|
 |
 | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| | You are in: Entertainment: Music | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | | Wednesday, 27 February, 2002, 14:34 GMT Death Row in profits legal battle  Marion Knight headed Death Row records while in prison One of the biggest hip hop record companies in the US is at the centre of a legal battle over profits. Record producer Lydia Harris is suing the owner of Death Row Records, Marion "Suge" Knight, and several alleged co-conspirators. Harris claims she was co-founder of Death Row, and alleges that they changed the legal existence of the record label to exclude her from being involved with it. The label is one of the most famous rap/hip hop record companies in the US, and it launched the careers of Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. Harris' attorney David Casselman said she had initially became involved with the label as a 50% shareholder in a company called GFP Inc, which was the parent company to Death Row. Damages It is alleged that Knight, along with Harris' former attorney David Kenner, covered up her ownership stake with paperwork and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring. Mr Casselman said damages should be "certainly in the tens of millions and could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars".
Knight shot to fame in the early 1990s running Death Row, but he was jailed in 1996 for his part in a fight with a rival gang just hours before his prot�g� Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting. Knight landed in jail after breaking a 1995 probation order he received for two counts of assault following a fight with two rappers. He also pleaded guilty to federal charges of attempting to commit a drug-related offence and conspiracy. The 36-year-old had remained the head of Los Angeles-based Death Row during his imprisonment. He was released after serving half of a nine-year jail sentence. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Music stories now:  Links to more Music stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Links to more Music stories |
 | | ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy  |
E-mail this story to a friend