Damon Dash Bootlegging Charges Dismissed
Dame Dash can breathe a little easier as his “bootlegging” charges have been put to rest.
A Manhattan judge agreed to settle the restraining order that was placed on 172 Duane Street, the building that housed his DD172 studio/building, after claims that the property’s owners and Damon Dash were selling and distributing alcohol without a license.
According to The Village Voice, Judge Cynthia S. Kern signed a stipulation settling the matter as long as 172 Duane Street Realty abides by the liquor laws in the future and agrees to provide security guards when holding events, agrees to warrantless inspections by police, and abide by their certificate of occupancy.
As previously reported, the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder and his associates are catching heat for running an unlicensed club called DD172in New York City, and have been served with of six counts of storing and selling alcohol without a license.
Dash reportedly moved out of the space in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood in June, but were first hit for violating the liquor code this past May and in November 2010.
Dash’s lawyer Joshua Seidman told The Village Voice that the city had never served his client any papers and that “selling liquor was never a part of the business model of that location.” (Two police documents from April and May obtained by the Voice list Dash by name on reports of an illegal bottle club/alcohol warehousing.) Seidman added that “the company hasn’t operated out of that premises since the beginning of summer.”
A source close to the proceedings told the Voice that if Dash had still been the tenant at the time the city served the papers, there would have been more of a chance of his having to pay fines. As it stands now, no one has to pay anyone anything.
