Attorneys for a company founded by Dr. Dre are accusing the rapper's estranged wife of criminal embezzlement, claiming she's draining that very company's business account to line her own pockets. The company, Record One, now wants her to pay the money back. Otherwise, they plan to take legal action.
Back in 2015, Dre and Larry Chatman started Record One, a company operated by an LLC. Nicole Young, Dre's ex, was reportedly a trustee and signatory on the LLC's checking account.
In the letter sent to Nicole, which was obtained by TMZ, attorneys for the LLC allege that Nicole wrote a $363,571.85 check to herself last month that "decimated" the company's bank account. The check was attached to the letter.
The letter accuses Nicole of "blatant and unjustifiable criminal embezzlement of corporate funds," as well as a breach of her fiduciary duties, TMZ reports.
Record One is giving Nicole until Sept. 29 to return the money. If she doesn't, attorneys say she can expect a formal lawsuit.
Nicole's layer denied any wrongdoing on the part of his client.
"This is just a low-grade PR stunt by [Dr. Dre] and his team to try to change the fact that he was caught red-handed and sued for trying to cheat Nicole out of community property to which she is entitled," attorney Bryan Freedman said. "There is no question that Nicole had both the contractual and the legal right to have taken this action and Andre's team is well aware of this fact. Any suggestion she did something untoward is preposterous and pathetic."
The split between Dre, real name Andre Young, and Nicole has gotten incredibly contentious.
In late June, Nicole filed for divorce from Dre, ending their 26-year relationship. Soon after, she alleged that she was forced to sign a prenuptial agreement (she also claimed Dre ripped up the paperwork a few years later, which he's denied).
Last week, she alleged that she co-owns some of Dre's most valuable assets — including the Dr. Dre name — and accused the hip hop mogul of hiding assets so that she can't get to them.
In her lawsuit, Nicole claims she "caught [Dre] secretly transferring valuable trademarks he owned with his wife … to a newly created asset holding company that he created and controlled after he expelled his wife from their home, and before he threatened to file divorce."
The trademarks, she believes, are community property.