Jay-Z Ordered To Appear In Court Over Rocawear Probe

Jay-Z is slated to rap next week — with a federal judge.

The hip-hop mogul has been ordered to appear in court next Tuesday to explain why he shouldn’t have to testify in a federal probe of Iconix, the company that owns his Rocawear fashion label.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which is investigating whether Iconix broke the law when reporting Rocawear’s finances, complained that Jay-Z — whose real name is Shawn Carter — has ignored two subpoenas over the past six months.

“Carter failed to appear as required by the subpoenas and, through his counsel … has declined to provide any additional dates on which he will agree to appear,” the agency griped on Thursday.

US Judge Paul Gardephe promptly obliged, ruling that the SEC has given sufficient cause to compel Jay-Z to testify.

Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro protested in a Thursday statement that the rapper “had no role in that reporting or Iconix’s other actions as a public company,” and that “Mr. Carter is a private citizen who should not be involved in this matter.”

The SEC said its quest to put Jay-Z on the stand “does not reflect a determination” that the rapper “has violated provisions of the federal securities laws at issue in the investigation.”

Nevertheless, it added it wants Jay-Z to testify about, “among other things, Carter’s joint ventures with Iconix.”

Iconix paid Jay-Z more than $200 million in 2007 for Rocawear, which he had launched in 1999 via his old music label, Roc-A-Fella Records. The brand generated $700 million in sales at the time, but has since gone down the tubes.

That’s partly because Jay-Z had little if anything to do with promoting Rocawear after the sale, according to industry insiders. At the time of the deal, Jay-Z and Iconix said they would form a separate joint venture that would identify new brands to acquire.

Two years ago, Iconix wrote down $169 million of Rocawear and this year it wrote down another $34 million, according to SEC filings.

Iconix shares were down 6.7 percent at 59 cents in early afternoon trades Thursday.

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