Death Row Records founder’s ex sues Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight over 20-year-old unpaid $107M settlement
‘Watch out,’ former queen-pin of the rap game Lydia Harris says. ‘I’m coming for my money.’
Harris, the woman who helped run Death Row Records, is suing Snoop Dogg, Marion ‘Suge’ Knight and music giants Universal Music Group, Time Warner and Interscope Records over a $107million judgement, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Harris, 61, married Death Row co-founder Michael ‘Harry-O’ Harris and helped run the record label famous for producing Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop’s music while her husband served a decades-long prison sentence.
In 2005, the same year she and Harry O got divorced, she won a $107million default judgment against infamous Death Row boss Suge Knight and the companies behind the record label, after claiming he screwed her out of her share in the lucrative business.
But she has never been able to collect.
Now Harris is trying a different tactic: suing the giant record labels and big hip hop figures who she claims were in on Suge’s scam.
Lydia Harris is renewing her 20-year-long legal battle again Death Row Records and Marion ‘Suge’ Knight (right). Michael ‘Harry-O’ Harris (left) is also a co-founder and Lydia’s ex-husband
Lydia filed her lawsuit on Tuesday against Snoop Dogg (center), Suge (middle left) and music giants Universal Music Group, Time Warner and Interscope Records over a $107million judgement, DailyMail.com can reveal
Lydia helped run Death Row Records while her husband served a 17-year sentence. She won the judgment against Suge and the companies behind the record label in 2005, after claiming he screwed her out of her share in the lucrative business
‘For over 20 years, I’ve fought for what’s rightfully mine. What started as a vision turned into betrayal, silence, and exclusion,’ Lydia told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
‘While others reap the rewards, myself and my family who should have benefited, have been left with nothing.’
Harris has an adult daughter, LyDasia, with Harry O.
‘This isn’t about resentment; it’s about justice. I’ve dedicated years of my life and I refuse to let my contributions be erased,’ she added. ‘I respect everyone involved, but respect doesn’t mean silence.
‘I’m ready for a resolution. I’m ready to be paid what I’m owed. It’s time for fairness, for truth, and for justice.’
Her lawsuit, filed in a Texas federal court on Tuesday, accuses Snoop, Suge, Universal, Time Warner and Interscope Records of ‘fraud on the court, civil conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and abuse of legal process.’
Lydia Harris told DailyMail.com that Suge and his lawyers tried to wriggle out of the enormous judgment by claiming that Harry-O signed a release effectively forgiving the debt
Lydia posing at Death Row Records with Warner Bros record executive Mo Ostin (bottom left), DJ Battle Cat (bottom center), talent manager Benny Medina (third in from left) and rapper Dana Dane (third in from right)
She accused the record labels, executives and rap stars of ‘refusing to produce financial records’, ‘submitting fraudulent and misleading legal filings’, and ‘engaging in bad-faith legal tactics’
Lydia posing with defense lawyer David Kenner who has represented Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight
Harris also named ‘Time Warner’ among the defendants in her lawsuit, which is an ancestor of current media giant Warner Bros. Discovery.
Time Warner was renamed ‘WarnerMedia’ and bought by AT&T in 2018, then later became ‘Warner Bros. Discovery’ after it was spun off from a merger with Discovery Inc in 2022.
Harris alleges ‘a deliberate and orchestrated conspiracy’ by Interscope Records, Time Warner, Universal Music Group, Death Row Records and others to defraud her of the $107million court-ordered judgment from 2005.
She accused the record labels, executives and rap stars of ‘refusing to produce financial records’, ‘submitting fraudulent and misleading legal filings’, and ‘engaging in bad-faith legal tactics’.
The legal filing adds that they ‘willfully obstructed judicial discovery, refused to comply with court orders and engaged in fraudulent legal maneuvers to evade accountability.’
Harris, who now lives in Sugar Land, Texas, told DailyMail.com that Suge Knight and his lawyers tried to wriggle out of the enormous judgement by claiming that Harry-O signed a release effectively forgiving the debt.
Harry-O was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 1987 for kidnap and attempted murder. It was while he was behind bars that he co-founded Death Row.
In total he served 33 years before his sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump on the last day of his first term in the White House.
The legal filing adds that the defendants ‘willfully obstructed judicial discovery, refused to comply with court orders and engaged in fraudulent legal maneuvers to evade accountability
Suge and his associates filed for bankruptcy tactically to shield Death Row’s assets and play a shell game with the record label’s huge profits, Lydia claims.
But she said she never signed any release, and that she is still owed the cash pile.
Knight and his associates filed for bankruptcy tactically to shield Death Row’s assets and play a shell game with the record label’s huge profits, she claims.
Lydia also claimed that her lawsuit will include ‘new documents’ that purportedly show Time Warner and Universal bosses knew about Suge’s alleged underhand tactics, and took part in hiding the $107million from her.
However, it appears she has struggled to find the right lawyer for her case, filing the new lawsuit ‘pro se’, representing herself without an attorney.
Lawyers may have been put off by her previous spats with her own counsel, having accused former reps Wasserman, Comden & Casselman of misrepresenting her in the original lawsuit.
The Death Row case is one of the longest-running on the Los Angeles court’s books.
One attorney previously involved in the case, Peter Ezzell, said he has 17 boxes of documents on the case which has ‘gone on through generations’ since Harris sued Knight in 2002.
