CELEBRITY JUSTICE ™

Sean Kingston has no problem picking out tons of high-end jewelry, but paying for it is another story ... according to the high-end jeweler who says they got screwed.

NYC jeweler Aqua Master just sued Kingston over 9 pieces of jewelry he scooped up last month -- valued at more than $300,000. The jeweler says Sean promised his biz manager would wire money to pay his tab.

According to the suit, Aqua got 2 checks instead of a wire transfer ... and they bounced. Meanwhile, Sean was enjoying 2 diamond necklaces, a few gold chains, a ring, a bracelet and 2 watches. A rep for Aqua tells us Sean even flaunted the goods on IG.

The company is suing Kingston and his company, coincidentally named ... Time Is Money Entertainment.

This is old hat for Kingston, who was sued by a Florida jeweler in March, and also ordered to pay another NYC jeweler for an unpaid bill.

Sean's rep hasn't gotten back to us -- but on Raq Rants he explained why so many jewelers have beef with him.

Gladys Knight might've just proved blood isn't always thicker than water -- she just sued her son to stop using mama's name and face in the restaurant biz.

Gladys wants the person now running the restaurants previously managed by her son, Shanga Hankerson, to 86 her from signs and promotions for the chicken and waffle joints.

Gladys says she gave the green light to use her name and image for the restaurants back in '99, but put the kibosh on the deal a few months ago after the eateries were raided by the Georgia Department of Revenue. Her son was arrested for allegedly pocketing a million bucks.

Taylor Swift was just dismissed as a prospective juror in an aggravated rape/kidnapping case because she told the judge she has a pending civil case that also involves sexual assault.

Taylor was being questioned about possible bias in a case involving a man who allegedly penetrated a woman with a broom handle after holding her at bay.

The singer told the judge she has a case in Colorado in which a DJ allegedly fondled her backstage during a concert, so the judge didn't think she could be impartial.

Taylor was dismissed from the jury panel for cause.

Ryan Lochte says he'd love to go back to Rio one day ... but it sure as hell won't be to face charges in the whole gas station incident ... so says Lochte himself.

Lochte was charged with filing a false police report in Rio and officials have summoned the swimmer to Brazil for a hearing ... but Monday morning at LAX, Lochte said prosecutors shouldn't hold their breath.

There's more ... Lochte says he's heard rumblings that the U.S. Olympic Committee will either ban him from swimming or strip him of his '16 Olympic medals over the incident ... but says, "I don't think it's gonna happen."

As for Jimmy Fallon spoofing him at the VMAs Sunday night, Lochte says he didn't see it -- but ain't mad either ... insisting he thinks the mockery is actually funny.

Angel Salazar is coming up empty-handed in the child support department again ... and a judge just sicced the law on him with an arrest warrant.

Arizona cops are on the lookout for the actor, who played Chi Chi in "Scarface," for shorting his baby mama $1,100 back in January. He hasn't dropped a dime for the $5k a month obligation since July.

Angel better not show his face in the Apache State anytime soon, 'cause it'll cost him $5,000 to get bailed out if he's arrested this time around.

Chi Chi, get the yayo ... and scrounge together some cash for your kids while you're at it.

Charlie Sheen is in such financial trouble ... his ex-wives have agreed to slice their child support payments in half, for fear if he goes to court the payments would be reduced to next to nothing ... TMZ has learned.

Sources familiar with the situation tell us, both Brooke Mueller and Denise Richards have agreed to around $25k a month ... they were each getting $55k a month.

We're told Charlie is now making next to nothing, which is shocking given his previous earning power with "Two and a Half Men" and "Anger Management."

Our sources say Brooke and Denise both knew if Charlie went to court for a reduction in support a judge would drop the payments to $10k a month, or maybe even lower.

We're told Charlie threw in some real estate for Brooke and Denise and committed to doing a show with Denise.

We're also told Charlie is liquidating his assets, because he's facing a slew of legal claims.

Rio's the least of Ryan Lochte's legal issues because he says he's also fallen victim to a bunch of crooks right here in the U.S.A. -- chronically, in fact, and it's cost him more than $100k.

TMZ has learned Lochte told cops his car was broken into in a Charlotte parking lot back in January. Law enforcement tells us Ryan said the thieves jacked his iPod, swimsuit, swimcap, goggles and a Team USA backpack. Total loss ... $1,000. Ryan also admitted he left his car unlocked.

Lochte's luck was even worse when he lived in Gainesville, FL -- check out all the police reports for alleged stolen goods:

- May 2009: Ryan's Suzuki GSX-R750 motorcycle. $8k lost.

- Dec 2009: Home burglary of Louis Vuitton bags, watches (Rolex, Jacob & Co., Breitling), jewelry, TVs and other electronics. Cops say the house was unlocked. $123k lost.

- July 2010: ANOTHER motorcycle lifted from his house. $14k lost.

- March 2011: Cops bust 2 guys attempting to steal wheels off his Chevy Tahoe.

According to law enforcement -- except for the tires -- none of the items were ever recovered.

Cassie's had a change of heart -- she's back with Diddy ... despite a domestic incident last week in which cops were called.

We broke the story ... Cassie dumped Diddy and a heated argument ensued. Diddy allegedly grabbed Cassie's phone, jumped out of the car they were in and skedaddled.

The Beverly Hills police investigated the incident and determined it was just one of those things and no crime was committed. Diddy gave the phone back and there was no violence, so it came down to a case of no harm, no foul.

Even if the cops saw it differently, Cassie made it clear she didn't want her boo prosecuted so it would have been dropped anyway.

Make it work, guys.

Authorities in Rio really showed Ryan Lochte and his teammates who's the boss -- just ask Rio authorities, who are patting themselves on the back ... hard!

The Court of Justice in Rio believes its handling of Lochte-gate brought "international prestige" to its city and required "courageous action." We know this because the court actually fired off a statement to the media saying so.

Rio police similarly shouted out the efforts of Rio police ... saying they uncovered the "farce" of the Team USA swimmers' story.

The praise and adulation came 24 hours after Lochte was charged for lying to police -- a non-extraditable offense that Lochte has no intention of returning to Brazil to face.

Steven Avery is renewing his fight to get outta prison and believes there's better technology to prove the cops railroaded him while investigating Teresa Halbach's murder.

Avery -- who is serving a life sentence without parole -- wants the state of Wisconsin to do radiocarbon testing to show the age of his blood that was found at the Halbach crime scene in 2005.

As he claimed in "Making a Murderer" ... Avery believes cops planted blood they'd previously drawn from him years earlier, during his rape conviction. Avery's hope is the new testing will back that up.

The brother-in-law of Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer has been charged with rape, kidnapping and more ... stemming from a January incident, TMZ Sports has learned.

The suspect is former Chillicothe police officer Brandon Mather -- who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the back of a police cruiser while he was off duty.

Officials say ... Mather had been drinking at a pub on January 17th when a woman came running from a nearby hotel claiming she had been assaulted by her boyfriend.

While two on-duty cops investigated, an intoxicated Mather somehow ended up in a police cruiser with the alleged victim -- where she claims he put his hands down her pants.

Officials say the woman claims Mather then drove her to the home of one of his friends -- where he and another man allegedly tried to rape her.

The woman says she texted her ex-husband for help while inside the home -- and he called the cops.

The woman says she recorded audio of Mather saying, "I just want her pants off."

Mather has since resigned from the police department -- and has been charged with 1 count of rape, 1 count of kidnapping, 2 counts of abduction and 2 counts of gross sexual imposition.

Ryan Lochte has just been formally charged in Brazil with filing a false police report stemming from the August 14th gas station incident ... and faces jail time if convicted.

Brazilian officials have already summoned the swimmer to Rio for a hearing on the incident -- but sources close to Lochte say there's no way in hell he'll go.

The charge is not an extraditable offense ... meaning he can't be forced to Brazil by American courts.

If convicted of filing a false police report, Lochte could face up to 6 months in jail. The likelihood is ... Lochte's lawyers will negotiate a fine similar to the one Jimmy Feigen paid -- $11k -- to charity, and the case will go away.

"The Birth of a Nation" is a movie every American absolutely needs to see -- regardless of star and director Nate Parker's old rape trial ... at least that's how the Oscars honcho sees it.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Prez of the Motion Picture Academy, talked to us Thursday about the potential backlash. The American Film Institute canceled a screening of the movie this week, and Parker's come under fire since details of the 2001 trial were released.

Ryan Lochte will NOT be returning to Brazil -- despite the fact officials in Rio have reportedly summoned the swimmer to testify in front of the country's Justice Department ... sources tell TMZ Sports.

Leslie Jones' hacking situation is so bad the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security has their top cyber-crimes unit on the case ... TMZ has learned.

As TMZ reported ... the FBI was accessing the case Wednesday after hackers posted nude pics of the 'SNL' star on her website, along with her passport, driver's license and other sensitive info.

We've learned the case is now with Homeland Security for 2 reasons -- it has one of the most sophisticated cyber-crime unit in the country, and Leslie has history with the Dept.

One source tells TMZ Leslie had some sort of problem with catfishing in the past, and Homeland Security investigated the case. There's some evidence a group from Japan may have been the culprit in the current case.

Leslie has remained silent since her website was hacked Wednesday.

Johnny Depp is heaping praise on Amber Heard for promising to donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity ... and he's so moved he's sending the checks directly to the 2 organizations she personally picked.

Amber announced after striking her settlement she would donate every penny to the ACLU and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles -- $3.5 mil each. We checked with Children's Hospital Tuesday and they had not yet received any of the money.

We've learned both the ACLU and Children's Hospital got checks Wednesday from Johnny, on behalf of Amber. The checks are the first in a number of installments that will eventually total $7 million.

A rep for Johnny tells TMZ, "Following Amber Heard's announcement that her divorce settlement was to be divided equally and gifted to Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union, two exceptionally deserving and important charities, Johnny Depp has sent the first of multiple installments of those monies to each charity in the name of Amber Heard, which when completed will honor the full amount of Ms. Heard's pledge."

The rep adds, "Ms. Heard's generosity in giving to these wonderful causes is deeply respected."

Everybody happy now?