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A$AP Rocky has moved closer to taking over League Two football club Tranmere Rovers after being found not guilty of felony assault in his trial in Los Angeles.
The 36-year-old rapper, who is the partner of superstar singer Rihanna, was found not guilty on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in a 2021 row with a former friend.
A jury returned the verdict earlier this week after deliberating for just three hours. Upon hearing the verdict, the hip-hop star, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, turned and ran to embrace jubilant supporters behind him – falling over as he did so.
“Thank y’all for saving my life,” Rocky told jurors as they left the courtroom.
Rocky has been linked with the proposed takeover at Tranmere by his lawyer Joe Tacopina, who is the former attorney of US president Donald Trump and has been involved with various football clubs in Italy, including Roma, Bologna and Venezia, before buying Serie C side SPAL.
Tacopina’s ownership of SPAL has come with controversy and he was suspended for three months last year for a late payment violation by the Italian club. The subsequent investigation into that appears to have delayed the proposed takeover of Tranmere.
Rocky is part of the consortium looking to buy an 80 per cent share of Tranmere, thought to be worth £15m, while Indonesian investors Santini Group would keep its minority stake at Prenton Park.
Back in October, Tranmere chairman Mark Palios suggested Rocky’s involvement would bring a sprinkling of stardust to the club but was not essential.
“At the end of the day, whether he brings A$AP Rocky in or not is down to him,” said Palios. “It’s the type of thing I think would enhance his consortium because they can add value to the commercial side. A$AP’s (partner) is, of course, Rihanna.”
Rocky’s involvement at Tranmere would mirror a recent trend of American celebrities buying stakes in lower-league football clubs.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at Wrexham were at the vanguard of this movement but since then, the likes of NFL legend Tom Brady has taken over Birmingham City, another NFL star JJ Watt is involved at Burnley and golfers Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, as well as actor Will Ferrell, are investors at Leeds United
In the Los Angeles trial, prosecutors alleged that Rocky twice fired a gun at his former longtime friend and fellow rapper A$AP Relli, during a dispute on a Hollywood street.
The pair were part of a crew who called themselves the A$AP Mob since high school. Prosecutors alleged that the two men met up in Hollywood on November 6 2021, and after a scuffle Rocky pulled the gun and fired twice at his former friend.
Relli, real name Terrell Ephron, was the key witness for the prosecution and in his testimony, which made up the bulk of the prosecution’s case, he said his knuckles were grazed by one of the shots, but he was otherwise uninjured.
The defense argued that Rocky fired blanks from a prop gun that he picked up from a music video set, bringing in two of the rapper’s inner circle to attest to that.
Tacopina alleged in his closing argument that Relli is “an angry pathological liar” who “committed perjury again and again and again and again.”
On the eve of the trial, Rocky turned down a plea deal that would have seen him admit guilt on one charge and receive just six months in jail. Instead, he chose to contest the charges and faced 24 years in prison if found guilty but was ultimately acquitted by the jury.
Rihanna attended much of the trial and brought the couple’s two young sons – two-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and one-year-old Riot Rose Mayers – to closing arguments.
Rocky dived into her arms when the clerk read the not guilty verdict.
Additional reporting by PA
