Judge Affirms Suge Knight Must Pay $107 Million Judgment to Former Death Row Employee

Death Row Records founder Suge Knight might be behind bars, but he still needs to pay the $107 million judgment from 2005. NBC Los Angeles reports that Suge, who is serving 28 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, has had the judgment reinstated.

Knight was ordered to pay $107 million to Lydia Harris in 2005, as she asserted that she was an early investor in Death Row Records but was later cheated out of the 50 percent stake she claims she was entitled to. Harris additionally said at the time she was the company’s first vice president, but as soon as the record label made it big, she said she was pushed aside. “This is a very old case with big names and big numbers,” said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Sotelo. 

Harris requested that the judgment was voided last year, however, citing issues with her former lawyers with whom she won the case against Knight and Death Row. She said she was used by her former attorneys in order to “wrongfully obtain the judgment.” The judge initially agreed to void the judgment, but it was later reinstated after the attorneys filed court papers requesting as such. They are entitled to 40 percent of the judgment as part of the retainer agreement.