'I just want my fair trial and to not be railroaded as they so eagerly want to do,' Czar Entertainment exec wrote in a statement.
By Gil Kaufman
Jimmy Henchman
Photo: Soul Brother/FilmMagic
Almost a week after news emerged that a federal arrest warrant had been issued for Czar Entertainment boss James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond in connection with his alleged involvement in a cocaine distribution ring, the music mogul responded on Monday (May 23) to the reports with a lengthy letter professing his innocence.
Lashing out at what he called the "slanderous media" coverage he's gotten about the case and apologizing to the artists and music executives he's worked with over the years, as well as his family, Rosemond said he was surprised by the news of the warrant, which was first reported in the tabloid New York Post.
"The events over the past week, to say the least, have caught me off guard. Although I have been aware of an investigation taking place over the last four years, I was never informed that an arrest warrant had been issued in my name. I first learned about that warrant through the media when the news was released last week," Rosemond wrote.
Last week Rosemond's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, confirmed to us that he was aware of the indictment and had defended his client against the charges it contained for several years but that he had not heard about the arrest warrant until it was reported in the Post.
"The purpose of this statement is not to assert some kind of grandiose conspiracy theory, but I will state some facts," Rosemond said in his statement, first issued to XXL magazine. "These prosecutors have already begun my trial through the media and I'm releasing this statement in order to set the record straight. I just want a fair trial. I came up from nothing and made some mistakes early in my life of which I have already served time. Since then, I have worked hard to establish my career in the music industry only to be targeted by these opportunistic prosecutors with a personal vendetta against me."
Though MTV News has not named them, Rosemond goes on to refer disparagingly to two New York prosecutors who he claims are "spearheading this slanderous and trumped up case against me," claiming that one of them is using the case to "propel himself to some high-end law firm or political office."
He also called out a former Los Angeles Times reporter and another New York tabloid for planting what he called "slanderous" stories about his alleged cooperation with authorities in other investigations. He took aim at the people he claimed were the prosecution's star witnesses, dismissing one as a "self-proclaimed gangbanger" and arguing that prosecutors have "no evidence that supports my involvement in any of this."
His statement also implies that his own team's investigations have allegedly uncovered proof that prosecutors have been overzealous in their investigations, may have acted in ways that were unconstitutional and allegedly dangled indictments in front of individuals who refused to cooperate with their investigation.
"Up to now I don't know what I may be charged with or what crime I've committed," Rosemond said, indicating that other informants have "motioned via hand signal" to him that they were forced to wear secret recording devices in order to implicate him on tape. "Where's the real proof that I have committed these crimes? I just want my fair trial and to not be railroaded as they so eagerly want to do."
A spokesperson for the U.S. States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York could not be reached for comment on Rosemond's allegations at press time.
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664432/jimmy-henchman-federal-drug-warrant.jhtml
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