Legal

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation for possible ethics violations ... and there's speculation it's all about her infamous Met Gala appearance in 2021.

The U.S. House Committee On Ethics formally announced the probe Wednesday, saying the matter was brought to them in June and their findings will be disclosed sometime next year. The Committee didn't release specifics about what prompted the investigation.

AOC's rep says, "The Congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests. We are confident that this matter will be dismissed."

Now, going back to last year ... conservative groups had filed 2 ethics complaints against AOC after she attended the Met Gala, claiming her gown was an "impermissible gift" and Instagram had purchased special access for her.

You may recall, the New York Democrat famously wore a white dress emblazoned with the phrase, "Tax The Rich."

If she received free tickets it could be a violation of House rules, so that's why some people think that's what the Committee is digging into now.

Cops in Idaho want to speak with whoever was driving or a passenger in a white Hyundai Elantra that may have been in the neighborhood on the night 4 college students were killed.

Moscow PD says they've received tips about a vehicle that matches this description -- the model year being between 2011 and 2013 -- near the crime scene in the early morning hours of November 13. They have not released a license plate number.

Investigators are also unsure how many people may have been inside the car, but in any case, they say they're seeking them out -- as they feel they might have more info.

Cops are not saying whether they suspect the occupant(s) of the vehicle is directly involved in the murders -- but it feels like a solid lead after weeks of dead ends, with no one in custody.

As we reported ... frustrations have mounted in the community after many conflicting and retracted statements from law enforcement. At first, it was labeled a targeted attack against the victims, then saying it was maybe just the house was targeted ... later correcting that too and saying they just didn't know.

Cops have also ruled out an alleged stalker of one of the victims as a possible lead -- and don't seem to have moved much further beyond square one in terms of answers.

"Fixer Upper" stars Joanna and Chip Gaines are being taken to court by their former literary agent who claims the couple tried to back out of paying a set fee for their massive book deal after signing with someone else.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Joanna and Chip were repped by Vigliano Associates when they inked a massive $12.5 million deal back in 2017 to crank out 5 books for HarperCollins.

Vigliano says it was set to get a 7.5% cut of any payments to the couple and claims everything went fine for the first 2 books ... but Vigliano says the couple then "concocted a scheme" to back out payments for the last 3 books by trying to amend the deal.

The docs say the couple tried to eliminate one of the books and, as for the other two, Vigliano says they tried to swap out Joanna and make Chip the author for one of the remaining books.

Vigliano claims the original deal only applied to Joanna-authored books, so the move essentially took the book deal from 5 books down to 3 ... and, as a result, meant much less pay for Vigliano.

What's worse, the docs claim Joanna inked a deal with a different agent instead ... and now Vigliano says the money made from her new book, "The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters," should be going to its company instead -- and now Vigliano is looking for at least $1 million in damages over it.

Former Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza will not face criminal charges ... despite being accused of participating in the gang rape of a minor at a party in 2021.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office announced the declination of charges on Wednesday ... saying in a statement, "Ultimately, prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges."

They added, "There is no path to a potential criminal conviction."

As we reported, Araiza was sued back in August, after a woman identified only as Jane Doe said the NFL player and two other men gang raped her at an Oct. 17, 2021 party at Araiza's San Diego home.

Doe, who said she was only 17 years old at the time, claimed in the suit that a short time after she met Araiza at the Halloween-themed bash ... the former San Diego State punter handed her a drink that she later believed contained alcohol and "other intoxicating substances."

In the suit, she alleged the two then engaged in sexual acts outside of the home ... before he led her to a room in the house where he and two of his SDSU teammates, Nowlin "Pa'a" Ewaliko and Zavier Leonard, sexually abused her for over an hour.

Doe claimed once the party was shut down, she "stumbled out of the room bloody and crying." She sued Araiza, Ewaliko and Leonard for unspecified damages.

Her attorney, Dan Gilleon, said in a statement to The Athletic that he was "not surprised" by Wednesday's news.

"The police rarely pay much attention to cases where the victim is intoxicated," he said. "Here, the police made it clear in January 2022 that they weren’t interested in the case. They made that clear by ghosting my client and keeping her in the dark. It was only the media attention that caused the police to commence a dog and pony show long enough for them to say they conducted a thorough investigation."

A man has been arrested in connection to the brutal baseball bat attack in NYC last week -- and cops say it appears to be totally random ... because the suspect and victim were total strangers.

36-year-old Karim Azizi was hauled in by the NYPD Wednesday morning on three different charges -- assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Of course, Azizi is the man cops suspect was behind the brutal attack that was captured on camera.

Law enforcement sources tell us the perp and victim were total strangers, and that the beating seems to have come out of nowhere, despite some believing it may have been targeted at first. A warrant squad, we're told, picked Azizi up at his Hamilton Heights home.

Our sources also say ... the video of the incident assisted in capturing him.

As we reported ... the victim was walking on the sidewalk minding their own business, when suddenly -- the attacker pulls a bat out and hits the victim in the back of the head.

The CFO for an NYC hotspot -- frequented by celebs -- was caught serving up rage to an employee she's accusing of stealing and selling recipes to a competitor, and we have audio of her brutally racist rant.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Naomi Ram of Jue Lan Club called staffer Jose Luis Toxqui and another employee into a back office in August. From there, she not only accused them of giving out free drinks from the bar, but also accused Jose and his girlfriend -- who works at competitor restaurant Sei Less -- of stealing Jue Lan's recipes.

The verbal tirade is stunning, Ram announces, "Somebody is going to f***ing go to jail tonight ... I will f*** your ass up in f***ing immigration. I will f*** you the f*** up."

Toxqui, who is Mexican, remains mostly silent throughout Ram's attack, as she also accuses him of giving out free drinks at the bar, before asking, "You ever been sent to ICE motherf***er?"

We've split the entire audio into 2 clips ... but in the one above, Ram really ramps things up, yelling, "I will make sure you never step foot back in this country."

She then delivers her most vicious attack, saying, "You little f****ing Mexican illegal pieces of s*** like you, shouldn't f*** with people who f***ing have money and f***ing who know f***ing s***!"

After this exchange, Toxqui ended up filing a police report against Naomi for harassment, and he told NYPD he hadn't stolen anything from her or the restaurant.

According to Page Six, Toxqui sued Ram for assault, battery and unpaid wages in September. During at least one part of the audio, it does sound like Ram might have physically assaulted Toxqui.

The dispute is scheduled to go to mediation in January.

When Page Six wrote about the dispute -- without the audio -- an attorney for Ram said, "Neither our office nor our clients have been provided with the purported audio recording, nor have we had the opportunity to listen to or verify it, and so we cannot comment on it. However, we intend to vigorously defend the litigation in the appropriate forum and not through the press.”

Takeoff's alleged murderer, Patrick Xavier Clark, is asking a judge for money ... because he says he can't afford a private investigator, but needs one to build his defense.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Clark's asking for an initial sum of $5,000 to hire a P.I. ... adding he's financially unable to cover the costs on his own.

The docs say Clark's family has already spent all its money on his attorney who agreed to work at a reduced rate for him. He says it's necessary to add a private investigator to his defense in order to "properly investigate [Clark's] case and to prepare effectively for trial."

Clark says he's already identified a P.I. who will work on the case for the reduced rate of $85/hour.

As we reported, Houston PD announced last week Clark had been arrested and charged with the murder of the rapper. He's currently being held on a $2 million bond.

The docs say Clark will be put under house arrest if released ... and he'll be prohibited from possessing firearms or any deadly weapons, and must refrain from using marijuana or any controlled substance without a prescription.

Dozens of Taylor Swift fans, and one angry lawyer/Swiftee, want Ticketmaster to stand trial for allegedly screwing them outta tickets ... and right now at least, they're not interested in settling.

Attorney Jennifer Kinder filed the lawsuit last week against Ticketmaster, and she joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and explained why she's not buying the company's claim that the presale event problems were simply a supply and demand issue.

Jennifer says it really comes down to simple math, and it should have been clear to Ticketmaster things were gonna go south when it gave out way more presale codes than there were seats available for Taylor's 'Eras' tour dates.

TMZ broke the story ... the fans are alleging Ticketmaster essentially got into bed with scalpers by allowing bots to block real fans from getting tickets -- and the reason comes down to money. They claim Ticketmaster benefits financially when scalpers resell tickets.

Jennifer tells us the lawsuit's gotten the attention of disappointed Swiftees all around the country ... and she'll be adding more plaintiffs beyond the original 26 who sued.

You'll recall, chaos broke out during the November 15 presale event. Tons of fans were left in limbo, as they tried to snag tickets and most of them never lucked up. Taylor has called out Ticketmaster over the issue ... and even the Tennessee Attorney General and the Justice Department opened an investigation.

Jesse James' wife Bonnie Rotten has changed her mind yet again, this time deciding she wants to file for divorce, only hours after announcing she was going to try to make things work with Jesse.

Bonnie filed for divorce Tuesday in Texas ... just one day after calling off her first filing -- and after she'd moved back in with Jesse.

You'll recall, the mommy-to-be took to Instagram Monday after it was reported she filed to divorce the mechanic. She backtracked on the move ... telling her followers, she jumped the gun by putting Jesse on blast for believing he was cheating on her.

She wrote, "The past week has been a pretty terrible week on all accounts ... I mistakenly posted my private business between my husband and I on social media."

She continued, "I love Jesse so much and was very hurt by what I saw when I went through his phone" ... saying she's working out the marriage "I believe in."

Well, now it seems she's no longer a believer.

Tory Lanez is facing yet another hurdle in his Megan Thee Stallion shooting case -- prosecutors are hitting him with a third charge just as his trial is about to begin.

Court records show the new charge against Tory is felony negligent discharge of a firearm ... which comes on top of his previous 2 charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm.

As we reported, Tory plead not guilty, way back in 2020, to the first 2 charges ... denying Megan's claim he was the one who shot her in the foot while they were in a vehicle together.

She put him on blast the following month, saying on social media "Yes, this n**** Tory shot me. You shot me, and you got your publicist and your people to these blogs lying and s***, stop lying!"

In the 2 years since ... both have traded jabs in songs, on social ... and through other artists. Tory was still smiling, though, in October when he was fitted for an ankle monitor and put on house arrest until the trial starts.

Jury selection has begun, and opening statements are set for next week.

Big break for Israel Adesanya ... TMZ Sports has learned the UFC star's brass knuckles case will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble for the foreseeable future.

According to a spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney's Office, Adesanya's case was called on Tuesday -- and he was issued an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD).

Per the spokesperson, that means if Adesanya keeps his nose clean for the next six months, he will no longer be facing criminal charges.

We broke the story, Adesanya was initially arrested back on Nov. 16 -- just four days after his loss to Alex Pereira -- after authorities say he went through security at JFK airport with metal knuckles.

He was ultimately issued a desk appearance ticket -- a written notice from a police officer -- and ordered to appear in court on Tuesday.

Adesanya's manager, Tim Simpson, told us at the time of the arrest that "Israel was handed a gift by a fan, which he put in his luggage. When flagged at the airport, Israel quickly disposed of the item, and cooperated with authorities."

Roddy Ricch's megahit "The Box" is celebrating its 3rd anniversary Tuesday ... but now the Compton rapper is dealing with a new copyright lawsuit over it.

According to court documents, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Roddy, his producer 30 Roc, Atlantic Records, and others are being sued by artist Greg Perry ... who claims Roddy and co. took certain key elements of his 1975 song "Come On Down (Get Your Head Out Of The Clouds)" and dropped 'em in "The Box" without permission.

Perry says the similarities are unmistakable and claims a musicology expert "clearly and convincingly" shows the 2 tracks share similar melody, form, and structure.

Perry is looking to be awarded damages and wants the court to find that Roddy and team willingly infringed his copyright.

Roddy dropped his debut studio album "Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial" on December 6, 2019 ... and "The Box" immediately jumped out the gate as the fan favorite, spending 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. It also fueled countless TikToks during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The song was certified Diamond this time last year so yeah, there's a lot of royalties on the table to be had.

Kevin McKidd's wife wants to officially close the book on their relationship as husband and wife ... because she just filed for divorce.

Arielle McKidd filed legal docs, obtained by TMZ, seeking to end the couple's 5-year marriage ... citing irreconcilable differences. She's asking for joint physical and legal custody of their two young children, Aiden and Nava, and wants to hash out splitting up assets and the like in mediation.

One other thing ... Arielle is also asking the court to restore her original surname, Goldrath.

She says they got hitched in 2017, but the date of separation is listed as "TBD." Kevin announced they were splitting up earlier this summer, around early July.

At the time, he wrote ... "I don’t often share my personal life on social media, but today there is something I do want to share with you. A few months ago, Arielle and I decided to end the marriage portion of our relationship. We reached this conclusion after much soul searching and discussion. We know it’s what is right for both of us."

KMD had some kind words for his estranged spouse, adding ... "Arielle is an incredible mother to Aiden and Nava. She’s one of the wisest, most intelligent and loving people I’ve ever known. We continue to have the highest love and respect for each other."

Trap rapper Hoodrich Pablo Juan is going to do some hard time in prison as part of a plea deal he made, and once he gets out ... he'll have to be on his best behavior for an even longer stretch.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, HPJ pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act -- aka a RICO case -- and got 5 years in prison. He'll get credit for time already served, which is substantial ... he's been in custody for more than 2 years.

The Jersey-born, Atlanta-bred rapper was arrested back in October 2020 along with 45 other people as part of a sweep that targeted the local Rollin 20 Neighborhood Bloods.

His plea deal calls for 10 years of probation after he gets out of prison. During that time, HPJ must avoid any contact with members or associates of a criminal gang ... and he's also barred from possessing firearms and ammo.

A woman apparently wasn't taking any crap from a police department in Texas, she was allegedly dropping it off ... in buckets.

46-year-old Mindy Stephens, the wife of an assistant fire chief, is allegedly the stinky delivery woman in question ... according to KAXN, she pulled up in front of the Electra Police Department last month and made the drop-off.

Cops say an officer went out front to investigate, and found 3 5-gallon buckets -- weighing a total of 50 pounds -- filled with what appeared to be feces. He also observed Stephens in a hazmat suit walking towards an SUV with a trailer attached.

The officer reportedly asked her what she was doing ... and she allegedly told the cop she was dropping off the buckets of "human s***," and then drove off. A Lieutenant reportedly reviewed security footage and recognized Stephens' voice as the suspect.

Police say they contacted city officials about the issue, and said they'd call Stephens about picking the buckets up, but she allegedly refused -- telling officials it wasn't her problem.

Stephens was then charged with illegal dumping -- a Class B misdemeanor ... as well as a violation of the Texas health safety code. She was booked last week and was released the following day, after posting her $2K bond.

Believe it or not, this isn't Stephens' first run-in with the law, she reportedly got charged with aggravated assault back in 2020 after allegedly puncturing a man's hand and arm with a set of keys.

Bill Cosby is facing a new lawsuit from 5 women -- most of whom were involved with "The Cosby Show" -- who claim he sexually assaulted them.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ ... the women claim the disgraced actor/comedian masqueraded as their mentor as they tried to break into show biz in the '80s and '90s, but instead he turned into a predator.

Plaintiffs Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd say Cosby was able to take advantage of them because they were young and vulnerable.

Lili guest starred as Mrs. Minifield in a 1992 'Cosby Show' episode ... and in the lawsuit, she says Cosby drugged and assaulted her several times -- including one time when she woke up during the rape to find him trying to smother her with a pillow.

According to the suit, she threatened to go to the police, and Cosby threw her down a flight of stairs and kicked her out, warning he would destroy her. She says she didn't report the alleged crimes out of fear for her life.

Eden Tirl -- who had a bit role as a cop on 'Cosby' -- alleges she was "escorted" by one of the employees on set to Cosby's dressing room, where he locked the door, grabbed her breasts, kissed her neck and pressed his penis into her back while whispering, "This is making love."

In the suit, Gittens says Cosby drugged and assaulted her at his home while they discussed a possible role for her on the show -- Thompson claims he forced her to masturbate him ... and Ladd alleges he raped her after giving her a pill for a headache that made her pass out.

As we reported, Cosby has been accused of rape by dozens of women over the years -- allegations that he denies. In 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in a Pennsylvania prison for indecent assault -- but, he was released last year because prosecutors had violated an immunity deal Cosby had been given by a previous district attorney.

Earlier this year, he was found liable by a California jury in a civil case of sexually abusing a teenage girl in 1975.