Jeweller to the stars faces time behind bars

A celebrity jeweller who numbered Madonna, Kanye West and Elton John among his customers is pleading guilty in a deal with US prosecutors over a federal money laundering case.

Jacob Arabov, a Russian immigrant known in the hip-hop world as “Jacob the Jeweller” and “the King of Bling”, will appear before a court in Detroit later today on two counts of making false statements to investigators.

He is expected to get up to four years behind bars.

In exchange, prosecutors are expected to drop money laundering charges in the case.

Arabov was arrested in June 2006 at his store in Manhattan.

Federal authorities accused him and others of conspiring to launder about $270m (€186m) in drug profits for the “Black Mafia Family,” a multi-state drug ring that operated out of the Detroit area beginning in the early 1990s.