The Informant: Craig Drake’s Wife Tania Arrested

One of many new problems facing the fallen jeweler

You remember the Drakes. There’s Craig, the 74-year-old, jet-setting bon vivant and jeweler-to-the-elite who went from chumming with Mick Jagger and Julius Erving and partying it up in his $4.2 million Touraine penthouse on Spruce Street to, in the last couple of years, being sued and raided and closing his business, a downfall documented by former Philly Mag writer Michael Callahan here.

And then there’s Tania, his much younger (she turned 48 this month) Brazilian wife. Now, having a much younger Brazilian wife at your side as the clouds gather should probably be a pretty decent silver lining. And, at least according to this photo taken at a summer 2010 party, she seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it (or was that the tequila?).

But since then, things have only gotten worse. Much worse.

On January 13th of this year, the cops showed up at the Drake home on Spruce Street to serve an order of protection on Tania on behalf of Craig, the reasons for which are still unclear. According to a police department spokesperson, Tania “started acting out” and pushed the officers. She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, violation of an order, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, and sat in jail for an entire week before Craig Drake’s son, Craiger, paid the $5,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April.

The arrest capped off five months of increasing problems for the beleaguered jeweler. In September, Chase Bank sued Craig over $30,980 in credit card debt, though the process server has been unable to locate him. In October, J.A. Reinhold Asset Management—the Touraine’s property manager—sued him for more than $15,000. And a month later, Craig was hit with a $202,000 tax lien by the Commonwealth. Tania, too, will have her day in civil court this March, when Citibank is scheduled to take her there over a $27,857 credit card bill.

But the biggest financial hit came this past January. Back in December 2009, a company called Louis Glick Diamond Corp. sued Craig in federal court seeking a judgment of $684,326 in, as Callahan put it, “a complex, messy clash involving consigned diamond jewelry and a promissory note from Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. dating back to 2002.” On January 13th of this year—the same day Tania was arrested—a judgment was entered in favor of Glick, and the plaintiffs are now seeking total damages near $1 million.

Craiger Drake, who has his own jewelry business at 1616 Walnut Street, says his father went into rehab shortly after the incident but is now back at the Touraine. Craiger adds that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of his stepmother and that he doesn’t want to get involved in the situation more than he already is: “Whatever my father does with Tania is his business.”

Neither Tania nor Craig could be reached for comment.

[CORRECTION: Bail was set at $5,000. Craiger paid the required 10% plus a $10 fee, so $510.]