It appears that Dr. Dre is now pursuing criminal litigation against his estranged wife, Nicole Young. In October, it was reported by TMZ that the hip hop mogul’s business partner, Larry Chatman, filed a police report with the Los Angeles Police Department against Young alleging that she made unauthorized withdrawals totaling $385,029 from the bank account belonging to Dre and Chatman’s Record One Studio. According to reports, Young wrote herself a check totaling $353,571 just weeks before filing for divorce and then wrote a second check for $31,457 after being notified that she was being removed from the account and the board.
At the time, it was reported that Dre had no involvement in the criminal investigation — even those his legal did mention the withdrawals in legal documents connected to their divorce. However, it appears that this has since changed and Dre is now participating with police.
In an update on the case, TMZ reported that Dre has filed a police report echoing Chatman’s allegations that Young embezzled $385,029 from one of his companies. His legal team also alleges that when asked about the withdrawals during her deposition, she pleaded the fifth.
In response to previous reports, Young’s attorney Bryan Freedman argued that she was actually entitled to the money that was withdrawn and that no crime had been committed. He referred to the allegations as a “low-grade PR stunt.”
“This is a clear attempt to smear Nicole’s name,” he told TMZ back in September. “As people are well aware, banks do not give out money to people who are not authorized to receive it.”
So far, there has been no word from the LAPD about whether or not charges will be filed; however, if charged and convicted, she could face actual jail time.
Dre and Young have been involved in a bitter divorce since Young filed for divorce in June. The now-estranged couple tied the knot in 1996. Their marriage produced two children. While we understand that divorce can be ugly — especially when large sums of money are involved — it’s unfortunate that things have become so bitter between the soon-to-be exes.
