The former NWA manager Jerry Heller has filed a $110m defamation suit against the makers of rap biopic Straight Outta Compton, claiming the blockbuster drama both portrayed him in a false light and used details without consent from his memoirs.

Heller says he never gave permission for his name or likeness to be used in F Gary Gray’s film, which paints him as the key architect in NWA’s demise, according to the suit filed on Friday at the Los Angeles superior court.

Heller, played by actor Paul Giamatti, can be seen as the source of conflict between group members Ice Cube, Eazy-E and Dr Dre in Straight Outta Compton. The music industry mogul, who managed NWA throughout the hip-hop outfit’s late 80s and early 90s success, is seen encouraging Cube (O’Shea Jackson, Jr) to accept a cheque for $75,000 in order to sign a contract without the involvement of a lawyer. He regularly sides with business partner E (Jason Mitchell), and towards the end of the movie is fired by him after the warring group members agree in principle to reunite.

Heller, who is suing studio Universal, production company Legendary Pictures, director Gray and producers Cube and Dre, among others, denies being responsible for NWA’s breakup or creating conflict between the group’s members in the suit. He also says he never offered Cube a $75,000 cheque and has denied ever being fired by Eazy-E.

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“The insidiousness of defendants’ behaviour is underscored by the fact that the film may become the largest globally grossing music-story based film ever,” reads the complaint. “The larger the success of the film, the greater the damages to plaintiff, who has been and continues to be defamed, ridiculed and robbed of his personal and financial rights to the extent that the intentional and egregious behaviour of defendants demands the imposing of punitive damages.”

Heller, 75, also claims Straight Outta Compton borrowed key scenes, including the humiliation of Dre, Cube and Eazy-E by police at their studio which supposedly inspired the song Fuck tha Police, from his 2006 book Reckless: A Memoir, titled after the label he founded with E. As well as defamation, he claims misappropriation of likeness, tortious interference, breach of a settlement agreement and copyright infringement. With regards to the claimed settlement agreement, Heller says all surviving former parties in NWA agreed not to disparage each other in 1999.

Straight Outta Compton became the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time in August and has made almost $200m globally on a production budget of just $28m. The film was also very well-reviewed and currently boasts an 89% “fresh” rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

A spokesperson for Universal told Deadline the studio had no comment on the suit.