Rap star Jay-Z (real name: Shawn Carter) has pulled out of buying a $6.5 million penthouse in New York's TriBeCa neighborhood, and now the owner is suing two neighbors for sabotaging the deal. Advertising executive Peter Arnell charges that tenants Lynn Fisher-Hill and Lewis Taffer hung notices in the halls and elevators of the Hudson Street condominium that referred to Jay-Z's "criminal record and his lifestyle of knives, guns, and violence."
According to the suit, Taffer and Fisher-Hill also posted newspaper articles, including one chronicling Jay-Z's guilty plea last year to stabbing a man in December 1999 in a dispute over bootlegged music. The rapper was placed on three years probation as part of a plea deal.
Jay-Z pulled out of the penthouse deal before a contract had been signed and gave no reason for not going through with the purchase. There was no comment from Taffer, Fisher-Hill, or Jay-Z on the suit, which was filed last week in New York.
Arnell and his wife, Sara, put the penthouse up for sale last year after buying music mogul Tommy Mottola's Westchester, N.Y., mansion.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
According to the suit, Taffer and Fisher-Hill also posted newspaper articles, including one chronicling Jay-Z's guilty plea last year to stabbing a man in December 1999 in a dispute over bootlegged music. The rapper was placed on three years probation as part of a plea deal.
Jay-Z pulled out of the penthouse deal before a contract had been signed and gave no reason for not going through with the purchase. There was no comment from Taffer, Fisher-Hill, or Jay-Z on the suit, which was filed last week in New York.
Arnell and his wife, Sara, put the penthouse up for sale last year after buying music mogul Tommy Mottola's Westchester, N.Y., mansion.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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