One of rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight's former lawyers has been indicted on new charges alleging he tried to retaliate against a federal judge presiding over his bank fraud trial.
Thaddeus Culpepper, 46, still listed as an inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, made an appearance in U.S. District Court late Wednesday on the new case that accuses him of filing a "false lien and encumbrance against the real and personal property" of the judge, as well as a lien on a second property that belonged to the warden of the jail.
The indictment filed Monday doesn't name the trial judge, but it describes him as the judge on Culpepper's ongoing fraud case, which is U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney.
The new charges add to a slew of legal problems for Culpepper, who was first arrested in March 2018 when LA County prosecutors accused him of conspiring with Knight and another attorney to bribe witnesses and obstruct justice.
The witnesses involved were expected to testify at Knight's murder trial, at which the former music producer was accused of deliberately striking two men with his pickup truck in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in Compton in 2015.
Before the trial could begin Knight pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for killing 55-year-old Terry Carter and injuring 51-year-old Cle "Bone" Sloan. The plea announced in September 2018 would lead to a 28-year prison term for Knight.
In October 2018 Culpepper, who also acted as a spokesperson for Knight, was indicted by a federal grand jury on allegations he tried to cash more than $1-million in stolen tax refund checks and has been in federal custody while awaiting trial.
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Culpepper has pleaded not guilty to both the state and federal criminal charges.
