Court Orders Freddie Gibbs Extradited To Austria On Rape Charge

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 23, 2016 6:44PM

Facebook / Freddie Gibbs

A French court on Thursday ordered Gary, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs extradited to Austria, where he is accused of rape, according to ATF.

Gibbs was arrested on June 2 as a suspect in the 2015 case. He posted $56,000 bail on June 16, ahead of today's extradition ruling. Michael Malka, Gibbs' attorney, said he “has no intention of escaping justice, whether French or Austrian,” according to Pitchfork, and that Gibbs prefers to turn himself in, rather than make himself subject to any “harsh transfer procedure.”

Another Gibbs lawyer, Scott E. Leemon, reiterated his client's denial of the charges and desire to cooperate in a statement sent to Chicagoist by the hip-hop artist's publicist:

"The order was not surprising and it doesn't change the fact that these are false allegations. We are still hoping that once the Public Prosecutor in Austria interviews Freddie she will decide not to go forward. If she does decide to go forward, Freddie will fight the charges with everything he's got."

At the time of Gibbs' arrest, Malka questioned the extended period time between the incident and the arrest. "It makes you wonder why it took almost a year for Austrian officials to bring these charges. Freddie will be fighting the extradition request as these are nothing more than trumped up charges."

After he parted with major label Interscope, Gibbs emerged as a critical favorite with a pair of acclaimed mixtapes in 2009, The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs and Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik. He announced last month a planned follow-up to his celebrated 2014 collaboration with Madlib, Piñata, called Bandana.