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Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Is Suing Iconix For Fraud. That’s The Licensing Firm That Bought His Men’s Clothing Brand Rocawear For $204M

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Is Suing Iconix For Fraud. That’s The Licensing Firm That Bought His Men’s Clothing Brand Rocawear For $204M

suing Iconix
FILE – In this Nov. 4, 2016 file photo, Jay-Z performs during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Jay-Z is suing Iconix, the company he sold his thriving Roc Nation apparel company to back in 2007.

He claims the company bilked investors in a “massive years-long fraud.” So his Roc Nation is suing the licensing firm Iconix Brand Group, accusing the licensing firm of lying about its finances when it made deals with the rapper’s Roc Nation apparel company, CBS News reported.

According to the court papers, Iconix’s deception cost it millions when the licensing company’s stock price fell from a peak of more than $400 per share in 2014 to less than a dollar this year.

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Roc says in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit that Iconix Brand Group Inc., lured it and other companies — including Ecko, Ed Hardy and PONY — into doing business by lying about its financials and then made off with their money without providing the promised services,” Page Six reported.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the feds have been investigating Iconix.

Roc sold men’s clothing brand Rocawear to Iconix for $204 million in 2007.

The court papers state that Iconix “absconded with its licensees’ money without providing the branding and retail support it promised.” 

“Plaintiffs never would have entangled their business interests with Iconix had it disclosed the true condition of its business or the massive accounting fraud in which it was engaged,” the court documents claim.