Jacob the Jeweler’ pleads to lesser charges in Detroit case
Thursday, November 1st, 2007The New York businessman known in the hip-hop world as “Jacob the Jeweler” pleaded guilty Wednesday to falsifying records and giving false statements to investigators looking into a multistate drug ring.Prosecutors agreed to drop money laundering charges against Jacob Arabov, defense attorney Benjamin Brafman said.
No sentencing date was immediately set by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn. Terms of the plea agreement call for Arabov to serve up to 46 months in prison and pay a $2 million penalty, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a statement.
“I realize I have made a terrible mistake and I accept the consequences of my actions,” Arabov said in a statement released by Brafman, of New York.
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.
“Mr. Arabov made a huge mistake when he chose to help members of the Black Mafia Family,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Robert Corso said. “Today he faces the consequences of that decision.”
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. Notorious B.I.G., Madonna, Kanye West and Elton John have all worn his baubles.
Arabov launched a line of religious-themed jewelry with West, who later named him in songs including “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” in which he asked, “These ain’t conflict diamonds, is they Jacob? Don’t lie to me man.”
He also manufactured Lil’ Kim’s line of Royalty watches.