Dr. Dre is dealing with a $10 million lawsuit accusing him of a “malicious marketing campaign of harassment” towards a psychiatrist who says he served as a wedding counselor and mediator for the rapper and his ex-wife earlier than and through their divorce.
In a case filed Wednesday (Oct. 9) in Los Angeles court docket, Dr. Charles J. Sophy claimed Dre (Andre Younger) had subjected him to an “ongoing barrage of threats” after he had “labored diligently” to assist him resolve his disputes with then-wife Nicole Younger.
“Somewhat than treating the mediation course of as a possibility for therapeutic, [Dre] determined to take his frustrations in regards to the mediation out on Dr. Sophy — frustrations that manifested themselves within the type of an almost year-long sustained marketing campaign of late-night texts, threats of intimidation and violence, and homophobic rhetoric,” writes the physician’s lawyer, Christopher Frost of the agency Frost LLP.
The lawsuit seeks a restraining order towards additional harassment, in addition to financial damages that the accuser’s attorneys say ought to complete no less than $10 million. A consultant for Dr. Dre didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
Nicole Younger filed for divorce from Dr. Dre in 2020 after 24 years of marriage, citing allegations of abusive habits that Dre vehemently denied. After one other 18 months of authorized wrangling, the couple finalized their divorce in December 2021 with a $100 million settlement.
Based on Sophy’s lawsuit, the pair engaged him in 2018 for a “joint psychotherapist-patient relationship” during which he offered remedy and marriage counseling. After the divorce case started, he says he continued to work with the couple, together with their attorneys, to mediate the phrases of the dissolution.
In February 2023, Sophy claims that after months of no contact, Dre started harassing him by way of textual content message. Based on an alleged screenshot included within the criticism, within the first such message, Dre instructed Sophy that he had been instructed one thing “disturbing” by an unnamed particular person, adopted by a risk: “You’re going to need to pay for that.”
Over the 2 months following that first textual content, Sophy says Dre repeatedly despatched him threatening texts, accusing the physician of “moral breaches” and threatening to report him to medical regulators. In a single, he allegedly instructed Sophy, “you f—ed with the incorrect one”; in one other, Dre allegedly mentioned he was “not enjoying, belief me.”
“I’m not going wherever,” Dre allegedly wrote in an April 2023 textual content, “till you clarify to me why you tried to speak [an unnamed person] into saying damaging issues about me to the media.” Sophy says there may be “no fact behind these baseless and far-fetched accusations” and that he tried to disregard the threats, however that he ultimately started to concern for his security.
“Younger, a distinguished and highly effective determine within the music trade with a well-documented historical past of violence and abuse, carried out a collection of illegal acts intentionally meant to threaten, intimidate, terrorize, and finally smash Dr. Sophy personally and professionally,” the lawsuit reads.
The threats prolonged past textual content messages, in line with the lawsuit. In a single alleged incident, Sophy claims that faux FBI brokers, employed by Dre, arrived at his gated group and instructed a safety guard that they wanted to “discuss” with the physician at his house.
“This incident, which occurred instantly after the preliminary texts had been despatched in February, was not a coincidence,” Sophy’s legal professionals write. “It was a calculated, illegal try … to threaten his bodily security and ship the unmistakable message that Younger can attain Dr. Sophy even within the sanctity of his house.”
The incident triggered Sophy to “concern for his life” and “resort to excessive safety measures,” together with hiring personal safety and carrying a bulletproof vest. His legal professionals say the “egregiousness” of Dre’s conduct ultimately “compelled Dr. Sophy to hunt redress and safety” within the courts.
“Dr. Sophy doesn’t relish suing a former affected person,” the physician’s legal professionals write. “No person ought to need to stay in fixed concern. However Dr. Sophy does — paradoxically, for no different cause than he tried to assist Younger to resolve his circle of relatives’s battle.”
In technical phrases, the lawsuit accuses Dre of harassment and intentional infliction of emotional misery, in addition to violation of a California legislation prohibiting the usage of drive or risk of violence to intervene with somebody’s civil rights. The lawsuit additionally claims that a few of the threats had been based mostly on Sophy’s sexual orientation, which means they violated a California hate crime statute.