Cardi B and two co-defendants pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to felony and misdemeanor charges related to two brawls at a Queens strip club in August of last year.
The 26-year-old Grammy winner was indicted on 12 total counts Friday in New York state court along with Tawana “RemyRojaLaPerla” Jackson-Morel, 36, and Jeffrey “AstonMartinChuck” Bush, 34, TheWrap reports. If convicted, the defendants face up to 4 years in prison.
“I ain’t going to jail, I got a daughter,” Cardi declared during her Los Angeles concert on Saturday.
The three defendants are charged with varying degrees of attempted assault, harassment, criminal solicitation, conspiracy and reckless endangerment, the report states.
“The defendants in this case are accused of two premeditated attacks on two women working at a club in Queens last summer. The victims allegedly had glass bottles hurled at them, alcoholic drinks thrown in their faces and one woman’s head was slammed into the bar. This kind of violence won’t be tolerated in our community. The defendants will be held accountable for their alleged actions,” said Acting Queens District Attorney John M. Ryan.
TMZ previously reported that Cardi began feuding with the two female bartenders because she believed one of them slept with her husband, rapper Offset.
via TheWrap:
According to the District Attorney, the indictment says that on evening of August 15, 2018, Bush and an “unapprehended female” placed an order at Angels Gentlemen’s Club and Restaurant with a 21-year-old female bartender, who was in the process of serving them when the unapprehended female “allegedly grabbed the victim by her hair, slammed her head into the bar and began punching her repeatedly.”
At that time, three more unapprehended females “allegedly joined in and also struck the victim repeatedly,” prosecutors said.
The indictment also says that Bush is “alleged to have video recorded the attack and used his body to attempt to block anyone from intervening in the attack on the bartender.”
The indictment, which refers to Cardi B by her real name, Belcalis Almanzar, notes that prior to their arrival at the club, “defendants Almanzar and Jackson-Morel chatted on a social media platform and allegedly coordinated the day, time and location the attack would take place, as well as whom they were targeting. Jackson-Morel and Almanzar allegedly discussed money being exchanged for carrying out the alleged assault,” the District Attorney’s statement said.
The docs also describes a separate attack at the same strip club on August 29 — the target was the 23-year-old sister of the first victim.
“At approximately 3:30 a.m., defendant Jackson-Morel allegedly threw a cocktail into the 23-year-old woman’s face and defendants Bush and Almanzar, as well as several unapprehended others, also threw drinks, glass bottles and various objects at the bartender. The glass bottles shattered on the floor of the club, as a result the victim sustained lacerations to her legs, bruising to her feet and the alcohol thrown in her face irritated her eyes,” the statement said.
Prosecutors said Cardi B and Jackson-Morel coordinated the attack on social media.
According to Reuters, the next hearing in the case will be on Sept. 23 for co-defendants Tawana Jackson-Morel, 36, and Jeffrey Bush, 34, both of Brooklyn. Cardi B’s next court date has yet to be scheduled.
