Fairly Legal

Safaree and Erica Mena's bitter divorce has gone from mudslinging to bleach pouring ... according to Safaree, who claims she destroyed his expensive sneakers and motorbikes.

Safaree filed docs asking the judge to hold the 'Love & Hip Hop' star in contempt for violating their domestic relations standing order, which prohibits them from harassing each other or destroying each other's property during the divorce.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Safaree says Erica did him, and his stuff, dirty back on May 23, just 2 days after she filed for divorce. He alleges she damaged $30k worth of custom sneakers by pouring bleach on them and cutting the laces.

That was just her warm-up, allegedly. Safaree claims Erica also destroyed 2 motorcycles and a four-wheeler motorbike by pouring paint all over the motorcycles, and directly into the exhaust pipes and gas tanks of all the vehicles. He says her goal was pretty clear -- render his beloved bikes useless.

Safaree points out Erica was 8 months pregnant, with their second child, when all this alleged mayhem went down -- and he claims their home security cameras recorded all of it, and he's more than happy to turn that footage over to the court.

He wants the judge to force Erica to reimburse him around $50k for the damage.

Besides the money, Safaree also mentions the possibility he'll report her to law enforcement -- he's considering pursuing felony charges for criminal destruction.

He adds, Erica's attempting a narrative in the public that she's overwhelmed with taking care of their newborn, but apparently “has ample time to engage in disruptive and intentional acts to vilify and disparage” him. He also claims she has changed the locks and security codes on the home they shared.

Erika Jayne was on a pandemic walk with Kyle Richards, and as soon as her mask came off ... the tears started flowing over allegations her divorce is a total fraud.

"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star had a couple of emotional breakdowns on Wednesday night's episode, but the big one came at the park with Kyle ... when she let out how lonely and overwhelmed she's feeling.

If ya don't recall ... Erika filed for divorce from her attorney husband, Tom Girardi, in November, but shortly afterward she was sued for allegedly hiding assets in a "sham" divorce. Not long after that, Tom's assets were frozen and he's under criminal investigation amid accusations he stole money intended for the families of those killed in the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia.

But, Erika denied her divorce is a sham to Kyle -- mind you, this was shot months ago -- and says she could not have predicted what's happened to her. She's also clearly stressed over the fact she's a possible target of a federal criminal probe ... and feels like a pariah.

She tells Kyle ... "And, you would be shocked at how quickly people turn on you, how quickly people distance themselves from you."

Erika seemed to be on a spin-doctoring mission ... she also FaceTimed with Kyle and Lisa Rinna during the episode to say how horrible she was feeling about being sued, and all of the allegations swirling around her.

She reiterated that her divorce is not a sham and things being said about her were wrong ... and also claimed she "wouldn't f***ing know" how to hide assets anyway.

Britney Spears is hoping it's "out with the old and in with the new" in her conservatorship -- a new hearing in the case is going down, and her new hand-picked attorney will have the spotlight.

The judge in Brit's conservatorship will hear arguments Wednesday in downtown L.A. on several issues -- the most important one to Britney -- is who will be her attorney going forward.

Like we first told you ... Britney's longtime lawyer, Sam Ingham, filed paperwork seeking to get out of the case, and she's already decided she wants former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart to be her new attorney.

TMZ broke the story ... Britney wants to hire Rosengart, of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and he's expected to make an appearance before the judge to make his pitch for getting the job. We're told he'll argue she has a right to choose her own attorney on her own accord, without her father, Jamie, getting in the way as conservator of her estate.

Keep in mind, Jamie's probably a bit conflicted because Rosengart will likely seek to remove Jamie as conservator of Britney's estate.

We're told his plan is to explain how Britney has a constitutional right to Due Process ... which includes being able to select counsel of her choice. That certainly exists in a criminal case, and it’s likely Rosengart will argue that the conservatorship is similar to a criminal case because it deprives Britney of her personal liberty.

Remember ... the last hearing had all kinds of fireworks ... as Britney testified before the judge -- accusing her family of using her and controlling her life via the conservatorship, including allegedly forcing her to tour.

She claims she hasn't been able to get married or have any further kids -- which she apparently wants with Sam Asghari -- and made it clear ... she wants to be done with the conservatorship..

We're monitoring the proceedings as they go on, plus the commotion outside -- as there are #FreeBritney protestors who've gathered, like they have done for months now. There are also protestors gathered in D.C.

Stay tuned ...

Joe Exotic just caught a potential break, and while he's not walking out of prison today ... he might get out a little bit sooner.

The federal appeals court in the 'Tiger King' star's case just upheld his conviction for murder-for-hire, but there's a silver lining ... his 22-year sentence has been vacated, and he'll be resentenced.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the appeals court reviewed Joe's case and upheld the conviction, but determined the U.S. District Court for the Western District in Oklahoma City made a technical error by not grouping the 2 murder-for-hire convictions at his sentencing.

So, Exotic's original sentence will be tossed, and the case is getting sent back to the lower court ... where he'll likely receive a shorter sentence now.

That's the good news, but ... even after the grouping error is corrected, he's looking at a sentence in the range of 17-21 years. Joe was convicted of murder-for-hire after all.

Still, Joe's legal team is celebrating the W. His appellate lawyer, Brandon Sample, tells us he's pleased with the appellate court’s decision. He says, "I knew when I agreed to represent Joe that an appeal would be difficult, but I also knew that the law was on Joe's side."

Sample adds, "I am optimistic that the decision today is but one of many more victories to come for Joe—and his eventual freedom."

The guy who unleashed that racist tirade on his Black neighbor before getting hauled away by police will remain in custody ... a judge was convinced he's too dangerous to be on the streets.

Edward Cagney Mathews, the NJ man arrested over his viral racist meltdown, appeared Wednesday in Burlington County Superior Court, where the judge ruled Mathews poses a high risk to the community and ordered him to remain locked up ... at least for now.

The judge cited Mathews' extensive criminal history, including 20 prior convictions with one violent conviction ... siding with prosecutors who wanted Mathews to remain in custody.

Prosecutors also pointed to previous allegations that he once smeared feces on a neighbor's car, shot out a window with ball bearing ammo and slashed car tires.

Prosecutors also say police installed a surveillance camera at Mathews' housing development but claim he intentionally avoided surveillance ... and they said he's ramped up attacks against neighbors by throwing rocks at cars and through living room windows.

Mathews' legal team wanted him released with certain conditions -- the judge shot that down, but noted he's got 7 days to appeal.

Andrew Brown Jr. was unarmed and posed no threat to law enforcement officers who fired their weapons and killed him earlier this year during an attempted arrest ... this according to a new lawsuit against the officers involved and their bosses.

Brown's estate filed suit against the Pasquotank County and Dare County sheriffs, as well as several of their deputies ... who were allegedly part of the cavalry that showed up on April 21 to execute a search warrant, and ended up shooting and killing ABJ. His aunt, Lillie Brown Clark -- who is also his estate's administrator -- says the killing was without cause.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the estate says officers showed up to wrangle Brown at his home on suspicion of drug trafficking ... something for which an arrest warrant was issued. However, the estate claims the warrant was invalid because it lacked a signature from a judicial officer.

The estate says a small army of officers descended upon Brown unsuspectingly that morning -- and freaked him the hell out as he was sitting in his parked car in his driveway. Accordingly, the estate says Brown panicked and tried to escape ... and claims he did so without endangering any officers' lives.

The suit says Brown made sure to turn his wheel in an effort to avoid hitting any of the cops ... but the officers still unloaded a barrage of bullets at him and his vehicle -- with a fatal one striking him in the back of the head.

The main argument here is the shooting was completely unnecessary -- as the estate claims Brown was unarmed, posed no threat to officers and was fleeing. It's the same points the family has made in news conferences since his death.

You'll recall ... the family had been asking for the full body cam footage depicting the events leading up to his death, plus the fateful moment he was shot. Pasquotank County eventually released multiple angles of the full encounter.

The estate is suing for excessive force, assault and battery, wrongful death and more. They're asking for more than $30 million in damages.

Millie Bobby Brown says the TikTok star bragging about their alleged sexual encounters when he was 20 and she was just 16 is not being truthful ... and her team is threatening legal action to shut him up.

Here's the deal ... TikToker Hunter Echo recently alluded to having a sexual relationship with Millie, claiming she was in love with him and saying he thought her parents knew about the alleged relationship because they were all living under one roof.

Millie's reps tell TMZ ... "Mr. Ecimovic’s remarks on social media are not only dishonest, but also are irresponsible, offensive and hateful. Instead of engaging in a public discourse with him through the press or on social media, we are taking action to ensure that he stops this behavior once and for all."

The reps for the "Stranger Things" star would not say specifically how they feel he's being dishonest.

Hunter came under fire for his crude comments seemingly aimed at Millie -- he mentioned tons of kinky sex acts -- but he says he won't apologize for anything.

We reached out to law enforcement sources across L.A. ... none of which had any sort of investigations open concerning Echo.

Cardi B scored a legal victory in her ongoing battle with a blogger -- a judge just tossed the blogger's countersuit against the rapper.

The court ruled in favor of the rapper, saying the blogger, Latasha K, couldn't prove Cardi was connected to the assault and emotional distress she claims to have suffered back in 2019.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge said Latasha "failed to produce any evidence that [Cardi] herself threatened [Latasha] or made her believe that she was going to harm her."

The judge continued, "Instead, [Latasha] has only made allegations that others who may be associated with [Cardi] made these threats ... and has failed to demonstrate here that the threats ... were directed by [Cardi]" or committed by anyone working for her.

As we reported, Latasha claimed Cardi assaulted her -- even though they were never in the same room -- and she was in such fear for her life she felt compelled to reach out to the FBI.

In any event, the judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to support Latasha's claims and dismissed them.

BTW, she got a similar reaction from the FBI, which told her to move if she was so concerned.

The woman who accused WWE star Matt Riddle of choking her and forcing her to perform oral sex has dropped her lawsuit against the wrestler ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Court docs show Candy Cartwright -- a pro wrestler whose real name is Samantha Tavel -- filed for the dismissal on Monday.

It's unclear if the two sides reached a monetary settlement ... Cartwright's attorney, John Chwarzynski, tells us only, "The parties have put this in their past and are focused on the future."

We reached out to Riddle's attorneys for comment ... but so far, no word back yet.

Cartwright had alleged that Riddle sexually assaulted her during a 2018 van ride with other performers when everyone else had fallen asleep.

"Matt asked me to 'hop on his d***,'" Cartwright said of the alleged incident. "When I refused (although we had previously been together I was incredibly uncomfortable in that setting) When I said no, he grabbed me by my throat, choked me and said 'what if I just made you?'"

Cartwright says she ultimately performed oral sex on Riddle "to get out of having intercourse with him. It was incredibly humiliating."

She added, "It is never ok to put your hands on a woman, it's also not ok to not listen when she says no."

For his part, Riddle adamantly denied the allegations ... saying that while he did have an affair with Cartwright -- he did NOT sexually assault her.

"At the end of the day, I’m not perfect," Riddle said in a video message in July 2020. "I did have an affair, and I’m not happy about it. But, I never sexually abused anybody, I never sexually assaulted anybody."

"And, when I wanted to get out of this relationship, out of this situation, she said no and she kept pursuing me ... And then, when she didn’t get her way, she used the Speak Out movement to try to ruin my career."

Riddle has remained a big WWE star despite the suit and the nature of Cartwright's allegations ... wrestling for RAW every Monday.

Britney Spears has decided who she wants as her lawyer to end the conservatorship, and the attorney has now agreed and will appear in court Wednesday -- arguing she has a right to the lawyer of her choice ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Britney signed a legal doc stating her desire to hire the mega law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP to represent her in her effort to boot Jamie Spears from the conservatorship -- the first step in attempting to end the conservatorship altogether.

As we reported, Britney had her sights set on hiring a partner in the firm -- former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, who reps a slew of celebrity clients, including Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck, Jimmy Butler and Sean Penn.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Rosengart has now agreed and will appear remotely during a court hearing Wednesday, asking the judge to appoint him.

The catch 22 is that Britney cannot sign contracts of any substance without the approval of her conservator, Jamie Spears, the man she wants out.

We're told Rosengart will make the argument Britney has a Constitutional right to the lawyer of her choice. Defendants in criminal cases have a Constitutional right to an attorney, but a conservatorship is not a criminal case. Thing is ... it's not a civil case either. It's a hybrid ... somewhere in between.

We're told Rosengart's argument goes like this ... Britney is entitled to due process, which includes the right to a competent lawyer, and a judge would be hard-pressed to conclude Rosengart doesn't have the legal chops to rep her. What's more ... he'll argue it's absurd for Jamie Spears to have the power to disapprove Britney's choice, because the very purpose of the representation is to get him out of the conservatorship.

As we reported ... getting Jamie out is the first step in ending the conservatorship, which has been in place for more than 13 years.

The real battle will come if and when there's a motion to end the conservatorship. Britney said in court last month she wanted that done without further medical evaluation, but that's a tough sell to the judge because several dozen medical professionals have weighed in regularly over the years she has a mental illness that makes a conservatorship necessary.

Former President Donald Trump threatened to sue over the new book detailing his alleged praise for Adolf Hitler ... according to the author, Michael Bender, who says he was summoned to Mar-a-Lago for a one-on-one.

Bender joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to discuss, "Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost" -- and he told us how Trump tried at first to gently spin the content of his book ... before taking a more hardcore approach.

The WSJ reporter says Trump twice invited him to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office ... and while the ex-Prez was gracious with his time, Michael says there was also threatening language involved.

As we reported ... Bender's book claims Trump was visiting Europe in 2018, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, when at some point during the trip Trump turned to his then-Chief of Staff, Gen. John F. Kelly and allegedly said, "Well, Hitler did a lot of good things." Kelly allegedly pushed back.

Bender claims Trump's response to the alleged Hitler conversation was to call it defamatory during their face-to-face meeting ... which he took as signaling a potential lawsuit if it ended up in the book.

Of course, he did include it ... and told us why he was supremely confident, despite the threat.

Britney Spears wants to be able to pick a new attorney for herself -- an idea with which multiple disability rights organizations agree, and are now putting in writing for a judge.

Attorneys repping 27 different entities -- dabbling in things like AIDS advocacy, civil liberties, autism support, aging assistance and much more -- have filed new legal docs, telling the judge Britney should be allowed to have the ultimate say in who her lawyer(s) will be next.

According to the filing, obtained by TMZ, groups such as Choice in Aging, Disability Rights California, Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and others are pleading their case to the court -- namely, laying out reasons why Brit shouldn't be deprived of being able to make this selection on her own.

The groups say Britney has a right to due process ... which includes selecting her own attorney to help her make informed decisions and communicate effectively in the conservatorship case -- something they say she's specifically asked for in text messages to people like Jodi Montgomery.

Roy Moore just got his ass laughed out of court in his lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen ... with the judge essentially telling him he agreed to participate and telling his wife she couldn't win her case because the show segment was so clearly a joke.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the federal judge in the Southern District of New York said Sacha's stunt for his Showtime special "Who is America" was clearly satire, and that no reasonable person would interpret the stunt as asserting fact.

In docs, the judge said the former U.S. Senate candidate gave up his right to sue when he signed a waiver prior to the interview. Even though his wife didn't sign the waiver, the court basically said the stunt was akin to a political cartoon or caricature ... which is protected speech under the First Amendment.

As we reported ... Moore sued Sacha back in September 2018 claiming the comedian portrayed him as a pedophile on national TV. Moore, who insisted he's not a sex offender, said Sacha's prank amounted to defamation and wanted at least $95M in damages.

For the uninitiated ... Sacha disguised himself as an ex-Israeli intelligence officer and waved a wand that could supposedly detect enzymes secreted by pedophiles. The wand went off like crazy when he scanned Roy.

Sacha Baron Cohen is pissed at a cannabis company he claims is plastering his "Borat" character on one of its giant billboards ... and now he's suing over it.

The actor filed suit against Solar Therapeutics, where he alleges the company is using his famous persona to sell medical marijuana in Massachusetts ... where Borat's face appears on the advertisement, next to one of his trademark lines, "It's nice."

Well, Sacha doesn't think it is.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Sacha claims Solar Therapeutics is pulling a fast one by using Borat on the ad -- which stands next to an interstate -- because he has no connection whatsoever to the company.

In fact, Sacha says he doesn't even smoke weed -- a major bummer to many "Borat" fans, we suspect -- and would never join an ad campaign for pot. No offense to those who do indulge, we're sure.

Sacha is going after the cannabis company for at least $9 million in damages ... and he wants the court to block Solar from using his name, image and likeness to hawk its products.

Lisa Vanderpump's dog rescue organization -- Vanderpump Dog Foundation -- sold a puppy infested with worms to a woman who contracted the intestinal parasites herself ... so she claims in a stomach-churning new lawsuit.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the woman visited the Vanderpump Dogs location in L.A. in July 2019 to adopt a small puppy. She says she hit it off with a dachshund named Cassie after being assured by the staff it was perfectly safe to hold her and play with her, despite the dog not yet receiving deworming treatment.

She claims she spent several hours with the pup, then was asked if she wanted to adopt her and she did ... and the adoption was approved the very next day.

According to the docs ... the woman asked several questions about Cassie's health and was assured by Vanderpump Dogs employees she was getting a "puppy in healthy condition" with all needed treatments and shots.

However, the woman alleges that the dog rescue provided her with a false immunization record and a false certificate stating Cassie had been dewormed, and once she got the dog home ... she says things got REALLY gross (fair warning for the squeamish).

According to the docs ... Cassie's new owner immediately noticed she was acting odd, was less playful, and kept scooting across the floor. Then, the woman claims she discovered Cassie was "expelling large live worms while defecating."

The woman claims she contacted Vanderpump Dogs but got no immediate response, so she took the dog to a pet hospital, where it was treated for a serious worm infection.

It gets much worse -- the woman says she began feeling ill over the next few days, and then to her horror ... she began expelling "live worms and eggs from her mouth, vagina and anus."

She claims she was diagnosed with intestinal parasites and had to get a strong medication due to the seriousness of the infestation. She says, along with making her gravely ill, she's been traumatized and still suffers from emotional distress, disgust and nightmares.

Drake Bell won't be doing any time behind bars in his child endangerment case -- a judge just announced his fate, and the actor ended up getting probation instead.

The former Nickelodeon star was sentenced Monday in an Ohio court ... receiving 2 years of probation -- to be supervised in California, where he lives -- plus 200 hours of community service. If he doesn't keep his nose clean, he could face up to one year in prison on the felony charge of attempted endangering children -- to which he's pled guilty.

DB took the punishment in stride, saying he accepted it ... while also apologizing, explaining that it wasn't his intention to do harm, but that he's sorry to the girl and anyone else he hurt over this matter.

The woman, however, said he'd done irreparable harm -- issuing a victim impact statement via Zoom, and detailing what exactly this is all about. She claims they began exchanging messages online in 2017 (when she was 15), which she says eventually turned sexual in nature and included photos. She says this all happened over IG and Snap.

She went on to allege that she attended a concert of his back then, and that afterward ... he took her backstage to be alone -- where she claims she performed oral sex on him. Drake was seen shaking his head a few times during her remarks.

You'll recall, Drake was officially charged over this just earlier this year -- even though she filed a police report back in 2018. Up until now, it wasn't quite clear what sort of messages Drake was alleged to have sent to the minor -- but she shed a bit more light on it in her appearance.