Noel Lee

Monster, which turned the headphone industry upside down with Dr. Dre, is upending its own exec board, announcing in a press release that it had fired “toxic” COO Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian on July 27 – alleging a failed hostile takeover, death and dismemberment threats, and downright corruption.

Monster plans to enter an entirely new market: online gambling, poker in particular. The PokerTribe.com site will launch December 15, it says.

Dr. Dre sold Beats to Apple for $3.2 billion, and Monster got burned. Now the audio giant will turn retail inside out again, with help from the Florida Marlins and RocNation.