Knight: ‘Dr. Dre Did It’

The “contract” resulted not only in Knight being shot seven times in 2014, but causing the accident for which Knight is currently standing trial, according to the complaint. In a segment of the complaint titled “Dr. Dre Did It,” Knight alleges that Dre hired the man who shot him repeatedly at Chris Brown’s pre-VMA party in 2014 and later, joined by Universal, paid another man $300,000 to “finish the job” – the man who Knight alleges attacked him while he sat in a truck in the Tam’s Burger parking lot in Compton, Calif., resulting in the death of a bystander.

Knight was charged with felony hit-and-run and murder in the incident. In court documents, he claims Cle “Bone” Sloan – who was injured as Knight attempted to leave Tam’s – tried to enter Knight’s truck after punching him through an open window. In the process, Knight claims, Sloan knocked the gear shift into reverse and, when Knight punched the gas pedal, was thrown from the cab. When Knight threw the truck back into drive, Terry Carter, who had fallen trying to get out of the way, was run over and killed.

Sloan and another man, according to the complaint, were being paid by Dre, whose given name is Andre Young, and Universal as “technical advisors” on the movie “Straight Outta Compton.” Knight claims that when Dre’s business relationship with Death Row Records was dissolved in 1996, Knight retained a “lifetime management agreement that provided that Knight earn 30 percent of Young’s entertainment earnings in perpetuity.”

At this point, Apple enters the picture. Because Apple was negotiating the Beats headphone deal with Young and considering making him an executive and shareholder, the tech giant was made aware, as was Universal, of Knight’s “manager in perpetuity” role. And also of the 30 percent “commission.” Knight in his complaint alleges that instead of “simply acknowledging the contract and paying Knight, Universal, Apple and Young developed a mutually agreeable scheme that would result either in Knight relinquishing his rights under the management contract or Young gaining the appearance of legal separation from Knight and the management contract through bankruptcy filings.” It was with the “Suge Knight problem” in mind, he claims, that Universal hired Sloan to serve as “technical advisor.”

Sloan allegedly hired 300 people to work on the film, 100 of whom were gang members, and chose the locales, the suit claims. “Universal was at least aware that part of Sloan’s tactics in addressing the Knight dilemma would involve armed assault,” the complaint says. “Knight is also informed and believes that Universal also paid for Sloan’s lawyer fees when Sloan was called as an immunized prosecution witness to testify regarding the incident at Tam’s.”

Knight also claims that a witness to his shooting at 1Oak nightclub prior to the VMAs in 2014 told investigators that he was “paid by Young to kill Knight,” though he was released and charges were never filed in that incident. Knight suggests in the filing that Universal and Apple, by bankrolling Young, provided capital with which he paid for “contracts” on Knight’s life. Knight claims he is owed 30 percent of “Young’s payout in the $3 billion Apple/Beats transaction and in Young’s profit share from the Universal film, “Straight Outta Compton,” as well as unspecified compensation to be determined at trial.