Legal

Bernie Madoff is too conniving to be let out of prison early and should continue rotting behind bars ... so says Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband.

As you know ... Bernie is begging a judge for mercy in the form of an early prison release, claiming he has terminal kidney failure and saying doctors are only giving him 18 months to live.

But Zsa Zsa's hubby and conservator, Frederic Prinz Von Anhalt, says not so fast!!!

The Prince says Madoff should remain behind bars for at least another 16 months if the 18-month timeline is indeed legit because he feels an early release is too sweet a deal for the 81-year-old Ponzi schemer.

Easy to see why Frederic doesn't have any sympathy for Madoff ... he claims Bernie robbed his wife and his investment firm of about $10 million ... and says Zsa Zsa would want Madoff to rot in hell!!!

Shannen Doherty is dying of cancer and has been displaced from her damaged home after the devastating California wildfires -- damage she's fighting State Farm to repair -- and now the insurance company says cancer doesn't justify a total remodel.

Shannen has sued State Farm over the amount the company is willing to pay to make her home right again. State Farm is saying her home didn't suffer fire or structural damage. Nevertheless, State Farm claims in new legal docs it's paid more than $1 million, which includes remediation, professional cleaning and rent for a temporary house for a year.

State Farm says, Shannen "improperly claims she is entitled to have her entire home rebuilt at a cost of $2.7 million because she has breast cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease."

And, get this ... State Farm says, "In fact, the first sentence of [Shannen's] memorandum ... reveals [her] plan at trial to garner sympathy by her contention that State Farm must rebuild her entire house ..."

Shannen revealed she has stage 4 breast cancer and it's terminal.

Kevin Hart has not filed a lawsuit in the wake of his near-fatal car crash. He hasn't been sued either. And, the driver and passenger haven't sued or been sued either. In other words, not a single lawsuit has been filed in what everyone thought would be a flurry of legal action.

TMZ broke the story, Kevin was in the front passenger seat last September when his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda crashed into an embankment in Malibu. Kevin, the driver and the driver's fiancee were all hospitalized and Kevin required spinal surgery. Investigators concluded no one was wearing a seat belt and there were no safety harnesses in the car.

Law enforcement says the driver was at fault, he allegedly gunned the vehicle's 720-HP engine and lost control.

As we reported, everyone immediately lawyered up, but then there was silence. It seemed almost certain the driver would get sued, and Kevin as well since he was the owner of the car and owners are responsible when they allow someone to take the wheel and their negligence causes an accident.

There was also talk the company that customized the car would be sued since there were no safety harnesses in the vehicle. The fact is though, since no one even had a seat belt on, the harness would have gone unused and done no good.

Our sources also say no money has changed hands as part of a settlement. In other words, when it comes to lawsuits resulting from the crash ... crickets.

Now it's true ... everyone involved has 3 years to file a lawsuit, so it could still happen, but typically, these suits are filed pretty quickly.

Mel B's ex-husband is fresh off a major court victory but again he's coming for a pound of flesh in his custody war with the Spice Girl.

Stephen Belafonte's asking the court to grant him full legal and physical custody of their 8-year-old daughter, Madison, claiming Mel B's all but abandoned her after moving to the UK ... this according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ.

Mel's ex claims he's been the sole caregiver of Madison for the majority of 2018 and much of 2019. He says Mel's ensconced in England and absent from Madison's life. Stephen also wants Mel to have access to Madison but only in L.A. and only supervised visitation.

As we reported ... Stephen -- who has had custody issues with Mel since settling their heated divorce -- got a judge last December to block Mel from taking their daughter to the UK for the holidays. At the time ... he claimed Madison was afraid Mel would hurt her. He also claimed Mel's asking their daughter for dirt on him.

Stephen claims he doesn't want to subject Madison to Mel's alleged verbal and psychological abuse. He claims he couldn't get a hold of Mel for days last Thanksgiving and when Mel's nanny dropped off Madison with Stephen, Madison told him "her mother would make her sit in a dark room and repeatedly question her over and over and demand answers from her."

Stephen claims this is why Madison "also told me that she was afraid her mother would hurt her." Moving forward, Stephen wants to make all parental decisions (medical care, schooling, etc.) when it comes to their daughter.

The woman who called 911 on NFL star Xavien Howard claimed he abused her multiple times in the past, but he convinced her not to call police because it would hurt his career.

... and it's all in the 911 call released by officials and obtained by TMZ Sports.

Howard -- a star cornerback for the Miami Dolphins -- was arrested on Dec. 29th after allegedly roughing up his fiancee during an altercation at their Davie, FL home.

Now, in new 911 audio from that day of the incident, you can hear the woman describe a pattern of abuse.

"My fiance continues to think he can just push me, throw me into the wall without me doing nothing just because of who he is," the woman says.

"But it's kind of getting to a point, it's just like, it's getting physical."

When the operator asks what she means by "who he is" ... the woman explains, "Because he plays football."

"So every time a situation happens it's always like, 'Oh, don't do this.' Or, 'Oh, well, you'll be OK. Don't call the cops.'"

The woman added, "But it's like, OK, like him just pushing me into the mirror, grabbing my arm, grabbing me by my neck, like this is probably the last day that's going to happen."

As we previously reported, Howard was arrested after the woman -- the mother of his children -- accused him of getting violent with her after an argument in their bedroom.

The woman told cops at the time Howard had grabbed both her arms and pushed her into a mirrored glass wall in the hallway. She claims once he let her go, she fell into one of the crutches he was using after an in-season knee surgery.

In the police report, cops say they noticed "visible scratches," redness and an abrasion on the woman ... and they arrested Howard on one charge of domestic battery.

Howard appeared in court just hours later on crutches ... but bonded out on the condition that he'd have NO contact with the alleged victim.

The former Pro Bowl corner has been fighting the case in court ever since -- pleading not guilty last month. There's another hearing scheduled for later this week.

Chris Cornell's former bandmates are taking a stand against his widow ... insisting she's got the wrong idea about who owns a bunch of unreleased Soundgarden tunes.

Soundgarden is responding to Vicky Cornell's lawsuit, filed last year ... claiming ownership of 7 tracks she says she found on Chris' laptop after his death -- but the band says ... not so fast!

In new docs, they acknowledge there are unreleased songs but say they -- as a band -- had been working on them as far back as 2014. As evidence, they point to a February 2017 article where Chris himself spoke to Music Radar about Soundgarden's new material. He said, "We have a lot of interesting songs."

The operative word there being, "We" ... according to the band. According to the docs, Soundgarden got together in the studio in April 2017 to do more work on the songs. They acknowledge they took a break from polishing the songs later that month ... to go on tour.

It was during that tour, in May 2017, that Chris died by suicide.

Further, Soundgarden say they've corresponded with Vicky about the songs, and she's admitted they were the band's property ... not just Chris' solo work.

They also think she's filed her lawsuit in the wrong court -- a federal court in Florida -- because the band is based in Seattle. Therefore, they're asking a judge to dismiss Vicky's lawsuit or, at least, force her to refile in the proper district.

Kodak Black is pushing for a lighter prison sentence because he thinks the judge unfairly threw the book at him.

The rapper's attorney, Bradford Cohen, tells TMZ ... they'll be filing legal docs soon appealing the 46 months he got in his federal gun case. They're looking to get several months cut off that time, and here's why.

Cohen says Kodak shouldn't have been classified as a prior convicted felon at sentencing. He says Kodak's previous guilty pleas didn't result in convictions -- because under those deals there would be NO conviction on his record ... provided he met all the terms.

It's a technicality, but nonetheless Kodak believes that error opened the door for a harsher sentence.

We broke the story ... Kodak will likely be serving out his time in a federal prison in Kentucky, and as of now, he's slated to be free again on or around Aug. 14, 2022.

If his appeal is successful though, his team believes he could be out in late 2021. Of course, this is all under the assumption Kodak can stay out of trouble behind bars ... which ain't always easy to do.

Danny Masterson is firing back at his rape accusers over their stalking lawsuit against him and the Church of Scientology ... calling BS on the whole case.

The "That '70s Show" star filed new docs -- obtained by TMZ -- asking a judge to toss the case on grounds the women, according to Danny, haven't specified what they're accusing him of doing.

You'll recall ... 4 women filed suit against Danny and the Church claiming they conspired to stalk them and invade their privacy. They cited multiple incidents of being followed, having their homes surveilled and their property damaged ... which they believe was in retaliation for going public with rape claims against Danny, who is a Scientologist.

In the new docs, filed by attorney Andrew Brettler, Masterson claims the 4 women -- two of whom filed as Jane Does -- are engaged in a "shameful money grab." He says the women are ex-girlfriends who are trying to humiliate him and the Church but doing it anonymously to avoid scrutiny.

He'd already denied all of their claims, but now ... he's doing it again in court docs. He says there was a criminal investigation 2 years ago, and no charges were filed.

Danny says he wants a judge, at the very least, to force the women to disclose their names publicly and, more importantly, he wants them to specify what he allegedly did wrong. He claims they're far too general with their allegations, and he's demanding they get specific.

There's a hearing on the matter scheduled for March, at which point the court is expected to issue a ruling.

Madonna should've been on time for her recent concerts in NYC, because her tardiness screwed over a bunch of fans -- financially and otherwise, according to a new lawsuit.

The pop icon is being sued by a couple guys named Andrew Panos and Antonio Velotta, who claim they were forced to wait 2 to 3 hours for Madonna to take the stage on Sept. 21 and Oct. 1 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the start time was supposed to be 8:30 PM for the Madame X tour stops, but things didn't actually get started until 11:30 PM on the September date, and 10:40 PM in October.

Andrew and Antonio say they were left high and dry on more levels than one. They claim the value of their tickets was greatly diminished, and more importantly ... they say they were left stranded at around 1 AM because they'd missed their scheduled trains or other rides home.

The guys claim the unannounced delay -- which they insist Madonna admitted was her fault -- ruined their plans for work and school the next day. They say they weren't able to arrange alternative rides since their phones were confiscated during the show.

Adding insult to injury, they claim Live Nation -- the company that put on the event -- wouldn't issue refunds to them after the fact. They also allege that the rest of Madonna's September and October shows followed the same pattern of tardiness. You'll recall a very similar class-action lawsuit was filed against Madonna this past November in FL.

These new guys are suing for breach of contract, loss of value, false advertisement and negligent misrepresentation. They're asking for damages and lawyer fees.

Future says he's sick and tired of his alleged baby mama talking about their sexual encounters with anyone who'll listen ... and now he's suing her.

The rapper just filed suit against Eliza Seraphin, the woman alleging Future fathered his SEVENTH child with her, for defamation and invasion of privacy.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Future claims Eliza's sharing intimate facts about him from their private sexual relationship in order to gain clout and squeeze money outta him.

Future doesn't address whether he's the father to Eliza's child, but he says they had a sexual relationship from 2016 to 2018 and claims he never would have slept with her in the first place if he knew she would kiss and tell.

In the docs, Future claims Eliza gave a vivid description of his genitals during an interview on Rah Ali's Onsite on Stationhead and then blasted it out to her Instagram followers.

In the suit, Future also claims Eliza is spreading lies about him on social media -- like the time she claimed he hired someone to murder her because she wouldn't get an abortion -- and claims it's hurting his brand and causing substantial emotional distress.

Boosie Badazz can stop sweating it out in GA -- he's avoiding any jail time in his drug case.

The Louisiana rapper pled guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of possession of a controlled substance and failure to maintain lane ... this according to docs from the Coweta County D.A.'s Office.

It's a sweet deal for Boosie, who gets 6 months probation and a $1,000 fine ... but no time behind bars. The judge has already signed off on the deal.

It could have been a lot more serious. As we reported. Boosie was busted last April after cops pulled him over in his Dodge Charger for swerving lanes and almost hitting another car. During the stop, cops found weed, a gun and more than $20k in cash.

Boosie was never booked for the gun -- it's likely he was licensed to have it.

He'd previously served 5 years in Louisiana for drug charges, and could have been hit with a year in a Georgia jail if convicted on all charges.

DaBaby better get da lawyer on the phone ... he's just been slapped with a lawsuit by the guy claiming he and his crew beat him up.

Concert promoter Kenneth Carey just filed suit against DB, his entertainment company and a bunch of the goons that were with him that day ... alleging the rapper not only illegally battered him but also turned his back on a deal they'd struck to host an event.

Long story short ... Kenneth now claims in legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- that he and DaBaby agreed to have the latter host a party where another artist, Stunna 4 Vegas, had been booked to perform at. Ken says he and DB agreed on a flat rate ... $20k, no more.

In his lawsuit ... Ken says when DaBaby and co. arrived in town, he arranged hotels and cars for them via a rental company -- and alleges one of those vehicles was returned damaged.

Fast-forward to the day Ken was supposed to pay DB, and he claims the guy asked him for an additional $10k on the spot to cover the damage to the car, which apparently got billed to DaBaby and his crew. Ken says DaBaby insisted it was the least Ken could do ... seeing how he agreed to do the hosting gig for way cheaper than he normally charges.

Ken says he refused to pay another $10k, and that's when the alleged ass-whooping -- part of which was caught on camera -- went down. The promoter says DaBaby and at least 4 other guys pulled his pants down, beat him up and poured apple juice all over him.

He also claims the crew jacked him of his phone, money and credit card that he had on hand. Adding insult to injury, Ken says neither DaBaby or Stunna showed for the event. The suit was filed by Jonathan May of The Lions' Den law firm in Miami.

Of course, DaBaby was later arrested and charged for battery in connection to this case ... but he later sprung himself from jail and defended himself online, denying the account.

The woman who crashed her Jeep into Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club was all smiles Friday when she posed for her official mugshot and it turns out she's an opera singer.

Hannah Roemhild is currently in custody on both federal and state charges, after getting behind the wheel of her jeep and crashing through 2 checkpoints. Secret Service agents fired shots at the vehicle ... 30-year-old Roemhild was not struck.

That led to a wild chase that ended outside Studio 6 motel in West Palm Beach, where she was taken into custody. Cops say she was clearly impaired.

Before arriving at Mar-a-Lago, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper spotted her at the famed Breakers Palm Beach hotel ... 3 miles from Mar-a-Lago. The trooper tried to stop Roemhild but she was not following his instructions so he smashed her window and grabbed the wheel.  Nevertheless, Roemhild got away.

Trump wasn't at Mar-a-Lago ... he was 2 hours out when the incident went down.

She's a horrible driver but not a bad singer. Check it out.

Now, this is awkward ... the brother of the woman who's dating the richest man in the world is suing him. Welcome to the life of Jeff Bezos.

Michael Sanchez, the brother of Jeff's GF, Lauren Sanchez, claims Bezos defamed him by falsely claiming Michael was the source of graphic texts, some containing nude images of Jeff.

Michael, who says he was Lauren's "dutiful brother and manager" at the time the texts were released, says he cooperated with authorities during the investigation but was ultimately "scapegoated."

ICYMI, the feds reportedly said last week there was evidence Michael was the source of the graphic messages and got $200k in return for his services.

Michael says as a result of Bezos' statements, he suffered substantial harm. He says he was subjected to an FBI raid at his house in full view of the neighbors, he's received backlash from friends and business associates.

And, no surprise ... Michael's suing for punitive damages, saying "in an amount appropriate to punish and make an example of defendants." BTW, Jeff made $13 billion yesterday.

He's suing both Bezos and P.I. Gavin de Becker for unspecified damages.

We reached out to Bezos' people ... so far, no word back.

PnB Rock smashed into 3 cars and wrecked his BMW during a street race ... this according to cops, who busted him for driving under the influence.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the rapper was arrested on suspicion of DUI and reckless driving in Burbank, CA after officers say they saw him plow into a row of parked cars. Looking at images from the crash makes ya think, PnB's lucky he was even alive to get arrested.

Our sources say cops observed the white BMW sedan -- driven by PnB Rock -- racing a blue and silver Rolls Royce Wraith last weekend on a local street, reaching speeds near 100 MPH.

The race didn't last long ... we're told the BMW crashed pretty quickly, hitting the 3 parked cars and flipping one on its side!!! There was even a woman inside of the vehicles, but she escaped with minor injuries.

Our sources say PnB Rock reeked of marijuana when police approached, and officers found some weed on him. He wasn't booked for that -- it's Cali, after all. You can possess small amounts, but driving while on it ... still not cool.

PnB was booked for DUI and reckless driving and later released on $100,000 bail.

As for the Rolls he was allegedly racing -- it made a clean getaway.