Platinum-selling R&B artist Akon, whose recording career centers around the purported four-and-a-half years he spent imprisoned, has recently been exposed as a fake.

Though the singer has frequently bragged about having been the "ringleader of a notorious car theft operation," for which he served three years in a Georgia prison, his criminal record proves otherwise. In fact, the greatest sentence the fraudulent singer ever received was three months probation.

According to his fables, in jail the diminutive star "fought almost every day for two years," allegedly becoming a feared combatant among the inmates because "I knew where to hit you to knock you out, so I didn't fear you."



When not applying his ninja skills in altercations, Akon wrote songs including "Locked Up," which was so beloved by his fellow inmates and corrections officers that it became "like an anthem in there." Upon his release, "Locked Up" became a hit and the R&B phenom went on to release his debut album, 'Trouble,' and sophomore effort, 'Konvicted.'

Then in June of 2007, at a show in Fishkill N.Y., Akon was YouTubed tossing a 15-year-old boy over his head into the crowd for throwing a pretzel at him, and charged with endangering the welfare of a child. He was released immediately because a background check turned up no prior criminal history. A deeper check by the FBI turned up several arrests in New Jersey and Georgia, and a brief stint in a prison in Georgia. The child endangerment charges were later dropped.

Of course, Akon's account differs. According to a Rolling Stone interview in November of 2006, Akon's arrest occurred while "driving a BMW 325, on my way to the chop shop." He continued to elaborate that his BMW was "the the slowest car in the whole fleet...I'd been in high-speed pursuits before and always got away, but this time I didn't because the car was too slow. I didn't even want that car, it was a favor to someone else. And I wound up getting locked up for three years."

Retired FBI agent Peter McFarlane, who consulted on the auto theft case, called Akon's allegations of notoriety "bull----." He added, "This guy is so phony ... I don't think he had any role besides [wanting] to drive a high-dollar vehicle. And I say this because we didn't link him to any other cars."

Although his ruse was clearly in danger of being exposed, in a February 2008 episode of VH1's "Rags to Riches," Akon continued to stick to his routine, stating that he "used to literally snatch cars from people. And they would be traumatized for months."

His obsession with prison and his faux criminal past is almost as disturbing as his onstage antics over the past year. Though most Akon fans will be too excited over potential new usages of "yeah" and "who-ooh" to care, Akon, that's not gangsta.