‘Suge’ Knight a No-Show at Debt Hearing

Rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight failed to appear at a court-ordered debtor hearing Saturday, triggering legal actions which a judge had warned would place his Death Row Records in receivership.

In addition, lawyers suing him plan to ask that he be held in contempt and jailed until he participates in the debtor hearing, which requires him to disclose all of his assets.

At issue is an unpaid $107-million judgment against Knight that was awarded to Lydia Harris, a former Knight associate who has said she helped start the rap record empire with her former husband, Michael Harris.

Michael Harris, a drug dealer serving a 28-year sentence at San Quentin State Prison, is claiming half of the $107 million as community property in their divorce. He also says he put up $1.5 million from behind bars to help start the record label, a contention that Knight has denied.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Sohegian issued an order last week appointing a receiver to take over Death Row Records. But he had stayed the order pending Knight’s scheduled appearance at Saturday’s hearing.

Knight’s attorney, Dermot Givens, declined to comment on his client’s absence, saying, “We try our cases in the court and not in the press.”