Celebrity jeweler Jacob Arabov pleaded guilty Wednesday (Oct. 31) in federal court to charges of falsifying records and giving false statements to investigators looking into a multi-state drug ring.
According to a news release from U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy Arabov will serve up to 46 months in prison and pay a $2 million penalty.
In exchange for the guilty plea, Benjamin Brafman, Arabov’s attorney, said prosecutors agreed to drop money laundering charges against his client.
“I realize I have made a terrible mistake and I accept the consequences of my actions,” Arabov said in a news release issued through Brafman.
The guilty plea is the latest development surrounding Arabov’s case. The 42-year-old Russian immigrant, who is known as “Jacob the Jeweler,” became a popular fixture in the music community for providing diamonds to a host of celebrities such as Sir Elton John, Madonna, Jay-Z, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Young Jeezy, Kanye West and numerous others.
In June 2006, Arabov was arrested at his jewelry shop in Manhattan.
He was among a group of people authorities accused of conspiring to launder about $270 million in drug profits for the “Black Mafia Family,” a criminal ring that worked out of the Detroit area in the early 1990s.
A seven-year investigation in to the case ultimately led to Arabov being indicted with 41 other people, according to Murphy’s office.
Over 28 people have pleaded guilty as eight others are scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 19.
The whereabouts of the remaining six people are unknown.
About 1,100 pounds of cocaine and $19 million in cash and other assets were seized beginning in 2000, federal authorities said.
Despite Arabov’s plea, no sentencing date was immediately set by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn.