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The trial of Hip-Hop key player James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond began in Brooklyn federal this past Monday (May 14) with opening statements from New York prosecutors alleging that the former manager of Game, Akon and others ran a multi-state coke operation. An exclusive report from AllHipHop revealed details from inside the courthouse and the odds Rosemond faces at the hands of the prosecution.

Prosecutors stated for the courts that Rosemond’s Czar Entertainment company served a dual function of both managing music artists and doubling as a front to launder his drug operation’s cash. Assistant Prosecutor Una Dean said, “For a time business was good. He had a lot of money and lived a life of luxury. But he didn’t just have money; he had cash, so he could continue to build his drug empire.”

Rosemond’s defense team, led by Gerald Shargel who has defended Mafia boss John Gotti in 1990 and worked the Murder, Inc. money laundering case in 2005, has said the prosecution’s witnesses were liars looking to reduce federal sentences. Shargel also argued that a Los Angeles Times article from ousted journalist Chuck Philips linking Rosemond to the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur, which contained fabricated documents and led to the Times retracting the story, motivated federal authorities to go after Rosemond. Shargel said his client tried to cooperate with prosecutors, but they wanted Rosemond to implicate others outside the case such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Yesterday (May 15), a bombshell was dropped in the courtroom when a former ally testified against Rosemond and laid out the structure of the $10 million-a-year drug operation. Thirty-eight year-old Khalil Abdullah said that drug money was exchanged between Los Angeles and New York. “We had a business relationship,” Abdullah said to the jury. “We sold drugs together. The money was packed in New York and sent to Los Angeles and picked up by the catchers, and vacuum seal bags to conceal the money.” Abdullah, who met Rosemond some 12 years ago in Washington while he worked security for Czar Entertainment artists, joined the operation after a quick conversation.

“He [Rosemond] said he had money he needed to clean up, about $275, 000,” Abdullah said. “He offered a chance to make money. We met in Harlem; he said there would be no headaches. He said ‘you can’t go to jail for getting caught with money’ and if I went to LA he would show me how.”

Testimony will continue on today.

 

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Photo: Czar Entertainment