NEW YORK (AP) — Hip hop mogul James Rosemond has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he ran a cocaine trafficking ring between Los Angeles and New York. The New York Post reports that the CEO of New York-based Czar Entertainment was arraigned Wednesday in Brooklyn.

Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman says his client is being framed. Prosecutors say the evidence includes secret recordings, e-mails and shipping records. He’s charged with running a criminal enterprise that shipped cocaine in music equipment cases, money laundering and obstruction.

He was arrested last month. Shortly before that, an Internet report attributed to a prisoner alleged Rosemond orchestrated a 1994 ambush that wounded Tupac Shakur outside a Manhattan recording studio. Rosemond denies any involvement and the criminal complaint against him makes no mention of that case.

Rosemond is behind such hits as Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.