Tech investor Michael Rubin helped pay for those ‘Stand With Meek Mill’ ads

A Philly.com story dug into that campaign backing rapper Robert “Meek Mill” Williams amid his woes with the justice system.

After Judge Genece Brinkley handed a 2-4 year probation sentence for violating the terms of his parole on Nov. 7, the #StandWithMeekMill movement was born. A peep at the hashtag on Twitter tracks sightings of the buses and billboards that turned up around town the day after the sentencing.

Footing the bill for the ad blitz is Roc Nation, the Jay-Z-owned management company where Williams is enlisted, and GSI Commerce founder–turned-investor Michael Rubin.

“If we need one on every corner in every street in the state of Pennsylvania,” Rubin told the Inqy. “We will do it. We won’t quit.”

(Jay-Z also penned an op-ed on the New York Times riffing on the justice system and the injustices that led to Mill’s arrest and subsequent sentencing.)

Rubin, part-owner of the Sixers, also served as a character witness for the rapper, describing a close personal relationship born after an NBA All-Star game.

The tech scene, though, knows Rubin as the exec behind one of Philly tech’s biggest exits. The founder’s King of Prussia, Pa.-based company was acquired by eBay for a total of $2.4 billion in cash and debt in March 2011. He’s since invested in Philly companies like Sidecar.