The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed Jay-Z on Thursday.
The Wall Street regulator filed the action against Shawn Carter, known artistically as Jay-Z, in federal court in the Southern District of New York as part of an ongoing case investigating the financial reporting of New York-based Iconix Brand Group.
Carter received more than $200 million from Iconix in 2007 in a deal to acquire his Rocawear fashion brand.
The investigation into whether partnerships like the Rocawear purchase “should potentially have been consolidated in the company’s historical results” began in late 2015.
This isn’t the first time the rapper and businessman has been called to testify. Carter was initially subpoenaed in Nov. 16, 2017. Then second subpoena for his testimony was issued on Feb. 23, 2018, after changes to his legal team.
“Carter failed to appear as required by the subpoenas and, through his counsel, Carter has declined to provide any additional dates on which he will agree to appear for investigative testimony,” the SEC said in a statement.
The subpoena “does not reflect a determination by the SEC or its staff that Carter has violated provisions of the federal securities laws at issue in the investigation,” they said.
“We are aware that the SEC is seeking information on Iconix’ s financial reporting,” a representative from Roc Nation told Coins2Day in an email. “Mr. Carter had no role in that reporting or Iconix’ s other actions as a public company. Mr. Carter is a private citizen who should not be involved in this matter.”
This story has been updated to include the statement from Roc Nation.
