In the two decades since TraxNYC arrived in Manhattan’s diamond district as a brash, tiny jewelry shop, it has shaken up the old-world marketplace with promotional stunts and beefs on social media to become one of the best-known jewelers on West 47th Street.
Through a savvy and often mischievous digital strategy, the business’s owner, Maksud Agadjani, has made himself stand out among his competitors on the block, gaining a huge following for a brand of bling favored by rappers and celebrities. In the process, he has become something of a celebrity himself. He has feuded openly with reality TV stars and rappers (Tekashi69 and 50 Cent) and even capitalized on being robbed by gunmen of $150,000 worth of jewelry outside a trendy Manhattan restaurant.
“It creates more exposure, so you’re casting a wider net in the ocean and dragging in more customers,” said Mr. Agadjani, who also played a jeweler’s assistant to Adam Sandler’s character in “Uncut Gems.” The 2019 film captured the chaos of the diamond district, a frenetic stretch of West 47th Street that may be the world’s most famous retail jewelry hub.
Mr. Agadjani’s biggest promotional coup came last week and involved no celebrities. It was his dramatic confrontation with a rival jeweler, an episode that Mr. Agadjani’s cameraman dutifully filmed to help create what has become Mr. Agadjani’s most viral content yet.
By Mr. Agadjani’s estimate, videos of the altercation, which included a brawl and arrests, helped him rack up more than a million new social media followers, including 800,000 on his @traxnyc Instagram account. Customers, he said, were thronging his jewelry counters.
The fireworks started on Dec. 2 in the bustling jewelry exchange at 64 West 47th Street, where TraxNYC shares an open marketplace with other jewelers, including Akay Diamonds. Mr. Agadjani’s twin booths, awash in rap star bling, are next to those of Akay Diamonds, which is run by George Akay, 46, and his brother Freddy, 42.
The first video starts abruptly, with Mr. Agadjani, 39, marching up to and confronting one of the brothers. Customers and other jewelers look on warily as Mr. Agadjani slams the counter violently, screaming and cursing as he demands “my money” repeatedly.
He accuses the brothers of ripping him off and holds up a diamond-studded gold bracelet that he says is the subject of a fraud perpetrated by the brothers. He whips the bracelet against the glass counter.
The Akay brothers remain calm and call for security, and the still-volatile Mr. Agadjani is soon ushered away.
A few hours later, Mr. Agadjani, screaming obscenities, returned to the Akays’ counter. A video clip of the encounter that he posted on social media shows George Akay spitting in Mr. Agadjani’s face, setting off a melee as employees of both businesses step in.
The police were called, and the Akays were led from the exchange in handcuffs, all of it recorded on video and posted online. The brothers were charged with assault.
The videos Mr. Agadjani and his team posted immediately afterward included one shot from a gurney at Bellevue Hospital, where he showed off red marks on his neck. He said Freddy Akay had caused them by trying to strangle him with the $30,000 gold necklace Mr. Agadjani was wearing.
“If they had an explanation, I would never have done what I did,” Mr. Agadjani said later.
Adam Silverstein, a lawyer for Freddy Akay, said his client denied the charges. A lawyer for George Akay did not respond to messages.
A police spokesman said the arrest was related to a verbal dispute that led to an attack on Mr. Agadjani.
Prosecutors said that after Mr. Agadjani got into an argument with the brothers about a transaction with a customer, George Akay spit in Mr. Agadjani’s face and Freddy Akay grabbed Mr. Agadjani by his necklace and punched him in the head.
A judge granted a limited order of protection against the Akay brothers, one that Mr. Silverstein said allowed them to work at their jewelry booth near Mr. Agadjani’s. But the Akay counters next to TraxNYC remained closed last week, the display cabinets empty. Mr. Agadjani’s booths have been packed.
Jimmy McHugh, a precious metals broker from Long Island, was among the customers lining the TraxNYC counters last week. He said he was more committed than ever to doing business with Mr. Agadjani after seeing the videos.
“He did what he’s supposed to do,” Mr. McHugh said. “He stood on business for his client.”
Benjamin Shamsiev, who runs a nearby booth, said the viral videos had “been great for business” as well as good content for Mr. Agadjani. “If he doesn’t produce fresh content, his business slows down,” Mr. Shamsiev said.
Mr. Silverstein said the charges against his client should be dismissed because Mr. Agadjani had baited the Akay brothers for the camera.
“It’s clear that he instigated the confrontation and did it to make these videos,” Mr. Silverstein said.
“It sounds like this was part of the complainant’s repertoire, something he uses to gin up business and generate interest,” he continued. “My client is a casualty of this guy’s unorthodox promotional style and is now facing criminal charges unnecessarily.”
Attempts to speak to the brothers at another showroom they operate several doors down were unsuccessful, and they did not respond to messages. Of a dozen acquaintances approached at neighboring booths, none would speak about the Akays.
For all the bombast and publicity, the confrontation disturbed some older merchants in the district, who frowned on Mr. Agadjani’s overheated conduct and promotion of the episode.
“It’s all a show, it’s shock and awe,” said Richard Winick, the 65-year-old owner of Manny Winick & Son, a 47th Street jewelry business.
“Listen, if you rage-bait a competitor and you have millions of followers, of course it’s going to get you attention,” he added. “But it’s clown stuff.”
Mr. Winick, whose father started the business 72 years ago, said many of his customers were turned off by the episode.
“My demographic feels like: Who wants to buy from a guy whose style is screaming on social media?” he said. “They wouldn’t feel comfortable buying from either one of those businesses now. It’s great entertainment, but it’s not classy.”
Mr. Agadjani began selling jewelry on the block 21 years ago out of a tiny office. His business now has 13 million social media followers and, he said in an interview, does around $40 million in annual sales.
TraxNYC built its following catering to celebrities, including the rappers Cardi B and Busta Rhymes and Jimmy Donaldson, the YouTube sensation known as MrBeast.
In the rear of the 47th Street gallery is a staircase that leads to TraxNYC’s offices, which include a V.I.P. lounge with complimentary liquor, pre-rolled joints and a video game console.
Nearby, employees in their 20s sit at a table, handling online and phone sales and taking custom orders. Other staffer members handle Mr. Agadjani’s social media content, meeting with him daily to come up with new marketing ploys.
He has thrown cash in the street, run jewelry over with his car and shot a diamond-tipped bullet into a bar of silver, all filmed and posted online. But he insists that the confrontation with the Akay brothers was about “sticking up for a customer,” not promotional theater.
It happened, he said, after Akay Diamonds sold a customer a bracelet for $21,000 on the false claim that it was a TraxNYC piece made with 14-karat gold.
He said the customer later had the bracelet tested, learned it was less-valuable gold and called TraxNYC to complain. Mr. Agadjani said he gave the customer his money back and wanted compensation from the Akays.
“For me to be strangled for the world to see is not a commercial,” he said. “None of this is what I want to be doing. I already have an extraordinary online presence and extraordinary clients. I don’t need to be screaming in my own exchange.”
One thing is certain, Mr. Winick said. Social media has brought new attention and customers to the diamond district, which can only be good for business.
“Now Instagram is reaching people who never heard of the diamond district,” he said. “For Gen-Z and millennial customers, the diamond district is like reality TV.”
On Thursday, Mr. Agadjani and his social media team were back at it. They marched from his shop to Times Square with $21,000 in cash and began tossing bundles of money into the air as scores of passers-by scrambled to gather wind-scattered bills.
Mr. Agadjani, with images of the Akays taped to his shirt, lambasted the brothers to an employee’s camera as he tossed the cash. He and his crew then rushed back to 47th Street to edit and post a video of what they had done.
Corey Kilgannon is a Times reporter who writes about crime and criminal justice in and around New York City, as well as breaking news and other feature stories.
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