Power 105’s studios in New York City have been the site of plenty of drama related to The Breakfast Club, but last week, things got even wilder when the iHeartRadio station’s office was raided by federal agents who confiscated electronics as evidence in an investigation involving Breakfast Club co-host DJ Envy.
Unlike fellow DJ Drama, who once had his own studios raided by the feds, Envy’s case is not related to illegally obtained music or record industry pettiness. Instead, Envy is allegedly tied to a real estate Ponzi scheme that prosecutors claim “defrauded dozens of people of millions of dollars.” One arrest has been made so far: Cesar Pena, who occasionally appeared on The Breakfast Club under the moniker “Flipping NJ” and supposedly flipped properties in New Jersey with DJ Envy, was arrested for his role in the scheme. The complaint against him mentions “a well-known disc jockey and radio personality.”
According to Billboard, Pina bills himself as a real estate guru on social media, often posting photos with hip-hop stars like 50 Cent, Post Malone, and Snoop Dogg, and claims on his website that he owns 1,100 rental properties in Paterson, New Jersey. He appeared on The Breakfast Club as a guest of Envy’s and co-hosted a series of real estate seminars with him starting in 2018. In May of this year, though, he was accused on Instagram of using this celebrity to fool people into investing in properties with the intent of flipping them, and then keeping the profits for himself.
Those accusations turned into a spate of lawsuits filed against Pina from sources including record industry veteran Anthony Martini, who previously invested in the company behind controversial virtual rapper FN Meka. Martini’s lawsuit and another included DJ Envy for his role in promoting Pina’s companies on-air. Envy is named in nine of the twenty lawsuits against Pina.
Envy addressed the accusations, on The Breakfast Club, claiming to be a victim himself. “Cesar, if he took money, I wasn’t privy to it, nor did I even know,” he said. “But I do understand how people feel if they did give him money because I gave him a lot of money [and] I didn’t see a dollar of return. But for anybody to say that I was involved, that’s totally not true.” He’s also filed legal arguments to that effect, saying he was not involved in the deals that defrauded investors and that he’s lost $500,000 of his own in dealings with Pina. His lawyers also argue that just because he endorsed Pina shouldn’t make him liable. He also sued one of his accusers for defamation.
(@nojumper)