James Rosemond

James Rosemond (born February 5, 1965), widely known as Jimmy Henchman, is an American former music manager and convicted criminal. He was raised in the Vanderveer Gardens apartment complex in Flatbush, Brooklyn, after being born in Harlem, New York. His parents, who emigrated from Haiti in the 1960s, divorced when he was young, leaving his mother to raise five children alone.

In 1992, Rosemond and several friends launched the music conference "How Can I Be Down." He was involved in Salt-n-Pepa's 1993 single "Shoop." Around 1996, he founded Henchmen, which later became the rap management company Czar Entertainment. As CEO, he managed artists including Sean Kingston, Brandy, Gucci Mane, Guerilla Black, Salt-n-Pepa, and Akon, with rapper The Game as the flagship artist. A 2012 New York Times article described him as "a prince at the royal court, whose ties to rap music’s biggest stars were known far and wide." During The Game's feud with 50 Cent, Rosemond managed The Game when he recorded the diss track "300 Bars and Runnin." In 2006, Rosemond and 50 Cent settled a lawsuit over a DVD released by Czar Entertainment about 50 Cent's namesake, Kelvin "50 Cent" Martin, which allegedly used interviews with Jackson inappropriately; the settlement created a charity to support Martin and his children.

In 2002, Rosemond negotiated the Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson boxing match, marking the first time a boxer demanded a 50–50 split of pay-per-view revenue with Showtime Networks/HBO after one million buys. In 2003, he joined Chris Lighty and Russell Simmons in a campaign to end New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws. Along with Shakim Compere and Mona Scott, he executive produced BET's SOS Saving Ourselves: Help for Haiti, a February 5, 2010 telethon at Miami's American Airlines Arena that raised funds for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In June 2010, Rosemond was arrested on charges of cocaine trafficking, money laundering, and witness tampering. He went to trial in May 2012, represented by Gerald Shargel. On June 5, 2012, he was convicted in Federal District Court in Brooklyn of drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, firearms violations, and other financial crimes tied to his role as head of a multi-million-dollar transnational cocaine-selling organization. Prosecutors alleged his group, the "Rosemond Organization," transported cocaine from Los Angeles to New York and shipped cash proceeds back to Los Angeles via FedEx and UPS, often coating packages in mustard to evade detection dogs. The indictment stated Rosemond made over $11 million annually from drug trafficking since 2007. On October 25, 2013, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and forfeited approximately $14 million in cash and property. U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch said his music mogul image was "a cover for the real Jimmy Rosemond - a thug in a suit." Judge John Gleeson noted he would have imposed life even if not legally required, calling the crimes "astonishing in their breadth, duration and intensity." On March 10, 2016, Rosemond filed a habeas corpus appeal and a complaint against former U.S. Attorney Todd Kaminsky regarding testimony from government witness Henry "Black" Butler; the court denied the writ in 2019.

In June 2012, Rosemond was charged with four crimes related to the death of G-Unit affiliate Lowell "Lodi Mack" Fletcher, including murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder, allegedly arranged as payback for an assault on his son by Lodi Mack and Tony Yayo. His trial began February 10, 2014, with over 35 witnesses; closing arguments finished March 4, 2014, but the jury hung on all counts for Rosemond and co-defendant Johnson. In a second trial in December 2014, the jury found him guilty on all charges on December 11. On March 23, 2015, he was sentenced to life plus 20 years by Judge Colleen McMahon. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned the conviction in 2016. A third trial in 2017 again resulted in conviction and a sentence of life plus 30 years. Rosemond is incarcerated at USP Pollock under BOP#17903-054.

Rosemond has a son and two daughters. He is profiled in filmmaker Don Sikorski's documentary series *Unjust Justice: The Jimmy Rosemond Tapes* (2016) and the podcast *Unjust Justice: The Jimmy Rosemond Story* (2020), hosted by Michael K. Williams, which examine his life, criminal cases, and media portrayal. Tupac Shakur mentioned him by name as "Henchman" in the song "Against All Odds."