11/01/2007

Jacob The Jeweler Pleads Guilty- Faces Jail Time


Looks like somebody is is getting set to "Bling Bling" in Sing Sing...

From the Associated Press:

By COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 31, 8:19 PM ET

DETROIT - A celebrity jeweler who put diamonds on celebrities from Sir Elton John to Kanye West pleaded guilty Wednesday to falsifying records and giving false statements to investigators looking into a multistate drug ring.

Terms of the plea deal call for Jacob Arabov of New York to serve up to 46 months in prison and pay a $2 million penalty, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a news release. No sentencing date was immediately set by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn.

In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop money laundering charges against the man known in the hip-hop world as "Jacob the Jeweler," said Arabov's attorney, Benjamin Brafman.

"I realize I have made a terrible mistake and I accept the consequences of my actions," Arabov said in a news release issued through Brafman.

Arabov, 42, was arrested in June 2006 at his Manhattan jewelry shop. Authorities accused him and others of conspiring to launder about $270 million in drug profits for the "Black Mafia Family," a ring that operated out of the Detroit area beginning in the early 1990s.

The 7-year investigation resulted in the indictments of Arabov and 41 other people, Murphy's office said. Twenty-eight have pleaded guilty, eight are scheduled for trial Nov. 19 and the whereabouts of six others are unknown.

Federal authorities have said about 1,100 pounds of cocaine and $19 million in cash and other assets were seized beginning in 2000.

Arabov, a Russian immigrant also known as the "King of Bling," became popular among hip-hop and R&B artists in the mid-1990s.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Irwin contributed to this report.

10/31/2007

BRAND NUBIAN at NYC's Knitting Factory


Here is a heads up- Brand Nubian performs at the Knitting Factory in NYC on November 10th with Kurious, Dante Ross and The Metermaids opening. It will be great seeing the one and only Grand Puba, Lord Jamar and Sadat X performing together again. Below is the list of upcoming Hip Hop performances throughout the end of the year-JOELL ORTIZ 3 days before Christmas?? Insane!


Related Posts with Thumbnails