The 49-year-old rapper and the 61-year-old producer have been sued by the CEO of Monster for allegedly deceiving him before selling the Beats Electronics to Apple for $3 billion last year.
- January 7, 2015
AceShowbiz -
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have been sued by Monster over Beats Electronics. Monster CEO Noel Lee filed a lawsuit against Dr. Dre and Jimmy on Tuesday, January 6, accusing them of deceiving him before selling the headphone company to Apple for $3 billion.
According to the complaint filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, Dr. Dre and Jimmy arranged a "sham" deal with HTC in 2011 which led to the termination of Beats' alliance with Monster. Dr. Dre and Jimmy allegedly prompted Noel to reduce his 5 percent stake in Beats to 1.25 percent before selling it for $5.5 million in 2013.
At that time, Noel agreed to sell his stake because Beats executives allegedly told him that there were no plans to sell the company for the next several years. However, Beats announced its sale to Apple in May 2014. The suit claimed that Noel could receive more than $30 million if he retained his 1.25 percent stake or around $150 million if he held on his original 5 percent stake.
According to the suit, each of Dr. Dre and Jimmy owned 15 percent stakes in the early stages of Beats partnership with Monster. Besides Dr. Dre and Jimmy, Noel also listed HTC and Beats board member Paul Wachter in his lawsuit.
Dr. Dre's representative has not commented on the issue yet. Apple declined to comment when contacted by the Associated Press.
