Record Executive’s Attorney Pleads Guilty in Tax Case

An Encino lawyer who once represented rap impresario Marion “Suge” Knight pleaded guilty Monday to failing to disclose more than $4 million in earnings.

David E. Kenner, 60, admitted that in 1994 he made $4.1 million, income that prosecutors said he intentionally failed to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service.

Even after being advised in February 1997 that he was under criminal investigation, Kenner failed to file an income tax return until December of that year, prosecutors said.

The criminal defense attorney could receive a maximum of one year in federal prison and pay a $100,000 fine and additional taxes when he is sentenced April 29 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Kenner’s arrest grew out of a 6-year-old racketeering probe by the U.S. Justice Department that focused on Death Row records and included allegations of drug trafficking, money laundering and violent acts, according to law enforcement and Death Row sources.

Specifically, federal officials say they were looking into whether Death Row, the rap label run by Knight, was a criminal enterprise with street gang affiliations and Mafia ties.

Knight, who ran Death Row, was not charged in connection with the government investigation.