Richie Akiva is one wild boy. <\/p>\n
The former nightclub founder, who was arrested on Wednesday<\/a>, has a long history of wild parties, star-studded adventures and serious business deals. He also happens to be a good friend of Leonardo DiCaprio.<\/p>\n Read along to learn more about the \u201cTitanic\u201d star\u2019s close pal.<\/p>\n Arrests <\/p>\n Richie Akiva was arrested in March 2025 and charged with two misdemeanors after it was discovered that his license was suspended. Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for MTV<\/p>\n The Wednesday arrest isn\u2019t the night club entrepreneur\u2019s first run-in with police. Akiva was arrested in March 2025<\/a> after it was discovered that he was driving with a suspended license.<\/p>\n He was taken to New York\u2019s 9th precinct, where he was charged with misdemeanors. A source previously told Page Six he was hit with one count of aggravated unlicensed operation in the second degree, and one count of an equipment violation.<\/p>\n It was reported that his license was suspended because of an old unpaid parking ticket. <\/p>\n Club king<\/p>\n Akiva is known as the founder of iconic NYC hotspots 1Oak and Up & Down, along with several other nightclubs and hospitality ventures. WWD via Getty Images<\/p>\n Akiva earned his claim to fame as the founder of iconic NYC hotspots 1Oak and Up & Down.<\/p>\n He was also part of Butter Group \u2014 which included an array of restaurants and popular nightclubs \u2014 with former business partner Scott Sartiano.<\/p>\n In 2017, it was reported that the mogul had plans to open a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll bar<\/a> titled E. Vil (pronounced \u201cevil\u201d), which stands for East Village.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWant more celebrity and pop culture news?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with Page Six Daily.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n He was also a member of the Butter Group with former business partner Scott Sartiano (not pictured). Getty Images for Raising Cane’s<\/p>\n In June 2022, he launched the exclusive members-only club The Ned alongside Ron Burkle and Soho House founder Nick Jones.<\/p>\n Akiva was attached to the business venture as its \u201cbrand and creative director,\u201d bringing in celebs like\u00a0DiCaprio<\/a>, Rihanna, Emily Ratajkowski, G-Eazy and \u201cSNL\u201d\u00a0comic Leslie Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bad business<\/p>\n Akiva has worked with a number of famous business men including Darren Dzienciol, though the two fell out as business partners in 2023. Getty Images for The Summer Gala by Gala One<\/p>\n It was reported in 2023 that\u00a0he had\u00a0a falling out\u00a0<\/a>with his former Butter Group business partner, Darren Dzienciol. They now hold\u00a0rival bashes during May\u2019s Cannes Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n He was also pushed out of his business arrangement at The Ned by February 2024, allegedly due to some behind-the-scenes money haggling, a\u00a0source previously told Page Six<\/a>.<\/p>\n Star-studded nights<\/p>\n Akiva first became a hot topic in the \u201990s as a member of Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s P\u2013sy Posse. Getty Images<\/p>\n Akiva first hit the Hollywood scene as a core member of DiCaprio\u2019s entourage since they were known as the \u201cP\u2013sy Posse\u201d on the \u201990s nightlife scene. The entrepreneur eventually became known for his wide network of celebrity pals and wild parties.<\/p>\n In 2013, Akiva made headlines after he hosted a multi-city birthday bash<\/a> featuring stars Steve Wynn, Diddy, Chris Brown and Miguel, whom he met up with at his 1OAK in Las Vegas where Robin Thicke performed \u201cBlurred Lines.\u201d <\/p>\n He followed it up the following day with a private dinner at the Peninsula Rooftop in New York City hosted by Naomi Campbell. They were allegedly joined by guests Jay Z, Timbaland, Anne V and her beau Matt Harvey.<\/p>\n Thicke later appeared at Akiva\u2019s Paris birthday party<\/a> in 2017. Additional guests included Lenny Kravitz,<\/a>\u00a0Kourtney Kardashian<\/a>\u00a0and her then-boyfriend\u00a0Younes Bendjima,<\/a>\u00a0supermodels\u00a0Jourdan Dunn,<\/a>\u00a0Taylor Hill,\u00a0Joan Smalls<\/a>\u00a0and Doutzen Kroes.<\/p>\n He has since expanded his celebrity network with his star-studded bashes that feature the likes of Jay-Z, Naomi Campbell, Robin Thicke, Alex Rodriguez and more. Getty Images for 40\/40 Club<\/p>\n In more recent years, Akiva has begun hosting his signature shindigs in St. Barts<\/a>. In 2021, he hosted a New Year\u2019s Eve party on the popular celebrity hotspot island which, a source told us, was jumping with hundreds of people until the wee hours of the morning. <\/p>\n In 2022, he celebrated the launch<\/a> of his private social club, Societe, with a star-studded event featuring appearances from Busta Rhymes; Ne-Yo and Gunna Alex Rodriguez; Giancarlo Stanton; NBA players Joakim Noah, Myles Turner, and Oshae Brissett; model Joan Smalls, and \u201cGossip Girl\u201d cast members Thomas Doherty and Whitney Peak.<\/p>\n Over the years, DiCaprio and Akiva have remained as close as ever<\/a>, with the actor making several appearances at the mogul\u2019s bashes. In 2024, the \u201cWolf of Wall Street\u201d star was said to have helped out a drunk man<\/a> at one of Akiva\u2019s epic parties in the Hamptons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richie Akiva is one wild boy. The former nightclub founder, who was arrested on Wednesday, has a long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[48791,36270,191,9,12238,2827,56,63,65,64,48792],"class_list":["post-108309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-celebrity-businesses","tag-celebrity-crimes","tag-celebrity-news","tag-new-york","tag-nightclubs","tag-nightlife","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-richie-akiva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}