Stars Who Got Locked Up In 2024

It's inevitable that a culture obsessed with celebrities will sometimes watch their stars misbehave. When a famous person does the wrong thing, they often struggle with the unwanted spectacle of a public arrest and incarceration. An infamous celebrity mugshot might make more headlines than whatever made its subject famous in the first place. 

There are upsides to being a celebrity when one gets in trouble with the law, most notably the ability to pay bail. Many famous folks spend an hour or less behind bars thanks to their considerable wealth, while a lot of other incarcerated people languish in jail. According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, over 60% of criminal defendants are detained before their trial. Pre-trial detention has several knock-on effects, including the outsized risk of losing a job, housing, or the eventual legal case. People with fame and money rarely have to deal with these issues. The overwhelming majority of headlines about celebrity arrests include the fact that the alleged subject quickly paid their way out of jail. Though a lot of them make it out quickly, there are still a few famous faces who got locked up in 2024.

Sean Combs is currently at the center of an avalanche of sexual assault and human trafficking allegations. Combs, who also operated under the stage names Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was one of the most impactful rappers, producers, and talent scouts of the 1990s and 2000s. He's responsible for launching and shaping the careers of legends like Biggie Smalls and Mary J. Blige. His career included several successful albums, years of respect in the industry, and multiple profitable business ventures, all of which made him one of the wealthiest rappers alive by 2022. Still, many stars hated him for years. In 2023, his career hit a hard snag when he settled a federal rape lawsuit from a former partner.

Combs was arrested in New York in September 2024. He was held on charges including sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy. The judge denied bail twice, keeping him behind bars. As his trial date is set for May 5, 2025, Combs will likely spend the next several months in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, and he could face a sentence of 15 years to life if he is found guilty. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Morgan Wallen is one of the biggest musicians in the world at the moment. Though the country genre is not the historical bastion of bestselling smash records, Wallen dominated the music industry in 2023. He put out the year's top song and album, earning millions of sales. That overwhelming success did not come without controversy. Wallen got into a bit of a scrape when TMZ obtained video footage of the singer using a racist slur in 2021, leading to a public apology and a commitment to seek sobriety. Years later, another alleged drunken incident placed Wallen in much hotter water. 

Wallen was arrested in April 2024 after he allegedly threw a chair off of fellow country music star Eric Church's six-story rooftop bar. The chair unfortunately landed a few feet from two cops. Wallen was booked into a Nashville jail, but he was quickly released on $15,000 bail. He faces one charge of disorderly conduct and three charges of reckless endangerment, with a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Life & Style spoke to sources familiar with the case who stated that Wallen's lawyers fear jail time. While the worst-case scenario doesn't seem particularly likely, Life & Style states that Wallen will likely face 30 to 60 days in prison. The source notes Wallen's celebrity status as a negative, suggesting that the judge might fear looking too lenient.

Over the last 11 years, Travis Scott has become one of the most notable talents in the world of hip-hop. Scott released his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit in 2018 and broke a historical record with three in 2020. His meteoric rise came with considerable controversy. Scott's biggest public disaster came in 2021, when a stampede at his Astroworld Festival concert event led to 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries. A Texas grand jury refused to indict Scott on the related charges. Though he hasn't been involved in anything as deadly in the following years, Scott still finds himself in hot water from time to time.

Scott briefly reported to jail twice in 2024. The first incident occurred in Florida, where Scott was booked into a Miami-Dade County jail on charges of disorderly intoxication and trespassing. He was allegedly drunkenly shouting at occupants of a marina. Police asked him to leave, and though he initially complied, he later returned to the location and had to be escorted away by the police. Scott later admitted to being drunk at the time and released a T-shirt with his mugshot from the incident. 

Three months later, Scott entered a Paris jail after an alleged altercation with his own bodyguard and the hotel security guard who tried to break up the fight. A source told People Magazine that the rapper was frustrated after days of being hounded by paparazzi and blamed his security team for failing to intervene.  

Peter Nygard isn't a household name, but he was a big deal in the Canadian fashion world. Only a decade ago, his company, Nygard International, was the largest producer of women's clothing in Canada, with countless products in stores such as Walmart and Dillard's. Nygard himself was a celebrated businessman with a degree from the University of North Dakota. His niche empire crumbled in 2020 when the FBI raided Nygard's New York City office as part of a sex trafficking investigation into the fashion mogul. 

Nygard's journey through the criminal justice system has been extensive and strange. He initially entered federal custody in Canada in 2020, after the FBI investigation led to multiple charges of sexual assault and human trafficking. The Winnipeg judge denied him bail twice. His trial concluded in 2023, resulting in an 11-year sentence for four sexual assaults. That sentence, handed down in September 2024, takes into account the years he's already spent behind bars, leaving him with the possibility of parole in 2026. Fortunately, Nygard is 83, and his legal troubles are not over. 

Nygard will face another set of sexual assault charges in Montreal in 2025. If he makes it through that, he's set to be extradited to the United States to face what could be a dozen more cases of similar crimes. Nygard will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Johnathan Porter, better known by the stage name Blueface, is a mildly successful rapper and boxer. His greatest accomplishment is almost unquestionably his 2018 track "Thotiana." The song was his first entry onto Billboard Magazine's Hot 100, but it gradually climbed the charts after several successful remixes by fellow artists YG and Cardi B. He followed that hit with his first studio album, "Find the Beat," which saw some chart success. Blueface also tried his hand at a boxing career, setting up two fights with prominent TikTok creators and winning both with considerable skill. Unfortunately, both careers abruptly stopped as his legal issues caught up with him. 

Blueface received a four-year prison sentence in August 2024 for violating his probation. The incident emerged as a result of a 2021 case that involved Blueface assaulting a security guard at a club in California. His manager, Wack 100, told TMZ that Blueface was caught with drug paraphernalia. His previous offenses spurred the judge to slap the rapper with the maximum sentence, but Wack remains confident that Blueface will leave prison in around 10 months.

This wasn't even his only outstanding sentence at the time. In 2022, Blueface was arrested in connection with a Las Vegas shooting but received only a three-year probation sentence from the judge. It remains unclear how that case could be affected by his new stint in prison.

Sam Bankman-Fried will hopefully be the last person to become famous for trading crypto. He was a media darling until his crimes came to light. In 2021, Bankman-Fried earned a spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, only to find himself among a list of their most dubious selections two years later. Public culture defined him as a brilliant financial prodigy. He became a billionaire through the apparent success of his crypto trading company, FTX. Everything started to fall apart when Bankman-Fried was arrested on several fraud charges in 2022, and it only became worse over the intervening years. 

Bankman-Fried received an eye-watering 25-year prison sentence in March 2024. He was convicted of charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. CNN spoke to former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner about Bankman-Fried's sentence. Epner suggested that Bankman-Fried could serve as little as half of his 25 years through the kindness of the First Step Act, potentially letting him out by 2036.

Bankman-Fried also owes over $11 billion for his crimes. Epner cites that massive financial penalty as a more permanent punishment for Bankman-Fried's crimes, likely forcing him to continue giving up his funds for the rest of his life.

Akili McDowell is a relatively obscure actor with a few notable roles. He made his feature debut when he was 13, appearing in Jackie Earle Haley's first and only project as director, 2015's "Criminal Activities." Three years later, he played a teen version of legendary inventor George Washington Carver in "Chase the Lion." McDowell's biggest moment was the title role in "David Makes Man," a gripping drama series with Oprah Winfrey and Michael B. Jordan attached as producers. It ran for two seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network. His most recent performance was in 2024, when he appeared in Coke Daniels' "The Waterboyz."

In August 2024, McDowell was arrested and detained on a murder charge in Texas. Harris County sheriff's deputies found the 20-year-old victim dead after a physical altercation and shooting in an apartment complex. The sheriff's office claimed witnesses saw a suspect fleeing the scene. McDowell was arrested more than a week later, after which he was held on a $400,000 bond. The Associated Press reached out to McDowell's manager, Jonell Whitt, who responded, "This is an unfortunate situation, and I am in prayer for Akili and those impacted by this tragedy." 

Celebrated rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again, often abbreviated as NBA YoungBoy, has a long history of legal troubles. Nevertheless, his career has been impressive between incarcerations. His 12th mixtape, "AI YoungBoy 2," debuted at the top spot on Billboard's 200 chart, went double platinum, and landed on the year's New York Times' Best Albums list. In 2020, the rapper became the second hip-hop artist to release three No. 1 albums in one year. He was YouTube's highest-ranked artist for every week of 2022's first quarter.

During his hottest moments, he was also dealing with a number of legal struggles that saw him in and out of jail. In April 2024, NBA YoungBoy was booked into a jail in Utah, where he quickly bonded out. He was swiftly booked into a second Utah facility without the option to pay another bond. The rapper faces over 60 felony counts related to the alleged operation of a prescription fraud ring to acquire drugs. In September, NBA YoungBoy pleaded guilty to unrelated gun possession charges. As part of his plea agreement, he'll serve up to 27 months behind bars and a five-year probation period immediately thereafter. The rapper spent most of 2024 behind bars and will likely continue to struggle with a host of legal battles. 

Steve Bannon is one of the most influential figures in American politics. Bannon's public profile is dominated by his short tenure with the Donald Trump administration, but the White House was far from his only place of influence. He operated Breitbart from 2012 to 2018, describing the outlet as "the platform for the alt-right" to Mother Jones in 2016. He told The New York Times that he intended to be "the infrastructure, globally, for the global populist movement." Bannon's ambitions and connections often placed him on the wrong side of the law.

Bannon surrendered to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, in July 2024. He settled in for a four-month sentence on two counts of contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena related to the January 6 Capitol riot and Trump's efforts to hide documents. Bannon appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, who rejected his request. His convictions came with a fine of $6,500.

Bannon's legal troubles won't be over once he's out of prison. In December 2024, he faces a fraud trial related to his work with the nonprofit We Build the Wall group, which allegedly conned donors. Trump pardoned Bannon of those offenses on his last day in office, but that only absolved his federal charges. Bannon could face far more jail time in 2025.

Ali Abulaban was a successful TikTok content creator with more than 900,000 followers. His Instagram, which survived under the handle JinnKid, preserves a fair amount of his uploads. His comedic material primarily focused on impressions of characters such as Tony Montana, Michael Corleone, and John Wick in various mundane and absurd situations. Some of his sketches include his wife, Ana Marie Abulaban. In 2021, the couple's relationship deteriorated to the point of estrangement, leading Abulaban to install an app with a listening device on his child's tablet to overhear his wife's activities. When he believed he overheard his partner with another man, Abulaban broke into her apartment and killed his ex and her alleged lover.

Abulaban was slapped with two murder charges and confessed at trial a few months later. Abulaban's defense attorney, Jodi Green, cited a number of potential mitigating factors, including a difficult childhood, mental health difficulties, and heavy use of cocaine. In September 2024, Abulaban received two consecutive life sentences. NBC San Diego quotes Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser summing up the case, stating, "He will die in prison; he will never be a free man. He will take his last breath there." Abulaban avoided a possible death sentence, but he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Sean Kingston exploded onto the music scene in 2007. His first single, "Beautiful Girls," was arguably his most impactful, giving him a Billboard No. 1 hit on his first shot at stardom. He parlayed that fame into four studio albums. Kingston has worked with many of the biggest names in music, including Justin Bieber, Wiz Khalifa, and Jason Derulo. His most recent track, "Louder," came out in September 2024. While his most popular songs have nine-digit stream counts, "Louder" brought in nearly 90,000 in a little over a month. 

Kingston was arrested in May on several fraud charges. He was swiftly extradited from California to Florida, where he was booked into a Broward County jail. He spent at least three days behind bars before bailing out. Kingston shares his considerable criminal charges with his mother, who allegedly joined him in a scheme to defraud several retailers and make off with more than $1 million in cars, jewelry, and other treasures. If convicted, Kingston could face 20 years in prison for each of the six counts. Kingston enters this difficult situation while on a two-year probation sentence for trafficking stolen property, while his mother has already served time for an earlier fraud conviction. 

Nancy Gonzalez is no household name, but her work is extremely famous. Gonzalez has been one of the most prominent handbag designers in the world of fashion since the 2000s. Her work sits in retail stores and museums. Women's Wear Daily collected several photos of celebrities carrying Gonzalez's bags on various red carpets, from Eva Longoria in 2007 to Lucy Hale in 2013. Her influence is inarguable, but some of her creations come with a dark history.

Gonzalez was arrested in 2022 in her native Colombia and extradited to California. She was charged with masterminding a complex conspiracy to illegally smuggle crocodile-skin handbags into the United States, evading the import authorizations that protect endangered species. Co-defendants alleged that Gonzalez personally arranged dozens of couriers on commercial flights. This scheme could have resulted in a 25-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine, but in April 2024, she received only 18 months, a sentence that factored in the 14 months she was incarcerated while awaiting extradition. Prosecutors alleged that Gonzalez could have earned more than $2 million through her illegal smuggling operation. 

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).