Jay-Z and rapper Meek Mill helped raise more than $20 million this weekend for criminal justice reform at their nonprofit REFORM Alliance gala in Atlantic City.

Beyonce and Jay-Z arrive on the red carpet at the Costume Institute Benefit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 4, 2015. On Saturday, the couple helped raise $20 million, along with rapper Meek Mill, to help fund criminal reform at their REFORM Alliance gala. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI UPI

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Jay-Z and rapper Meek Mill helped raise more than $20 million this weekend for criminal justice reform at their nonprofit REFORM Alliance gala in Atlantic City.

The second annual Casino Night and Gala at Ocean Casino Resort brought together industry leaders from sports, politics, business and music, including Beyonce, Travis Scott, Cameron Diaz, Odell Beckham Jr., and even Ivanka Trump, as Kevin Hart hosted the black-tie event with music performed by The Weeknd.

Mill, who went to prison for five months after violating his probation by popping a wheelie on a motorcycle, said the system is set up for people to fail.

"I never thought I would become like the face of reform," Mill, who co-founded REFORM, told NBC News. "I come from the other side of America. We always talk about it, but just climbing through poverty, climbing through being sent in and out of prison."

Mill helped form REFORM Alliance in 2019, along with Jay-Z and Fanatics chief executive officer Michael Rubin, to fund probation and parole initiatives. The organization has helped pass 22 bipartisan bills in 12 states to reduce technical violations and prevent unnecessary incarcerations.

REFORM is hoping to get bipartisan support from President Donald Trump to pass the Safer Supervision Act, which could affect 120,000 Americans under federal supervision.

"Last year, we introduced a bipartisan bill that would create a pathway to people earning their way off of supervision, and also get rid of some of these technicalities, the technical violations make it where probation officers could really focus their resources on the most serious cases," said REFORM Alliance CEO Jessica Jackson. "We're very excited. It's taken about four years of work on that bill."

Much of the $20 million raised Saturday to fund legislative advocacy and job fairs came from an auction that featured a George Condo painting, that went for $3.4 million. A golf outing with Tom Brady at Michael Jordan's Grove XXIII club raised $1.8 million.