Antonio Brown’s false accusations put Miami jeweler in Dubai jail for month: lawsuit
Former NFL star Antonio Brown shot at a man outside a Miami boxing event last month, police say, and newly obtained court records reveal that the two weren’t strangers.
Three years ago, Brown falsely accused the man of stealing $3 million in jewelry from him, the documents say. The man spent a month in a Middle Eastern jail before proving that Brown lied.
Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, a 41-year-old who designs and sells jewelry, met Brown in May 2022 when he was invited to accompany boxer Floyd Mayweather to an exhibition fight in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Brown was there to promote his music career and was going to rap during Mayweather’s ring walk before the fight.
As the pair got to know each other, Nantambu let Brown sport a custom-made pendant with a diamond chain worth $122,000, which Brown posted to social media, court records reveal. On several occasions, Nantambu attempted to get the chain back, but Brown didn’t return it; instead, Brown gave Nantambu two of his gold chains as collateral.
Brown then contacted Dubai police and told them that Nantambu had stolen $3 million worth of his jewelry, according to the filing. Nantambu was arrested and held in a Dubai jail without bond on theft charges. He was released a month later — and his charges were dropped — only after showing prosecutors evidence that Brown’s claim was false.
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Three years after their ordeal, Brown, 36, shot at Nantambu after a dispute escalated on May 16 after an event in Miami hosted by social media influencer Adin Ross. After the shooting, Brown said on social media that he was attacked by people trying to steal his jewelry.
Brown is wanted on an attempted murder charge, according to a seven-page warrant signed on June 11 by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ariel Rodriguez.
When Brown is arrested, his bond will be set at $10,000 plus house arrest. The Herald’s review of Brown’s latest posts indicate that he has been in Dubai. Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told the Herald that detectives have been in contact with Brown’s attorney and expect him to be taken into custody once he returns to South Florida.
In August 2022, Nantambu took Brown to Broward circuit court, seeking the return of the diamond chain and pendant as well as damages for his wrongful detention in Dubai. Brown, the lawsuit says, was the last person seen with the jewelry and wore it at the Mayweather fight — while Nantambu sat in jail.
The suit also accuses Brown of taking the items that were on Nantambu’s person when he was arrested, including a gold chain and $6,000 in cash.
A judge awarded Nantambu just under $970,000 in damages after Brown failed to respond to the lawsuit. That judgment, however, was overturned after a procedural issue. Brown filed for bankruptcy in May 2024, barring a retrial of Nantambu’s lawsuit. Nantambu was still able to recover the cost of the chain.
A copy of Nantambu’s lawsuit was attached to a filing in Brown’s ongoing bankruptcy case in Fort Lauderdale federal court. Records show Brown stated he has less than $50,000 in assets and owed anywhere from $1 million to $10 million — the bulk of the listed debt in damages stemming from lawsuits.
An attorney for Brown couldn’t be reached as of Wednesday. The day after the shooting, Brown said in a post on X that he was “jumped” by people “who tried to steal my jewelry and cause physical harm to me.” Brown was detained — but not arrested — after the gunfire outside the venue, a warehouse located at 221 NE 67th St. in Miami’s Little River neighborhood.
“Contrary to some video circulating, Police temporarily detained me until they received my side of the story and then released me. I WENT HOME THAT NIGHT AND WAS NOT ARRESTED,” Brown said in the post. “I will be talking to my legal council and attorneys on pressing charges on the individuals that jumped me.”
In another post, Brown accused police of “making up fake charges to get publicity.”
‘God... got me out’
In an interview with the Herald on Wednesday night, Nantambu, who lives in Miami-Dade, said he didn’t know Brown, who lives in Hollywood, was going to be at the boxing event, which he was attending to support a friend. But no more than two minutes after he walked in, Brown spotted him — and the brawl began.
Brown, he said, immediately started swinging at him. Nantambu said he was attacked by four other people whom he didn’t recognize. He believes that at one point, one of them hit him with an object resembling a bat.
However, the scuffle escalated when Brown got hold of a gun, Nantambu said, adding that he feared for his life — and that of the other attendees — when officers showed up with weapons drawn.
“It was like a movie,” Nantambu told the Herald. “The gun was sliding... At one point, we both got it. I held onto it for dear life.”
As a result of the attack, Nantambu received stitches around his eye and suffered several injuries, including to his lower back and burns on his neck. He said he believes Brown attacked him because of the lawsuit he filed against him regarding the stolen chain and the allegations that led to him being detained in Dubai.
“I think that when he saw me, I reminded him of his financial failure,” Nantambu said.
Nantambu, a businessman and humanitarian who has amassed more than 110,000 followers on Instagram, said he met Brown on the plane to Dubai before the Mayweather bout. When he showed Brown the pendant, which houses a digital display that projects a photo or video, Brown wanted to wear the chain. But he never returned it.
Instead, Brown accused him of stealing his jewelry, and Nantambu said he was arrested in the middle of the night in a hotel room in the neighboring country of Oman, where he had planned a short trip. Nantambu said he was held in a jail that was like a tomb, without any windows or mattresses, until he was transferred to a crowded Dubai jail four days later.
In total, Nantambu said he was detained for 40 days.
“[Brown] made it seem like he didn’t know me and like I broke into his room and stole his stuff,” he told the Herald. “They didn’t question anything. They [considered] me the criminal.”
In order to be freed, Nantambu had to prove that the chain and pendant were his, showing Dubai detectives text messages with Brown as well as Brown’s social media posts wearing the chain as Nantambu remained behind bars. Nantambu said it took thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees to talk to the prosecutor.
“I didn’t have any connections to anyone rich and famous to help me,” Nantambu said. “It was only God that got me out of there.”
When he was released, Nantambu said Dubai prosecutors asked him if he wanted to press charges against Brown. He declined. But now, Nantambu said he hopes Brown will be held accountable as his lengthy string of increasingly unhinged behavior has gone unpunished.
Gunfire erupts outside Miami event
Video posted to social media showed the All-Pro wide receiver appearing to hold a gun and running out of frame. Seconds later, gunshots were heard at the Miami event.
Detectives reviewed security footage that captured Brown and two others attacking Nantambu before the shooting, according to the warrant. Security broke up the fight, and Nantambu walked away. Then, Brown took a gun from a security guard before running after Nantambu.
Video captured Brown chasing Nantambu to the sidewalk and firing two shots from close range. Nantambu, the warrant says, ducked as shots rang out.
When searched, no firearm was found on Brown, although police found two spent shell casings and a damaged right-handed holster outside the venue, according to the warrant. Brown was released because the man shot, later identified as Nantambu, was no longer at the venue. Nantambu told police he left to seek medical attention.
Per detectives, Nantambu said he tried to leave after Brown attacked him. But Brown, he asserted, chased him with a gun and fired at him — possibly grazing his neck.
The two struggled over the gun before ending up on the ground, Nantambu told police. When officers arrived, Nantambu said Brown hid the weapon under a dark piece of cloth and walked away.
READ MORE: Ex-NFL star Antonio Brown is no stranger to police, discipline in his career
Over the years, Brown — a Super Bowl champion wide receiver who was in the NFL for more than a decade — has been enmeshed in a litany of bizarre on-field incidents and off-field controversies, some of which led to legal woes. Most notably, in 2020, Brown pleaded no contest to assaulting a moving truck driver over a payment dispute at his Hollywood home.
He was sentenced to two years of probation and was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation and to participate in a 13-week anger management program. Two years after the attack, a civil court jury ordered Brown to pay the truck driver $1.2 million in damages
Brown, a Miami Norland High graduate, had his NFL career abruptly ended in 2022 when he stripped off his jersey and stormed off the field during a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New York.
After the game, Tampa Bay’s head coach said Brown was “no longer a Buc.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 3:35 PM.
