Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine Lose $25 Million Beats Lawsuit Dr. Dre and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine were sued by their former business partner, Steven Lamar. Lamar was seeking $100 million in royalties. The lawsuit claimed that Lamar approached Dre with the idea for "celebrity-endorsed headphones" in 2006. The jury ruled in favor of Lamar. He was awarded $25,247,350 in total damages for three models of Beats headphones.