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Jailed Rapper Shyne Hopes to Unfreeze Assets
Monday, March 6, 2006 By: Kenny Rodriguez
While rapper Shyne serves a decade in prison for a 1999 club shooting, he plans on challenging a ruling that has frozen his assets, claiming his family is facing financial problems.
Under New York’s revised “Son of Sam Law” – which bars criminals from profiting from their crimes – Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Garson ordered that any money the jailed rapper receives from royalties and record deals be held, until civil lawsuits filed against him by the victims are resolved.
On Dec. 27, 1999, Shyne was convicted of a shooting that involved rap mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez at Club New York in Midtown Manhattan. When an argument ensued between Combs’ posse and a club-goer, shots were fired and three people were struck.
Shyne, now 26, was arrested outside of the club, while Combs was arrested after police stopped his SUV and found a handgun. Shyne was convicted and sentenced to serve 10 years in prison, while Combs was acquitted.
The former Bad Boy recording artist hopes the judge will let his mother dip into a $500,000 advance from a five-album deal he signed with Island/Def Jam in March 2004. “He was the sole support of his family,” said his attorney Oscar Michelen. “They’re in very difficult financial circumstances.” Michelen also said that Shyne’s new record deal “is in no way related to the crime” and that “the law’s gone overboard.”
Attorney Debra Reiser, who represents one of the victims of the 1999 shooting, disagreed. “Those funds are for the crime victims. That’s what the law says,” Reiser said. “He’s trying to circumvent the law for his own purposes.”
Shyne will not be eligible for parole until August 2009, and at the latest will be released from prison on March 12, 2011.
In related news, Shyne recently placed an advertisement in the New York Post declaring his conversion to Judaism. In the ad, Shyne - who was born on the Caribbean island of Belize - stated that he is descended from Ethiopian Jews, and has legally changed his name from Jamaal Michael Barrow to Moses Michael Leviy
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