Crime & Arrests

YG's party following his Coachella performance was busted up when someone opened fire outside the event -- causing a panic, just 2 weeks after his friend Nipsey Hussle's murder.

Hours after the rapper left the Coachella stage Sunday night, his after-party was going down at a nearby equestrian center. Our law enforcement sources say they got a call around 2 AM Monday morning for shots fired.

Witnesses told cops someone driving past the bash fired multiple shots -- however, once on the scene, cops found no victims and no evidence of the shooting.

The parking lot was crawling with cops who had to shut down the party while they investigated. We're told they have no suspects.

As you'd imagine, guests were on edge because the reported shots came so closely on the heels of Nipsey's shooting. YG -- who spoke at Nip's Staples Center memorial service -- paid tribute to his friend again during his Coachella gig.

TMZ Sports has obtained police footage of the moment cops busted U. of Michigan gymnastics coach Scott Vetere for banging one of his gymnasts in public ... AND IT'S SUPER AWKWARD!!!

First off, police HEAVILY pixilated the video before they released it (you watching, Robert Kraft?) ... but you can still make out every bizarre moment ... from the second the cop arrives to the scene.

It all went down in October when someone called the Ann Arbor Police Dept. to report two people having sex in a car in the middle of the day in a public parking lot.

You can hear the cop bang on the car door to announce his arrival -- and he tells the couple, "Well, this is awkward. Clothes please."

The officer proceeds to lecture the 39-year-old coach and the 18-year-old female student -- telling them how dumb their actions were.

"Do we even need to have a talk right now? Everything's crystal clear?" One officer tells Vetere ... "There's a lot I could say right now, and I'm not even sure that there's a point to it."

Both the woman and Vetere -- who was the 2000 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year back in the day --were hit with disorderly conduct charges for the incident.

Vetere later resigned from his coaching position at UM and left the school. He reached an agreement with prosecutors last month ... and got his charge reduced to a civil infraction. He paid off a fine and now the case is closed.

But, the best part of the video might be the end ... when the officer sends Vetere on his way and says, "You know what? Forgive me if we don't shake hands."

Nipsey Hussle was caught between enormous success and love for his neighborhood, like many other rappers, and that ultimately cost him his life -- at least, in Suge Knight's eyes.

Knight tells TMZ ... he fully understands the situation Nipsey was in, "A lot of artists like Nipsey have the same problem that I had. We are too loyal to our neighborhood." He says, even though you have enough money to move, you want to stay on the block because "when you go around Hollywood it's all watered down."

The former Death Row Records mogul -- who is currently serving his sentence in a California prison -- says he loved to go back to his hood to "get chili cheese fries and strawberries and talk to my lil homies." However, he adds, when you do that you need those homies to "help you survive."

Knight's insinuation is clear -- and controversial -- that the people closest to Nipsey could have done more to keep him safe.

As you know, Nip was murdered outside his Marathon Clothing store. Police believe Eric Holder pulled the trigger ... allegedly after feeling Nipsey had disrespected him by calling him a snitch.

The tragedy reminds Suge of Tupac Shakur -- not only because of the way they died but also how they lived. Knight says, "I feel that Nipsey was trying to follow the same Tupac manual to the community. He came together with YG like Snoop did with Tupac."

Ultimately, he thinks Nipsey's legacy can be unity, something that hasn't happened in L.A. since the early 90s. Referring to the L.A. gangs' peace march that went down 5 days after the murder ... Suge told us, "What's good is that all the hoods getting together now ... we can be stronger considering what happens when we come together."

Soulja Boy's has a brand new 5-figure headache to distract him while he sits in jail for the next 2 weeks or so ... it's a potential lawsuit for skipping out on a recent concert.

The legal threat's coming from a promoter named William Hicks, who claims Soulja accepted $8,750 as payment for a gig last weekend in Birmingham, Alabama. Hicks says, in a letter fired off to Soulja's camp, the money was wired back in January ... but the rapper was a no-show.

According to the letter, obtained by TMZ, Soulja waited until hours before the show to cancel ... which totally screwed Hicks. He says he's out money for booking hotels and lost profits on the show itself. He called out Soulja on social media and, of course, SB responded savagely.

Hicks wants Soulja to cough up at least $25k for his troubles ... or face a lawsuit.

We're guessing Soulja hasn't seen the letter yet, because he's behind bars. As we reported ... he was arrested Thursday after a judge found he violated probation.

One of the victims shot in the Nipsey Hussle murder has been arrested ... for associating with Nipsey -- TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Kerry Lathan, a 56-year-old man who was shot in the back outside Nipsey's Marathon Clothing store, was taken to the hospital, a week ago Sunday, treated and released.

Five days after the shooting, Lathan, who is out on parole after serving 20 years for murder, was arrested at his halfway house for associating with a known gang member -- namely, Nipsey.

One of the standard conditions of parole is not associating with known gang members, and police claim Nipsey was a member of the Rollin 60's Crips.

Lathan is now in Men's Central Jail in downtown L.A. where he waits as authorities try to revoke his parole. Lathan is in a wheelchair -- the result of the shooting -- unable to walk.

Jussie Smollett has just been hammered with a lawsuit the City of Chicago promised ... and he may effectively go on trial for allegedly staging the "attack" in January. All told, the City wants what will almost certainly be upwards of a half a million dollars.

The lawsuit -- to recover the costs of investigating the case -- outlines what the City claims Jussie did. It says Jussie and Abel Osundairo had been friends since 2017 -- socializing and exercising together. It says Abel assisted Jussie in obtaining recreational drugs.

The lawsuit claims Jussie told Abel shortly before the "attack," "Might need your help on the low."

The lawsuit claims, as we reported, Jussie scoped out the location for the "attack" with Abel and Ola 2 days before the attack and a dry run the day before. They agreed Abel would attack Jussie but would not hurt him too badly and would give Jussie a chance to appear to fight back.

The suit claims they also scripted the entire attack ... starting with the brothers calling Jussie "Empire f***** Empire n*****" -- referring to the homophobic and racist slurs.

They discussed the brothers placing a rope around Jussie's neck and pouring a liquid on him.

The brothers were also instructed not to bring their cellphones -- presumably, so they couldn't be tracked.

The suit says Jussie intentionally misled officers into believing his attackers were white, when he knew otherwise.

As we reported ... the city threatened to sue Jussie if he didn't fork over $130k to cover the cost of investigating a case it says was faked by the "Empire" star. The City of Chicago fired off a letter to Jussie's people earlier this month ... but his camp told the City to go pound sand.

The City says the cost of investigating the case was at least $130,000 in overtime alone, but it wants hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of that to cover attorneys fees and additional expenses. And then the City wants the judge to multiply that times 3, to punish Jussie.

Soulja Boy is behind bars after a judge ruled he'd violated his probation in several ways .. including having ammunition in his house.

Soulja walked into an L.A. courtroom Thursday for his hearing, but was taken into custody at the end. The judge said the rapper had failed to do his court-ordered community service ... and even conspired to falsify evidence that he had completed it.

But, the big no-no came during a raid at Soulja's Agoura Hills home in February. TMZ broke the story ... police went to his house to investigate a claim by one of his ex-girlfriends that Soulja had tied her up and held her captive in his garage.

According to the judge, cops found ammunition during the search ... which is a problem because Soulja's on probation for a weapons case that dates back to 2014.

Soulja was arrested back in March after going to see his probation officer, but was released that same day. As soon as he got out, he bragged he wasn't going out like Tekashi69.

This time he's being held without bail and will remain in custody until a hearing scheduled for April 30.

1:52 PM -- TMZ Sports has obtained footage of Fournette being arrested at the Easy Breezy Car Wash in Jacksonville ... where multiple cop cars responded to the situation.

A witness -- Kevonte Williams aka Kazethepharaoh -- tells us Fournette was driving a GMC Denali when he was pulled over by police.

When Fournette was taken out of the car, he was handcuffed and placed in a squad car while multiple witnesses shouted at the police, "Free Fournette!"

Eventually, Fournette was driven to a nearby station where he was booked. A friend of the NFL star drove the Denali away from the car wash.

NFL star Leonard Fournette was just arrested in Florida -- and it's all over an unpaid speeding ticket from back in November.

... A $204 TICKET!!!!!

Cops in Duval County were seen walking the Jacksonville Jaguars running back into a police station to be booked around 2:30 PM local time. He appeared to be in handcuffs at the time.

Fournette was initially pulled over Thursday for a routine traffic violation and when the cops ran his name, they noticed he was driving on a suspended license. There was also an outstanding warrant for his arrest stemming from the November citation, this according to WJXT.

The prior incident reportedly took place in Neptune Beach. Fournette was reportedly cited for going 37 mph in a 25 mph zone.

We pulled the records which show the penalty for the Nov. 17 incident was $204.00, which Fournette had 30 days to pay.

FYI, Fournette is currently in the middle of a 4-year, $27 MILLION contract.

The day after the Nov. speeding incident, Fournette rushed for 95 yards and a TD in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After Fournette was booked Thursday, he was released on $1,058 bond at 3:04 PM ... according to jail records.

The Jaguars issued a statement saying the team is "aware of the situation involving running back Leonard Fournette and are continuing to gather more information. No further comment will be provided at this time."

Fournette is coming off a disappointing 2018 NFL season where he only rushed for 439 yards in 8 games.

During one of the last games of the season, Fournette got fed up with a heckler and threatened to beat the guy's ass. Fournette later claimed the heckler had been shouting racial slurs at him.

Jussie Smollett is living it up on the beach in Hawaii like a guy with no problems at all -- not at all like a guy who's staring down an impending legal battle with the City of Chicago that could cost him dearly.

The "Empire" star is on vacay right now with his family, laughing it up and catching some rays in paradise. Dude's even going boogie boarding!

It's about as far away from Chicago as he could be, mentally, anyway. The other shoe could drop any day now ... remember, the City of Chicago says it's about to slap him with a civil lawsuit to recover the $130k cost of investigating the alleged homophobic and racist attack.

For now ... Jussie and his fam are snacking, catching waves and having a blast.

We got Jussie over the weekend in Woodland Hills where he was mum about the suit. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, insists Chicago is maliciously defaming his client, hinting the actor might file a lawsuit of his own.

4/12 -- Trivago tells TMZ, "At this stage, we do not have the full details of the situation, but we want to make clear that Trivago treats such incidents very seriously and strongly condemns drinking and driving which poses a risk to others and goes against the Trivago culture."

The guy whose name you don't know but face and voice you definitely recognize from those Trivago commercials has been busted for drunk driving.

The actor's name is Tim Williams and cops say they found him passed out at the wheel Wednesday around 3:15 PM in Houston. Cops tell us Williams was found with his foot on the brake while on the road.

We're told he was given a field sobriety test, which he bombed. He was taken to Harris County Jail and charged with driving while intoxicated. While in jail, we're told Williams submitted a blood test. Cops wouldn't tell us if he took a breathalyzer test. Williams is no longer in custody after posting bond.

Williams has been acting for a long time now ... since the mid-'90s. He's had a ton of minor roles ... like on "Law & Order," "The Sopranos" and the movie "Valkyrie." But, Williams burst to fame in 2014 as the face of the popular hotel search engine site.

9:11 AM -- Avenatti vehemently denies any wrongdoing. He said, "Any claim that any monies due clients were mishandled is bogus nonsense." He tweeted what he says is a testimonial from the paraplegic client he's accused of stealing millions from ... saying the client signed the doc less than a month ago attesting to his ethics.

Avenatti added he looks forward to proving his innocence.

8:52 AM -- TMZ's obtained the indictment and it's pretty damming. He's being indicted on 36 counts of fraud, perjury, failure to pay taxes and other financial crimes. According to docs ... Avenatti allegedly stole millions from a mentally ill paraplegic on disability who had scored a $4M settlement from L.A. County. The money had been wired to Avenatti in January 2015 and he allegedly hid the dough for years.

Avenatti's also accused of using $2.75 million in proceeds from another client's legal settlement to buy a private jet. Avenatti allegedly concealed that settlement too. The infamous lawyer is also accused of owing millions of dollars in back taxes and making false statements to the IRS.

Michael Avenatti's under a mountain of legal trouble now -- the IRS and the Department of Justice say he's been hit with a 36-count indictment that could land him in prison for life ... but he's already calling it BS.

A federal grand jury in California handed up the indictment Thursday, and if 36 charges sound like a lot ... it is. He faces up to 335 years in prison if convicted!!!

Avenatti says he intends to fully fight all charges and plead not guilty. He added, "I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me."

As you know ... Avenatti was arrested and charged last month for allegedly trying to extort millions out of Nike. That case was brought on by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York -- and on the same day, the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A. announced a separate case against him for wire fraud.

If you're keeping score, that's 3 federal cases and dozens of charges.

As we reported ... Avenatti allegedly siphoned off a $1.6 million settlement he scored for a client in 2017 and hid it in a personal bank account he controlled in the wire fraud case. He's also accused of defrauding a bank for millions of dollars worth of loans by submitting fake tax returns between 2011 and 2013.

7:16 AM PT -- The U.S. Justice Department has accused Assange of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack a classified Pentagon computer.

Pam Anderson is enraged with Britain, The United States and President Trump after the arrest of her close friend Julian Assange.

Assange was arrested Thursday at the Ecuadorean Embassy in the UK after the country withdrew his asylum. Anderson went on a tear on Twitter Thursday morning, saying, "How could you Ecuador? (Because he exposed you). How could you UK.? Of course - you are America's bitch and you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bulls**t."

Pamela then turned her attention to The United States, tweeting, "And the USA? This toxic coward of a President. He needs to rally his base? You are selfish and cruel. You have taken the entire world backwards. You are devils and liars and thieves. And you will ROTT. And WE WILL RISE."

It was during an August interview with Harvey Levin on OBJECTified when Anderson revealed she and Assange had a very tight relationship.

The two have remained in constant contact while he remained in the Ecuadorean embassy.

TMZ Sports has obtained new footage showing Conor McGregor swatting and smashing a cell phone in front of the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami ... right after doing his famous "Billionaire Strut."

The footage is being used in the criminal case against the UFC star stemming from a March 11 incident.

The footage begins at 5:21 AM showing Conor leaving the hotel with an entourage while Ahmed Abdirzak follows him out while recording McGregor on his cell phone.

At one point, McGregor reaches out to Ahmed as if he was going to shake his hand -- but then pulls back and violently smacks the phone out of the guy's hand.

Conor then stomps on the phone a couple of times before picking it up and walking away.

McGregor was arrested later that day and has since been charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor criminal mischief. If convicted on all counts, Conor faces up to 6 years in prison.

Conor has pled not guilty on all charges. A trial is scheduled to begin in May.

Ahmed Abdirzak filed a lawsuit against Conor over the incident -- but later struck a settlement with the UFC fighter and dropped his suit.

Lori Loughlin, her hubby and all the parents involved in the biggest college admissions scam in U.S. history should NOT do any time behind bars ... so says Steve Madden.

We got the famous shoe designer, and ex-con, Tuesday in NYC ... and who better to ask about Lori and Mossimo Giannulli 's case? Remember, Madden did 2 and a half years in prison for money laundering and stock fraud.

He joked Lori might need some help at the prison commissary soon -- but then got serious about what she's facing.

As we reported ... a Federal Grand Jury indicted Lori and Mossimo with an additional crime of "conspiring to launder the bribes" on top of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. The new charges could mean nearly 5 years in prison, at minimum, if they're convicted.

Steve, who admits he knows Mossimo, thinks a prison stretch is absurd in this case. Watch the video ... he calls their $500k plan to get their girls into USC, "misguided, for sure" -- but adds it doesn't warrant incarceration.

A$AP Bari would probably do great on "Deal or No Deal" ... after scoring a hell of a deal in his drug case.

The Northampton County D.A.'s Office in Pennsylvania tells TMZ ... the rapper recently showed up to court and pled guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of possession of weed. Under the deal ... we're told A$AP will only be fined four thousand bucks. No jail and no probation. So, that's it ... case closed.

Huge ... considering Bari had originally been charged with 2 felonies for possession of a controlled substance and intent to deliver. He'd also been slapped with 5 misdemeanor charges ... including possession of drug paraphernalia.

Nipsey Hussle's death certificate has been released -- his cause of death is listed as gunshot wounds to the head and torso -- and the rapper was pronounced 35 minutes after the shooting outside his store.

We broke the story ... the Crenshaw rapper was gunned down last week in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Nipsey was rushed to the hospital, and his family and celeb friends showed up shortly after he arrived.

Nipsey's death certificate -- obtained by TMZ -- lists his occupation as an artist and entrepreneur. It says he was never married at the time of his death and worked in the entertainment and real estate industries. Nipsey was pronounced dead at 3:55 PM on March 31 ... 35 minutes after he was shot.

Nipsey was shot in plain view of a surveillance camera, and footage shows the shooter -- who cops believe to be Eric Holder -- opening fire 3 different times on Nipsey before kicking his body and fleeing the scene. Two other people were shot, but survived.

Nipsey's brutal murder has sent shock waves throughout Los Angeles and beyond, with celebs and sports stars paying tribute to the slain rapper in many different ways. Candlelight vigils are being held across the globe and a massive memorial service will be held at Staples Center Thursday.

Nipsey will be buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

As we first reported ... the family of the slain rapper wants to do something spectacular so as many of his fans can pay their respects ... a procession will follow Thursday's ceremony through the streets of L.A.

Nipsey was just 33.