CELEBRITY JUSTICE ™

Ryan Lochte's lawyers got a double whammy in Brazil -- a judge denied their request to have HIS criminal case dismissed ... then transferred the case to a higher court.

A rep for the Court of Justice tells TMZ ... a Rio judge kicked Ryan's false police report case up to the public Ministry of Justice, which will now begin figuring out how hefty of a fine to drop on Lochte.

A court rep tells us the Ministry will most likely hand down a fine in excess of the $11k fine Lochte's teammate, Jimmy Feigen, paid to set things right with prosecutors. The decision is expected as early as next week.

The IRS is going after a big chunk of change from Ty Dolla $ign, claiming he's $180,969.35 in the hole.

The rapper was hit with a federal tax lien for 3 separate years -- $16,617.05 in 2011, $54,626.91 in 2013 and $109,725.39 in 2014.

Ty released "Beach House EP" -- his first major label project -- in 2014, so it makes sense he made a lot more money that year. Problem is, according to docs, he didn't pay enough, or any, taxes on that salary.

Sounds like someone could use a tax cut. Something to think about, Ty.

Comedian Terry Hodges wants his double-crossing lawyers to pay for deceiving him into dropping Netflix from a major lawsuit ... according to the new lawsuit he's filing against them.

Hodges sued Netflix and Chris Tucker last year, claiming he did a ton of work for Tucker's Netflix special, but never got a dime for it. He says his lawyers had a major conflict of interest though because Netflix is one of their clients.

In docs, Hodges says "mayhem broke loose" on his legal team, and their solution was to trick him into dropping Netflix from his lawsuit to focus on Tucker. Hodges says doing this heavily damaged his case -- because Netflix has deeper pockets.

Hodges says his lawyers stopped looking out for his best interests, dropped him as a client and he ended up with zilch.

The Game's accuser in his sexual assault case says he's a frightening man who scares the hell out of eyewitnesses from coming forward ... but his side's screaming "Mularky!"

Priscilla Rainey says a key witness is petrified at the prospect of testifying against the rapper ... this according to legal docs obtained by TMZ.

Rainey's team claims the witness was at the sports bar the night Game allegedly groped Rainey and she's the only one who saw it go down. Rainey says she's scared, but doesn't say why.

Game's team filed docs calling it "Mularky!" and preposterous ... claiming it's all a ploy to shake down the rapper for $10 million.

Taylor Swift just got what she wanted from a judge, who agreed with her that the photo of a DJ allegedly groping her at a concert will be kept from the public until the case goes to trial.

Taylor filed legal docs, claiming the photo was inappropriate for public consumption because it would merely engender "scandalous" and "prurient" behavior and make it hard to find an impartial jury.

The judge ruled, "The widespread dissemination of this image might significantly complicate jury selection."

Stevie J's a grown ass man who now has to live like a teenager who's been grounded.

The "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star's been ordered to get his ass home by 10:30 PM every night. The judge in his child support case slapped him with the curfew as part of Stevie's bail terms.

According to docs ... Stevie will also have to wear a GPS monitor, provide notification before all travel and speaking of that -- he can't leave the U.S. of A.

Taylor Swift thinks the pics of a DJ allegedly groping her will get people all hot and bothered ... so much so she wants the judge in the case to seal them.

Taylor made the pitch in legal docs in her lawsuit against radio DJ David Mueller ... claiming the release of the pics would "be shared for scandalous and prurient interests."

That's short for ... the press will have a field day with this stuff ... and folks will get super aroused.

Taylor thinks the release of the pics would create unfairness against her ... to the point of influencing a jury pool, saying, "the interest in a fair and impartial trial outweigh any public interest in access to the documents identified above."

You'll recall ... Mueller originally sued Taylor last year, saying he was fired after she publicly claimed he groped her backstage in 2013 at one of her concerts. Taylor countersued ... saying he absolutely did.

Kim Kardashian's preparing to drop the legal hammer on a writer who published a story claiming the Paris robbery was a total sham ... purely cooked up for publicity.

The letter demands Sharika Soal -- a contributor to The Huffington Post -- publish a retraction and an apology for her Oct. 8th post which quoted Kim as saying her ordeal was a "publicity stunt gone horribly wrong."

Kim says that quote is a fabrication, and her lawyers point out that quote was actually pulled from a satirical website -- a clear shot at Soal's journalistic skills.

Soal tells TMZ it's impossible for her to give Kim what she wants because HuffPo has blocked her out of her account, so she can't post the retraction. She says she's explained her dilemma to Kim's lawyers.

We've reached out HuffPo reps, who say Kim's beef is with Soal and not them. They also say they pulled the story -- which was self-published by Soal -- when editors saw it violated terms.

The photog suing James Franco says he has hard proof the actor gave him the ole cabeza to the gut ... and we got the pics.

Aria Miran of RMD Law firm says these shots show James charging head-first at his client, David Tonnessen ... and they'll be the primary evidence used in their lawsuit.

We broke the story ... David says he was taking pics at a Lana Del Rey concert 2 years ago when James smiled "rather demonically" before unloading the head-butt. Now he's suing for medical expenses and damages.

New disgusting allegations against Johnny Manziel -- who's being sued for more than $350,000 for allegedly treating a $50 MILLION mansion like a giant litter box ... according to a new lawsuit.

As we previously reported, Manziel's at war with the guy who owns the famous Weidlake Mansion in the Hollywood Hills ... where the QB allegedly stayed for most of the summer.

According to the lawsuit, Manziel and his pal entered an 8 month lease to stay at the pad but disappeared after 3 months ... after causing more than $187,000 in damages.

"Defendants ravaged the plaintiff's home," the suit reads ... "They broke doors and mirrors, and failed to clean up and immense amount of dog feces and urine that was left throughout multiple rooms of the house for days, if not weeks."

The owner claims the pee and poo left an "overwhelming stench and permanent staining to expensive couches, hardwood floors, rugs and carpets."

The owner claims he reached out to Johnny to fix the issue and Johnny texted back taking full responsibility.

"This is on me %1000," one of Johnny's alleged texts reads ... "I cannot apologize enough."

The owner says Johnny also promised to cover the damages saying, "I'm a man of my word."

Problem is ... according to the suit, Manziel and his roommate never fixed the problem -- plus they moved out after 3 months and still owe $125,000 in unpaid rent.

Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino says he and the university APOLOGIZE for the prostitution scandal that rocked the program ... but insists he did NOTHING wrong.

Pitino just spoke with the media to address NCAA charges that he failed to properly monitor his program ... while basketball staffer Andre McGee was allegedly paying for U of L players and recruits to bang prostitutes.

The Hall of Fame coach insists he complied with the investigation and believes the NCAA was fair -- but said, "Do I agree with the failure to monitor one of my people? No. Absolutely not, because I over-monitor my staff."

Pitino says he and the university apologize for the "mistakes" made by McGee.

2:35 PM PT -- Jim Carrey's lawyer, Marty Singer, tells TMZ: "This is just another desperate attempt by the attorney after Cathriona White’s own family distanced themselves from this sham lawsuit yesterday. These distortions and false statements by the attorney do a disservice to Cathriona’s memory and to the truth. Cat White’s biological mother, Brigid Sweetman acknowledged in writing that she received death threats because people believed she was responsible for Cat’s death. This latest attempt to create a diversion by the attorney from his meritless claims just shows how low he will stoop.”

Jim Carrey exposed his late girlfriend to herpes, chlamydia and Hepatitis A by hiding it and continuing to have unprotected sex with her ... according to new docs filed by her mom.

Cathriona White's mother, Brigid Sweetman, claims she has Carrey's positive blood test results and submitted them as evidence to prove he knew he had STDs in January 2013 ... a couple weeks before he was with Cat for Valentine's Day. Even worse -- Sweetman alleges Carrey infected Cat and then played dumb when she told him she had "bumps down there" and was going to get checked out.

For the record, Jim Carrey adamantly denied he transmitted any diseases to Cathriona.

Kim Kardashian's Paris robbers were captured on street-side cameras as they made their escape with millions of dollars worth of her jewelry.

The video shows the 5 alleged robbers, 3 on bicycles and 2 on foot, start approaching Kim's apartment complex at 2:19 AM on October 3. According to the time code on the CCTV footage -- just released on France's M6 News -- the suspects fled the apartment about 49 minutes later.

One of the men on bike appears to be toting a backpack during the getaway, and all of them are moving much faster. The camera looks to be at least 40-50 feet away, and the suspects are extremely blurry.

Police have not said if they have any leads on the perpetrators.

It's still business as usual for NY Giants kicker Josh Brown -- who just arrived to practice despite disturbing new information in his domestic violence case.

So far, neither Brown nor the Giants have addressed the media about the new police documents -- in which Brown allegedly cops to abusing his ex-wife.

We've reached out to the Giants several times for comment about Brown's status with the team -- but they're not responding to media requests for ANYONE.

Everyone wants to know if Brown will remain on the team or if management will give him his walking papers based on the new info that's come to light.

Vince Neil just got lucky in Las Vegas ... he struck a deal to avoid jail time for yanking a woman to the ground by her hair in a casino.

Neil's lawyers, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, appeared in court for him Wednesday and pled guilty to misdemeanor battery. Neil will have to pay $1,000 and spend 6 months on informal probation. He's also been ordered to undergo impulse control counseling.

We broke the story ... Neil and Nic Cage were seen arguing outside the Aria Hotel after Neil attacked the woman. Surveillance footage showed the hair grab and pull.

The woman also sued Neil for at least $150k, and that case is still pending.

Minnie Driver's nasty war with a neighbor landed her on the witness stand in an L.A. court, but outside the neighbor struck back with some jabs of his own.

Minnie and Daniel Perelmutter have been at each other's metaphorical throats for years now. The modern day Hatfields & McCoys is mainly over a small strip of land currently serving as their shared driveway in the Hollywood Hills.

She finally took the stand on Wednesday to testify about the dispute that's been so heated in the past ... Minnie once got a restraining order against Daniel.

But watch the video we got of Daniel after court. He's not backing down, but thinks one good thing could come out of their feud. DP needs an agent, man!