Former Fugee Sued for Unpaid Jewelry Bills

Jacob the Jeweler is taking no prisoners and ironically, well, will soon be one. While the namesake of the famous celebrity jeweler, Jacob Arabov, will be reporting to prison in January for lying to investigators of a multi-state drug ring, the company itself is apparently in the mood to settle old scores. The first high-profile culprit? Former Fugee and political activist, Wyclef Jean.

In court papers filed Tuesday in Manhattan, Jacob and Company Incorporated alleges that the international hip-hop star owes $319,680 for jewelry and watch purchases made between March 2002 and January 2006. Apparently, repeated attempts were made to collect the outstanding debt to no avail.

Now, of course, a debt is a debt is a debt. No matter who you are. But I wonder how much you can trust the book keeping of a company whose founder was allegedly laundering money to the tune of $270 million for the formidable Black Mafia family? That’s a lot of bling. It’s also interesting that a debt incurred almost 6 years ago by Wyclef is only now being pursued in court by the jeweler? Hmmmmm.

Color me Pollyanna, but I like to think a stand up guy like Wyclef, who has devoted much of his adult life to helping the people of his native Haiti, will have a lot to say on the matter. As of now, his representatives have not commented.

In the meantime, The Jewelry Insider will be interested to see who just might be next on the “King of Bling”’s hit list. Madonna? Elton? Puffy? Stay tuned…