Suge Knight Sues Dr. Dre, Claims Rapper Hired a Hitman to Kill Him

Lawsuit stems over unpaid earnings from Beats by Dre

By Francesca Bacardi Oct 24, 2016 7:52 PMTags
Suge Knight, Dr. DreAlberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images, Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Suge Knight is suing Dr. Dre for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill him.

According to TMZ, the battle is over Dre's successful company Beats by Dre. Knight claims he and Dre had a deal that entitled Knight to 30 percent of Dre's entertainment earnings. But when Apple showed interest in purchasing Beats by Dry (it eventually did), the technology company allegedly didn't want to be associated with Knight, so Dre tried to cut him out.

The lawsuit claims Dre hired a hitman to kill the Death Row Records co-founder and former CEO at 1Oak nightclub the weekend of the 2014 VMAs. Knight was shot seven times but ultimately recovered. In January 2015, however, Knight drove to Tam's Burgers in Compton, Calif., where he allegedly ran over and killed 55-year-old Terry Carter. He also allegedly injured Cle "Bone" Sloan

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Knight was charged with killing Carter, but he pleaded not guilty to the murder.

Suge is suing Dre, Apple, Universal and Tam's for unspecified damages. An attorney for Dre tells E! News, "Given that Dre has had zero interaction with Suge since leaving Death Row Records in 1996, we hope that Suge's lawyer has lots of malicious prosecution insurance."

When footage of the hit-and-run leaked in March, Knight's then-attorney argued that it proved that the mogul was attacked first before he struck with the fatal blow. But an attorney representing Carter's family said that the slain man did not attack his friend Knight, and Knight should have just driven off rather than hit Carter and Sloan with his car.

At the time of this case's events, Knight was out on bail in a robbery case, in which he was charged along with Micah "Katt" Williams.

Knight also filed a lawsuit against rapper Chris Brown, who happened to be hosting the 1Oak event the weekend of the VMAs. Knight claimed Brown was at fault for not hiring proper security. He also filed a suit against the nightclub for not taking security precautions. It also accused Brown of gang ties and a "well-documented track record of hosting events and/or parties in which violence frequently erupted."