Ten years and $150 million in legal fees later, Neil Cole — the brother of fashion designer Kenneth Cole — has finally been exonerated of charges he was involved in securities fraud.
Cole was sentenced to 18 months in prison for accounting fraud in 2023, but earlier today, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled he had been wrongfully convicted due to being tried twice for the same offense, known legally as “double jeopardy”.
Now, the brand master — who’s Iconix company secured partnership deals with celebrities such as Jay-Z, Madonna, Pharrell Williams, Marla Maples, and Jenny McCarthy — is preparing to go on the offensive.
“I did absolutely nothing wrong. No one could come up with a single document to show I had done anything they accused me of,” Cole told me in an exclusive interview.
“This was an example of lawfare, not the pursuit of justice,” he claimed. He also charged his second prosecution was an example of “an overzealous, fame-seeking prosecutor… trying to make a name for himself.”
The Post has reached out to the Southern District for comment.
Cole was initially charged with ten counts by the Department of Justice with accounting fraud, inflating his company’s earnings and misleading investors in 2019, but acquitted by a jury.
Then in 2021, the federal government charged him again for another count of fraud, and a jury convicted him. He appealed the decision arguing he was being tried for the same thing twice.
This ends a multi-year saga that began in 2014 when the Securities and Exchange Commission began looking into civil charges against Cole — then head of Iconix.
He had founded the company in 2005 and it grew to become the second-largest licensing company in the US, behind Disney.
Employing over 150 people, including his two sons, the company generated more than $400 million in annual revenue. Some of Cole’s high-profile clients also came under scrutiny, with the SEC questioning Jay-Z — leading his attorneys to label the case a “celebrity witch-hunt.”
“The government claims I did all this [engage in fraud] to save just $750,000,” said Cole — which he point out was an insignificant amount of money given how lucrative the company was at the time.
Amid legal challenges, Iconix stock fell from $40 per share to just thirty cents.
In 2021, Cole sold the company to private equity firm Lancer Capital for $585 million — far shy of its $3 billion valuation before Cole was accused of wrongdoing.
Cole managed to enlist two other notable names to support him following his conviction.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wrote a letter supporting Cole, urging a federal judge to impose a lighter sentence. Cole’s fashionista brother is married to Cuomo’s sister, Maria.
Kenneth Cole also wrote a letter in support of his brother. Both highlighted Cole’s philanthropic efforts, noting his board memberships with Crutches 4 Kids, Ronald McDonald House, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and The Mount Sinai Children’s Center Foundation.
And now, after having spent more than $150 million on his legal battle and giving up his business, Cole is considering his options. He tells me, lucikly his insurance company paid for the bulk of the legal costs.
“There are a lot of people to be held accountable,” he tells me. “12 out of 12 jurors acquitted me — but the government did everything again to make a case against me.”
“We will try to recoup everything that was spent [on lawyers],” he says. Of course, the larger damage is reputational.
“You can’t recoup your reputation… this was my life’s work, built from scratch.”
But he is ready to start again and plans to launch a new business at the end of the summer.
“I’ve been through hell… but I’m very appreciative to be on the other end.”
