contraband into the facility.
According to reporters in the courtroom, prosecutors said Durk obtained the watch, concealed it in a body cavity and used it to communicate while incarcerated. They did not say exactly where on his body the watch was hidden, and no medical documentation has been made public to confirm how or where it was concealed. The exact location remains unverified, and the claim itself is an allegation, not a finding.
The hearing also covered the wider case against Durk. He has now been denied bond four times. His legal team offered a new bond package that would put up his mother's home as collateral, along with his royalties, publishing rights, name, image and likeness and touring revenue. Letters of support came from high profile figures including Jay-Z, J. Cole and Michael Rubin, though prosecutors pushed back on those letters in court.
After hearing both sides, United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald took the request under submission and did not issue a ruling from the bench. A decision had been expected on November 5, and as of this morning no ruling has been announced.Durk, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, was acquitted on September 11 of all charges in his first federal murder for hire trial. He still faces a second trial on a violent crimes in aid of racketeering charge and a firearms offense tied to Only The Family. That trial was pushed back from October 2026 to August 30, 2027.
In January, his attorneys revealed that he had spent 131 days in solitary confinement after an earlier allegation that he possessed an unauthorized Apple Watch. He was later released from solitary after five months there, according to reports from the time.
For now Durk remains in federal custody while he waits on the judge. The Apple Watch allegation is still under investigation, and
prosecutors have said new charges could follow. This story will be updated when the judge rules on bond.
