Legal

Kanye West's failed presidential bid just took another hit ... his campaign committee claims they fell victim to a fraud scheme where thousands went to pay off someone's credit card.

Kanye 2020 told the Federal Election Commission someone unaffiliated with the campaign accessed the committee's bank account, swiping $3,999 to pay off their own credit card bills.

In a letter fired off Tuesday to the FEC, and obtained by TMZ, Kanye 2020 says an investigation determined someone accessed the account three times between December and February, and the campaign was unable to get the money back from the First Bank of Wyoming.

The FEC previously flagged the transactions and Kanye's campaign took a look and is now claiming they were the victim here. There doesn't appear to have been an arrest made yet, and it appears the FEC is working to gather more info. Business Insider was the first to report the filing.

The Calgary Stampeders have launched an investigation into Brendan Langley ... after their wide receiver was seen on video punching a United Airlines employee at a New Jersey airport this week.

The Canadian Football League club released a statement late Monday announcing the probe ... saying it is aware of Langley's arrest and is "looking into the matter in order to learn the full details."

"[We] will have no further comment until the investigation is complete," the team said.

Langley -- who just signed with the Stampeders in February -- got into a brawl with the UA employee at the Newark Liberty International Airport after an argument.

The video of the melee went viral ... capturing the two men in an all-out fistfight at a ticket counter.

The employee was left with a bloody face and police tell us Langley was later arrested for simple assault. United ultimately fired the employee over the incident.

Langley was selected as a cornerback by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft -- making him the first player drafted from Lamar University in over 25 years.

The 27-year-old signed a four-year, $3.17 million deal ... and converted to wide receiver in March 2019. He was waived before the 2019 season.

After a short stint with the Seattle Seahawks and the XFL, Langley signed with the Stampeders, where he was expected to compete for playing this season.

It's the final stretch for the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial -- and it seems people are well aware of that ... flocking to get in line for a front-row seat, and doing so by the hundreds.

Check out this insane footage we shot Tuesday morning outside of the courthouse in Fairfax, VA -- where scores of bodies are lined up outside the front entrance in hopes of scoring a wristband to gain entry ... one of the most coveted items in and around that area right now.

As you can see ... most of the folks here look to be Johnny Depp fans -- as has been the case day in and day out as this trial has gone on -- and a fair amount of them weren't shy about showing off their allegiance at the gate. And yes, a majority of 'em are young'uns.

It's just another snapshot of the public sentiment thus far -- namely, there seems to be a heck of a lot more Depp defenders than those backing Amber ... who, by and large, has been vilified, or at least on social media anyway.

Johnny meanwhile, continues to enjoy the warm reception with each passing court date ... and he's shown just as much love to his supporters as they're giving him from the street.

Amber Heard's participation in 'Aquaman 2' -- however minimal it may end up being -- had absolutely nothing to do with Johnny Depp ... so says the guy who heads up DC Films.

Walter Hamada -- WarnerMedia's head honcho for all things DC movies these days -- sat for a deposition that was played in court by Johnny's team Tuesday ... this as a rebuttal witness after AH's squad rested their case, and as closing arguments approach on Friday.

Check out his testimony ... he tells JD's attorney, Ben Chew, that whatever was going on in the outside world between Amber and Johnny these past few years had no bearing on Warner's decision to downplay her role as Mera -- nor did it affect how much they paid her.

As you know ... there's been much speculation and rumors that AH is seriously sidelined in the 'Aquqman' sequel, this after significant screen time in both the OG and 'Justice League.'

Amber's attorneys have trotted out witnesses who've suggested Amber lost not just a big part in the movie, but big money that should've come with it ... in the form of a renegotiation upon the success of its predecessor, which they say is SOP in the movie biz.

WH addressed that head-on -- saying that under his watch, Warner made clear they wanted to reign in all these pay raises -- which can be costly -- and hold people to option agreements in contracts they originally signed with them ... and AH got a taste of that, he says.

She made a mil for the first movie, and since WM exercised her option for the sequel without rejiggering the deal ... they only gave her $2 mil -- something Amber's attorneys have called a blatant sign her career's been damaged by this whole saga.

Johnny Depp's face in this clip is pretty much everyone's ... 'cause he had a perfectly perplexed reaction to an expert witness Amber Heard's team called to the stand.

Psychologist Dr. David Spiegel testified Monday, claiming to have evaluated Johnny's cognitive abilities based on watching his interviews. That premise alone seems kinda weird, but it really got bizarre when Johnny's attorney, Wayne Dennison, asked the good doc if he'd watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as part of his evaluation.

Spiegel not only hemmed and hawed, but also smacked his lips and opened and closed his mouth searching for a response ... before finally asking the judge if he needs to respond.

While Johnny's mostly remained stoic throughout the trial, he couldn't hold back this time -- looking totally confused by what was happening with Spiegel's face.

Hell, even the judge sounded confused, telling Spiegel ... "You have to answer questions. Yes, sir."

Soccer star Kurt Zouma has pleaded guilty to charges he attacked at least one of his cats in an abhorrent act back in February -- admitting in court on Tuesday that he did kick and slap at least one of the pets.

Zouma was seen on video back on Feb. 6 punting one of his two felines across his house's floor, and then slapping one of them as well. Earlier this week, he was formally charged over the incident.

The 27-year-old, who's a member of France's national team, appeared at Thames Magistrates' Court in London ... and pleaded guilty to two charges -- one accusing him of kicking a cat in the abdomen, and one accusing him of slapping a cat in the head.

Kurt's younger brother, Yoan, also pleaded guilty to a charge that he aided and abetted Kurt during the incident after officials say he was the one who filmed it all and posted it to social media.

The two are due back in court on June 1 for sentencing -- it's unclear if either is facing significant jail time.

Kurt had previously apologized for his actions in the days after the video went viral, saying, "There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret." He was later fined by his West Ham team, and lost sponsorships as well.

At the hearing Tuesday, Kurt agreed to give up the cats -- which have been in the possession of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since February. They're now in the process of finding a new home.

While Amber Heard may be at war with one Hollywood heavyweight, another had her back, at least professionally ... because according to testimony, Jason Momoa allegedly fought to keep her in "Aquaman 2"

Neither Johnny nor Amber took the stand Monday, but entertainment consultant Kathryn Arnold was called to talk about Heard's mark in the industry. At one point, Amber's attorney began asking about her role in "Aquaman 2."

As you may know, it was reported Amber's role was significantly cut in the film, but Arnold says there was some question as to whether or not she'd even be in the film at all.

Arnold says both Momoa and the film's director, James Wan, were both "adamant" she be included in the movie. She testified back in February 2021, there were conversations that Amber may not be hired for the movie at all ... but the two showed their support for her.

Another interesting tidbit about Momoa ... Arnold says he re-negotiated his contract from making about $3-4M for the first "Aquaman" to about $15M for the second installment.

Fat Joe can't hold his tongue when the topic of Tekashi 6ix9ine and snitching comes up -- and now he's tearing the rainbow-haired rapper a new soul.

Joey Crack was the latest guest of Math Hoffa's barbershop-style podcast "Expert Opinion," and he had some choice words ... describing Tekashi as "a pussy, a sucka, a bitch!"

If you recall, 6ix9ine infamously ratted on his Treyway Bloods Gang and justified the deed by saying they turned on him, but Joe couldn't give, pardon the phrase, a rat's ass!

As he started going in on Tekashi, Joe pointed out he was sober and not drunkenly spewing opinions. They both hail from NYC -- completely different eras -- and Joe hints at feeling betrayed when he saw firsthand Tekashi admitting he's just trolling and pretending to be a gangsta.

For his part, Tekashi recently claimed on "TMZ Live" he doesn't start all the beefs he has with various rappers, he just fillets them when they come his way.

He can add one more to that list, and while Fat Joe says he doesn't wish any harm on 6ix9ine ... he also believes the guy's got a death wish.

Travis Scott is being sued over another incident at a concert ... he's being blamed for inciting a stampede during one of his performances at Rolling Loud.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, police told Travis to stop his 2019 gig at Rolling Loud in Miami because the crowd was getting out of control, but Travis ignored cops and instead riled up his fans even more.

A woman who says she was injured at the concert, Marchelle Love, is suing Travis and others ... claiming multiple stampedes broke out during Travis' set, resulting in folks in the crowd suffocating, losing consciousness, fighting, and being trampled.

Love claims Travis was aware and could even see people were being hurt in the stampede and did nothing to stop it. She says he ignored multiple warnings from security and police about toning down his performance, leading to a stampede where her leg was shattered in the scrum.

In the docs, she says Travis should have known better ... not only because there were other stampedes at Rolling Loud the night before, but also because his shows had a history of getting out of hand.

As you know ... Travis is also facing a ton of lawsuits for the deadly Astroworld festival, where 10 people died.

We reached out to Travis' camp ... so far no word back.

4-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel reportedly had to put his speed to the test after the Spanish Grand Prix ... chasing after a group of thieves who made off with his bag.

Vettel -- who finished P11 on Sunday -- was reportedly exiting his Aston Martin in Barcelona on Monday when the robbers grabbed his backpack and made a run for it.

Apparently, Vettel wasn't going down without a fight -- because according to local reports, he hopped on a scooter and used the GPS tracking on his AirPods to hunt down his bag.

Unfortunately for Vettel, the thieves must've planned ahead ... because once he made it to his headphones, they were not with his bag.

A rep for AM spoke about the incident ... saying, "A bag belonging to Sebastian Vettel was stolen in Barcelona this morning; he tried to find it by using his iPhone to track his earphones which were in his bag; but when he located his earphones he found them abandoned and was therefore unable to locate his stolen bag."

Deshaun Watson's attorney says the NFL has concluded its interviews with the Browns star over allegations that he was sexually inappropriate with female massage therapists -- and he's now anticipating a league ruling in the case to come down sometime this summer.

Rusty Hardin said on the "Between The Lines: A Podcast About Sports and the Law" that Watson spoke with NFL investigators for three days this week over the masseuses' claims.

Hardin explained nothing was off-limits during the talks -- and he said he believed with the interviews now in the rearview mirror, a potential NFL punishment for Watson could be figured out in a matter of weeks.

"I don't have a deadline," Hardin said. "I'd suspect the NFL wants to conclude its investigation sometime this summer. Whether that is June or whether that's August or July, I have no idea. That's their schedule."

Hardin said he believed there are still more people the NFL wants to question before it makes its final ruling.

Hardin reiterated on the podcast that he firmly believes his client was not inappropriate with any of his 22 accusers ... adding he still believes any sexual conduct his client had with the women was consensual.

Gunna could be looking at a long time behind bars before his trial, a judge just denied the rapper bond and set his trial date for January 2023.

Gunna was in Fulton County Court in Georgia Monday where a judge ruled he be held without bond ... meaning it's possible he could sit in a cell for the next 6 months.

Prosecutors argued Gunna is one of the shot callers for the "YSL Gang" — the 28-member group that stands accused of being responsible for "50 murders" — and can command the troops to commit violence on demand.

According to Billboard reporter Jewel Wicker, Gunna's trial won't happen until January 2023. It's possible his legal team can try again for bond, but things are looking tough. He plead not guilty to all alleged involvement in the RICO charges.

The man accused of tackling Dave Chappelle -- and who seems to be copping to it -- says he did what he did because he was "triggered" by DC's LGBT jokes ... which is an apparent change of tune.

23-year-old Isaiah Lee did an interview with the New York Post, and explained his reasoning for hopping up on the stage and attacking the comedian -- and wouldn't you know it ... he says he was, in fact, offended by Dave's material, and wanted him to know about it.

Lee is quoted as saying, "I identify as bisexual … and I wanted him to know what he said was triggering." He adds, "I wanted him to know that next time, he should consider first running his material by people it could affect."

Dave is reported to have addressed his transgender controversy that night before Lee allegedly rushed the stage -- talking about how he didn't have a problem with trans people, until now ... when he says they took his 'Closer' content out of context and warped it.

Here's another element that apparently sent Lee over the edge ... jokes that Dave apparently made about homelessness, which Lee says personally hurt him -- as he himself had experienced it at a young age.

Lee says, "I’m also a single dad and my son is five. It’s a struggle and I wanted Dave Chappelle to know it’s not a joke." Plus, jokes earlier in the night (made by an opener, it seems) talking pedophilia rocked Lee as well. He says he was sexually abused as a minor.

On his gruesome injuries, Lee said ... "They spat on me and twisted me as if on purpose." He also acknowledged having the fake-gun-turned knife on him that night, adding Chappelle asked why he did it. Lee says ... "I told him my mother and grandmother, who fought for his civil rights to be able to speak, would be upset at the things he said."

All of this is a new and different twist on Lee's motives. As we reported, Chappelle has said Lee told him backstage -- before he was arrested -- that he'd rushed onstage to draw attention to his grandmother's plight in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Sophia Bush definitely had a scary situation brewing at home ... because a woman who kept allegedly showing up at her place just got busted for stalking.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a 36-year-old woman named Jhoseplyn Coreaarguello was arrested last week at the former 'One Tree Hill' star's Los Angeles area home, where cops say the woman kept coming by uninvited. She was leaving gifts and flowers addressed to Sophia.

She also followed Bush to other locations. We're told Coreaarguello was showing up at various restaurants where Sophia was dining.

What pushed things over the legal line ... sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Coreaarguello was sending "aggressive Instagram messages."

We're told the Los Angeles City Attorney charged the woman with one count of misdemeanor stalking ... and she's facing up to one year in county jail if convicted.

The woman is still in custody on $50,000 bail ... and it's unclear when she will be released.

Flavor Flav is making monthly child support payments for his 3-year-old son, but he's still got a pretty big balance owed to his baby mama.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Flav found out in 2019, shortly after little Jordan was born, that he was the dad, with the help of a DNA test.

Fast forward to 2021 ... Flav and the baby's mother, Kate Gammell -- his former manager -- were hashing out a child support agreement and agreed he would pay $3,000 a month going forward. No problem here .... Flav's been making the monthly payments.

Thing is ... by the time he started paying, Jordan was already 2 years old, and Kate had incurred various expenses, including medical, that she wanted Flav to pay. As part of the child support agreement, Flav said he would pay the baby's expenses for the first 2 years, totaling $78,704.

He was supposed to make his first payment of the $78k last month, but according to Kate's family, the deadline came and went and she didn't get the loot.

Flav tells TMZ ... he fully intends to pay the $78k, and is working with an accountant to straighten out his finances. Flav makes it clear ... he's making the $3,000 monthly child support payments. He's also paying down her $100,000 in attorney's fees -- he's paid $40k already.

FF adds ... he's doing his very best to provide for and be there for the son he loves.

Amber Heard might not be getting much of a shoulder to cry on from the public amid her trial with Johnny Depp -- but her legal team certainly is ... specifically, Elaine Bredehoft.

It's been a strained week for Team Heard ... at least that seems to be the general consensus online, with many noticing what appears to be obvious -- namely, that Ms. Bredehoft had a tough go during redirect after Camille Vasquez's laser-focused cross-examination of AH.

If you watched that on Tuesday (Amber's last day on the stand), you certainly saw the frustration as Vasquez constantly objected to questions Bredehoft asked ... and the judge sustaining a fair amount of them, almost to the point EB could barely get a word out.

In fact, Bredehoft seemed to acknowledge the difficulty in the moment ... apparently looking up into her thoughts/figuring out a way to ask something without objection. She literally said, "I'm trying, I'm trying" ... and in the end, didn't have too successful of a redirect.

After Bredehoft wrapped redirect, Amber left the courtroom in a hurry ... this after the judge told her she could step down and rejoin her attorneys. Frankly, Amber seemed pissed.

There've also been rumors -- unconfirmed ones, mind you -- that AH and her team have gotten into squabbles and shouting matches in court when the camera wasn't rolling. No way of telling if that's true, but it would seem to lend to most people's belief that AH and co. are getting out lawyered throughout this trial ... and that it may be taking hold internally.

That leads us to the sympathy Elaine seems to have garnered by some ... folks on TikTok and elsewhere say she and the other Heard attorneys look down and out a lot of the times -- and a handful of apparent Depp supporters even say they feel for EB, suggesting she's got an uphill battle as well as a not-so-easy-to-defend client -- at least that's their read.

Of course, we're certain Elaine herself would fiercely disagree with that characterization -- and, more importantly ... it's up to the jury on who's got a leg up right now and who'll win.

While a good amount of folks might think Amber's testimony was so-so in firming up her defense -- others say the witnesses her team put on thereafter were way more effective in backing up her claim that Johnny was allegedly abusive/controlling amid their relationship.

JD's ex, Ellen Barkin, testified he once threw a wine bottle toward her and was jealous. Plus, other AH witnesses testified to seeing alleged injuries and/or actual beatdowns of Amber by Johnny first-hand ... and if the jury believes he struck her on even one occasion, he loses.