A lawyer for Jay-Z says Securities and Exchange Commission demands for unlimited testimony from the rapper raises concern that an investigation of a company in his…
A lawyer for Jay-Z says Securities and Exchange Commission demands for unlimited testimony from the rapper raises concern that an investigation of a company in his client’s business orbit may be a “celebrity hunt.”
By requiring unlimited questioning, the SEC is placing unreasonable and burdensome demands on Jay-Z as he prepares for a 45-date global concert tour of his 4:44 album, attorney Alex Spiro argued in a Monday court filing.
Arguing that the Jay-Z, whose birth name is Shawn Carter, has already agreed to one day of questioning, and has little information about the investigation’s focus, Spiro asked a judge to deny the SEC’s legal demand for more.
“The SEC continues to insist on meeting Mr. Carter in person for an unlimited period of time,” Spiro wrote in a 15-page legal memorandum. “The upshot imposes unreasonable burdens on Mr. Carter and raises serious questions about whether this exercise has transcended any investigative purpose and crossed over into a celebrity hunt.”
In a declaration filed with the legal memo, Jay-Z stated that providing the demanded testimony at the SEC’s Washington, D. C. headquarters on May 11 would “impair the work of many individuals and entities who are preparing for the tour and will hinder my own work in preparation for the tour.”
SEC attorneys are scheduled to file a response on Tuesday, hours before a scheduled hearing on the matter in Manhattan federal court.
The investigation centers on potential securities law violations by Iconix Brand Group, a publicly-traded company that paid Jay-Z more than $200 million to acquire intangible assets associated with his Rocawear apparel brand, the SEC disclosed last week .
After the 2007 acquisition, Iconix and Jay-Z maintained publicly-disclosed partnerships related to Rocawear, the SEC said.
In March 2016, Iconix publicly announced a $169 million write-down of Rocawear’s value, and then disclosed an additional $34 million write-down of the brand in March, the SEC said.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Kevin McCoy on Twitter: @kmccoynyc
