Legal

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez's wife is demanding her estranged husband PAY UP, accusing the international soccer star of being a deadbeat dad who's not stepping up as a parent to his 2 ... this according to court docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

33-year-old Hernandez -- a member of the L.A. Galaxy -- is the MLS' leading scorer ... and one of Mexico's biggest soccer stars.

According to the docs, Sarah Kohan married Chicharito in 2019 and has 2 kids with him ... but filed for divorce in February. She claims the Mexican star has been ignoring his family since the split.

"You do not participate in the day-to-day parenting of your two minor children," Kohan's attorney claims in the court docs.

She also says Chicharito has been putting his kids in physical danger ... failing to put a fence around his pool because he didn't like the "aesthetics."

There's more ... Kohan also says Hernandez still believes he can crawl into her bed, uninvited ... saying he just thinks he can "ignore the fact that you are separated and can crawl into [Kohan's] bed with her and go under the covers without her permission."

Bottom line, Kohan says Chicharito earns over $8 million a year playing soccer ... and she wants him to fork over around $100K a month for child and spousal support.

Kohan's attorney says, if she hopes to ever see a dime, the court will have to force Hernandez to pony up.

Britney Spears' personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, wants increased security measures for herself in the wake of Britney's testimony, because she says she's dealing with threats on her life.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Jodi claims she's getting flooded with death threats over social media, text message, email and phone and she wants security guards to start protecting her around the clock.

In the docs, Jodi says the threats of violence picked up after Britney testified in court about the conservatorship ... and she wants Britney's estate to pick up the tab for a 24/7 security detail. That cost would have to be approved by the conservator of Britney's estate ... Brit's father, Jamie Spears, and the judge.

As you know, Britney says the conservatorship has all but ruined her life and her fans are making a renewed push to #FreeBritney ... and now Jodi claims some of those folks are coming after her.

In the docs, Jodi also claims Britney asked her stay on as the co-conservator of her person ... and to help the singer find a new attorney.

Donald Trump has filed class-action lawsuits against the 3 social media giants -- Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -- claiming the tech companies are censoring him and conservatives.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Trump claims the Silicon Valley companies "engaged in impermissible censorship." He accuses them of hiding behind Section 230 ... the internet law that protects tech companies from lawsuits over content moderation decisions.

The lawsuit claims Facebook, Twitter and YouTube rise are not just typical private companies but more akin to a state actor. As such, Trump claims they have to abide by the First Amendment right to free speech.

Trump claims they "indefinitely banned the sitting President of the United States for exercising his constitutional right of free speech."

At a news conference from his golf club in Bedminster, NJ, Trump said, "We are going to hold big tech very accountable."

As you know ... Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, who is a named defendant, banned Trump from the platform in the wake of the Capitol riot ... saying it was too great a risk to America for Trump to remain on the platform. The ban's been extended until early 2023.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey followed suit and banned Trump permanently. Google chief Sundar Pichai also deactivated Trump from YouTube, which is owned by Google.

Trump also claims the companies have mounted "an aggressive campaign of censorship against a multitude of [conservatives] through censorship (flagging, shadow banning, etc.) resulting from legislative coercion."

Then there's this ... Trump claims the social media ban came "at the behest of, with cooperation from, and the approval of, Democrat lawmakers."

The police officer who allegedly deleted a witness video -- while his body cam was rolling, no less -- is now facing a lawsuit over the incident.

The Philly cop -- ID'd in the suit as Officer Burnett -- just got slapped with a lawsuit by Jacob Giddings ... the guy who claims his footage was scrubbed back in March while Burnett was trying to take him into custody on an arrest warrant.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Giddings says he was pumping gas when Burnett ran his tags, identifying Giddings as someone who had a warrant out for his arrest. While Giddings was in his vehicle, he says Burnett approached him from outside ... asking him to step out of the vehicle without an explanation.

Things allegedly escalated from there. Giddings claims Burnett began trying to forcibly remove him from the car. BTW, Giddings says he had begun recording with his phone at this point ... feeling uneasy about the whole thing.

After a lot of tussling -- and the arrival of a 2nd officer -- Giddings says he surrendered, and was cuffed and put into the back of a squad car.

Giddings says Burnett then proceeded to search his car and found the phone that had been recording. Giddings makes a bombshell claim -- he says Burnett ran over his phone, with Giddings' own vehicle, in an attempt to destroy the evidence!

Giddings claims that after realizing the phone was STILL recording and not destroyed at all, Burnett then took it upon himself to delete the video -- only to play dumb when asked by Giddings if it was still on there. He's suing for assault, battery, excessive force and illegal search and seizure.

Of course, Giddings says Burnett's own body-cam was rolling during what Giddings says was the moment he tried getting rid of evidence ... and Giddings insists it's the smoking gun that proves his case.

Rihanna had another unwanted visitor swing by her pad, and this one might have her thinking about digging a moat.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... cops were called to one of Rihanna's L.A.-area homes last week after getting a call reporting a trespasser on the grounds pretty early in the morning -- around 7 AM or so.

Our sources say cops arrived with lights and sirens, but when they showed up to the crib, they were notified the alleged perp was long gone. We're told Rihanna's security informed cops the guy was seen hopping over one of her perimeter walls, but clearly didn't stay too long. The police took a report and are investigating.

RiRi is no stranger to unwanted visitors showing up to her homes -- she's had quite a few run-ins over the years ... enough that her security responds in a flash, and alerts police almost instantly.

Chris Brown's dog viciously mauled a woman on his property, and then he attempted to cover it up when 911 was called ... at least according to the former housekeeper who's suing him.

The housekeeper, suing as a Jane Doe, claims Chris is responsible for injuries she suffered when his Caucasian Shepherd Ovcharka, Hades, attacked her back in December while she was working at his Tarzana home.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the woman says she was emptying the trash somewhere outside, when out of nowhere ... the massive canine appeared and began tearing into her skin -- allegedly ripping chunks of flesh off her face, arms and body and leaving her a bloody mess.

It's a brutal account -- one her sister also detailed in a separate lawsuit she filed a few months ago -- but that's not even the weirdest part of her story. The alleged victim claims that even though Chris and co. were home, no one came out to help her -- despite her cries.

She alleges once the attack was over ... she was literally lying in a pool of her own blood -- when Chris came upon her, and then started directing his team to snatch up the pooches and scram before the cops and paramedics came.

Eventually, she says the 911 cavalry showed and rushed her off in an ambulance. She claims that later, the authorities attempted to get to the bottom of what happened, but she says Chris was evasive and misleading ... allegedly telling cops he didn't know what happened, or who took the dogs. In the suit, she claims Hades was euthanized, weeks later, by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Animal Shelter after finding the dog to be dangerous.

It's unclear why the dog was in Humboldt ... a Northern California county, several hours away from Chris' home.

The anonymous housekeeper goes on to say she had to undergo extensive surgery to save her life -- and that the injuries she sustained have permanently scarred her. Her husband is also suing for loss of the ability to have the love and companionship of his wife.

Matt Barnes has officially "buried the hatchet" with his ex-nemesis, Derek Fisher ... saying he's totally cool with the L.A. Sparks head coach after their infamous backyard brawl.

Of course, the two ex-NBA ballers nearly broke the internet back in 2015 ... when Barnes punched Fisher in the mouth for dating his ex-wife, Gloria Govan, and being around his kids without his knowledge.

The moment got so big, even Kanye West mentioned the incident in his track "30 Hours."

But now, Barnes says he's actually made up with D-Fish ... and explains there are two major reasons why it's so important to have a cordial relationship with him.

"To me, it’s about raising these twins the best we possibly can and co-parenting," Barnes told the Portal A's "Charges With Rex Chapman" podcast.

"So, now he and I are cool, on the same page, we communicate and see each other when we’re at events. They’ve been to my house for the twins’ birthday. I’ve been to their place."

Barnes understands the legendary story will always be a thing, but wants to clear the air about people claiming Fisher "stole my chick."

"Like he started dating my ex-wife," Barnes says. "That’s what it was. He didn’t steal s*** from me. What I’m tripping off is you’re in my house that I pay for with my kids and you didn’t tell me."

As we previously reported, Gloria told us back in 2018 there would be NO WAY Barnes would be invited to her wedding with Fisher (BTW -- their ceremony was delayed due to COVID-19).

Britney Spears' personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, will not be following the singer's longtime manager and lawyer out the door ... 'cause she has zero plans to resign.

Jodi issued a statement Tuesday confirming her plans are to continue supporting Britney in her role as personal conservator ... that is unless Britney states she wants Jodi out of that role. While Brit expressed some dissatisfaction with Jodi ... the statement reads, "Ms. Spears as recently as yesterday has asked Ms. Montgomery to continue to serve."

The news comes directly on the heels of Britney's longtime manager, Larry Rudolph, resigning after claiming he heard Britney intended to officially retire. Britney's lawyer, Sam Ingham, is also leaving his job. Bessemer Trust has already bowed out as co-conservator of her estate.

As we reported ... Jamie Spears handpicked Jodi, Brit's care manager, to replace him as temporary conservator of her person. The judge signed off on the request back in September 2019 after Jamie requested to relinquish his powers as her personal conservator due to personal health reasons.

Then, just last March, Britney requested Jodi remain in the role on a permanent basis. It should be noted ... when the court docs were filed in Britney's conservatorship case the singer also asked for Jamie to resign from his position for good.

Our sources connected to the case told us at the time Jamie had no objections to the change. But, that was then and this is now ... when there's tension between Jamie and Jodi, to say the least.

As we reported ... Jamie put Jodi on blast following Britney's claims he has taken away her freedom and even her right to marry. He says if there's anyone to blame ... it's Jodi.

Jodi didn't wait long to respond to Jamie's finger-pointing ... saying Britney's desire to get married and have a baby has never been impacted by the conservatorship while Jodi's been conservator of the person.

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello had an unwanted visitor swing by a pad of theirs that's under construction, and he had a message for Sof -- whom he considers "mom" ... so say, cops.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the police were called early Monday morning to the site of Sofia and her hubby's L.A.-area property -- one which we're told is being worked on with major renovations ... including a new paint job that had just been completed.

The once-over of their home was absolutely ruined, we're told, by a guy cops say was on-site when officers arrived ... whom our sources say fessed up to some major vandalism on the exterior ... which he told the police he'd just completed prior to their arrival.

Our sources say the dude used orange paint to write AND etch his social media handles all over and into the walls, plus what we're told were messages for SV ... whom, like we mentioned, this guy believes is his actual mother, and wants to get a hold of her via IG or something.

There doesn't appear to be any truth to the man's claim ... Sofia's only got one kid from a previous marriage, and this person does not seem to have any connection to her. Of course, the police arrested him and hauled him off to jail. It's unclear what charges he's facing.

As for what this mess will end up costing Sofia and Joe (or their insurance company) ... our sources say it was estimated to be well over $100k in damages that the man had left behind. The couple was not home at the time, and Joe showed up later to deal with cops.

This is not the first time they've had to deal with weirdos showing up at their crib, BTW -- Joe and Sofia have had run-ins with alleged stalkers on at least 2 occasions, where the police were also involved. Scary stuff, indeed.

Sam Ingham, the lawyer who has represented Britney Spears in her conservatorship, is resigning ... TMZ has learned.

We're told Ingham -- who has repped Britney for 13 years -- will file legal docs as early as today ... asking to be dismissed as Britney's court-appointed lawyer.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Ingham is extremely upset at Britney's statement in court ... that she never knew she could end the conservatorship. We're told Ingham regularly gave Britney options, including requesting that the conservatorship should end, but she never wanted to pull the plug.

Our sources say Britney did talk to Ingham about removing Jamie, but she never wanted to end the conservatorship. We're told the last straw was when Britney told the judge Ingham never told her what he's legally required to do ... namely inform her of her options.

We're told Ingham will not go into detail in his filing, because of attorney/client confidentiality.

Ingham will follow Larry Rudolph, Britney's longtime manager, who resigned Monday, saying he was informed Britney was retiring from performing, so there was no reason to continue as her manager. Britney accused Rudolph of forcing her to perform during the 2018 European tour, but as we reported, we're told there were a number of communications, including text messages at the time, in which Britney "begged" to go on the tour.

Our sources say there will be more resignations this week as well. We're also told at the next court hearing later this month, members of the conservatorship team will present evidence to the judge disputing many of the things Britney said in court.

As you know, Britney says the conservatorship has all but ruined her life.

A man unleashed a racist diatribe against a Black neighbor -- and even invited protesters to his front door ... but he might not have expected them to show up in droves, especially when he was being hauled off to jail.

Check out this wild encounter that was captured in Mount Laurel, NJ Friday, which led to an even crazier follow-up Monday ... when scores of people landed on this guy's driveway to decry a rant he'd gone on days earlier, who let him know what they thought of his venomous words.

The perp has reportedly been identified as Edward Cagney Mathews ... and he now faces criminal charges for a heated confrontation he had with one of his Black community members -- including alleged harassment and bias intimidation, over which the cops arrested him.

As for the initial face-off itself ... it's truly something to behold (in a bad way, we mean). Mathews hurls just about every epithet he can at the Black neighbor, including multiple uses of the n-word, "monkey" ... and even questions whether the man knows America's laws, saying "this isn't Africa" ... seemingly mocking what he perceived as a foreign accent.

It's unclear what exactly this was all over -- but in any case, you can tell Mathews took things way too far in what might amount to one of the most bigoted moments we've seen in a while. Even when what appears to be a security guard (or possibly even a cop) shows up to calm things down, he ratchets up the tension again ... demanding the guard put the "n******" in their place.

He told the person filming exactly where he lived, and encouraged people to show to find out "what (he's) about" ... and sure enough, they came rolling deep -- apparently protesting him for the past couple days ... to the point cops had to come escort Mathews away in custody.

That didn't stop people from unloading, though ... and we mean that literally. They chucked water bottles, garbage and debris at both Mathews and the police as they got into the squad car and drove away.

Britney Spears claims she wants to get married and is being blocked by her conservatorship, but it seems her boyfriend is a stumbling block ... we're told he's never popped the question.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Britney's boyfriend of over 4 years, Sam Asghari, hasn't made a move or attempted to get engaged. They've talked about it, we're told, but never formalized it with a proposal.

As we told you ... Britney and Sam hopped on a private plane to Maui last week after she railed on her dad, Jamie Spears, and her management team during an explosive court hearing ... a romantic getaway fans speculated might end with an engagement.

But, our sources say Sam didn't propose in Maui and he and Britney are already back in Los Angeles.

TMZ broke the story ... both her father and her personal conservator say there are no restrictions on Britney with regards to marriage or having kids, despite her claims to the contrary. The fact is, conservators have no legal authority to block conservatees from marrying or having a baby.

It's turning into a he-said, she-said situation, but there's still one thing Sam's never said ... "Will you marry me?"

Bill Cosby has weighed in on the drama over his one-time costar, Phylicia Rashad, and her new bosses at Howard University ... agreeing that if they can her, they gotta refund him.

The freshly-released Cosby tweeted about the fallout from Phylicia's controversial comments last week -- in which she ecstatically celebrated Bill's conviction being overturned, calling it "justice" -- and he did so by simply concurring with another person's POV on the sitch.

Singer/actress Stephanie Mills actually spilled on how she felt about it, writing ... "I love you @phyliciarashad ❤️❤️❤️. If it’s true that Howard University wants to terminate her Position  because they feel her comments about Mr. Cosby were insensitive, then they should give back the millions of dollars that he donated to the university."

Cosby responded to that quite simply, writing ... "Thank you @iamstephaniemills your voice has always been powerful!" So, in other words, he seems to be fully in her corner on that.

A quick note ... it's not entirely clear how much, if any, dough Cosby has given Howard -- there doesn't seem to be any hard numbers on a donation. That doesn't mean he hasn't chipped in though -- and we know he's been generous when donating to HBCUs.

He famously gave Spelman College $20 million in 1998 -- also, he's an honorary degree holder at Howard. So, it's not outside the realm of possibility he's lined their pockets before.

The funny thing about Bill rushing to Phylicia's defense here ... we're almost certain she doesn't want it -- at least not publicly anyway. She low-key put this matter to bed this past week ... removing her "FINALLY" tweet, and even apologizing to the Howard student body.

So, BC reopening the scab like this probably isn't doing her any favors. If anything, she probably doesn't want Bill's name and Howard brought up in the same sentence around her at all. BTW ... it doesn't look like Howard will fire PR ... they admonished her and that's it.

Phylicia Rashad has FINALLY done an about-face on her Bill Cosby sentiments from this week -- issuing a formal apology to Howard U students ... and deleting the tweet in question.

The former actress -- who is now Dean of the HBCU's Fine Arts College -- sent a letter to Howard U students Friday, which flat-out said she was sorry for her controversial remark ... this in the wake of Cosby having his conviction overturned, and being released from prison.

In the letter, which has been making the rounds online, Phylicia writes, in part, "This week, I tweeted a statement that caused so much hurt in so many people -- both broadly and inside the Howard community. I offer my most sincere apology. I have since removed that upsetting tweet."

She goes on ... "My remarks were in no way directed towards survivors of sexual assault. I vehemently oppose sexual violence, find no excuse for such behavior, and I know that Howard University has a zero-tolerance policy toward interpersonal violence."

PR continued by saying that she intends to undergo training to reinforce HU protocol and practices as it relates to all this -- and also asked the HU community for its forgiveness, promising to do a lot of listening and learning so she can become a stronger ally to sexual assault survivors and anyone else who's suffered at the hands of an abuser.

You'll recall ... Phylicia was ecstatic at the news of Cosby's case being thrown out, initially writing ... "FINALLY!!! A terrible wrong is being righted - a miscarriage of justice is corrected!" She faced immediate backlash for her comment, following up by saying her tweet wasn't aimed at sexual assault survivors ... but she kept the Cosby tweet up nonetheless, which simply didn't square. Even after HU admonished her formally, she still left the tweet up.

Looks like someone higher up finally got in her ear and told her the truth -- which is, you can't openly support Cosby and sexual assault survivors at the same time. So, pick one ...

Britney Spears made a compelling case that the conservators have abused her and upended her life, but we've learned the conservators are going to present a very different story to the judge.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, various people involved in different elements of the conservatorship claim Britney's story doesn't mesh with the facts.

For instance, Britney told the judge last week she was forced to go on her 2018 European tour. She said, "I was on tour in 2018. I was forced to do ... my management said if I don't do this tour, I will have to find an attorney and by contract, their own management could sue me if I didn't follow through with a tour. He handed me a sheet of paper as I got off the stage in Vegas and said I had to sign it. It was very threatening and scary. I couldn't even get my own attorney, so out of fear, I went ahead and did the tour."

Sources connected to the conservatorship tell TMZ, people involved in the tour will tell a very different story at the next court hearing. We're told they will say the following ... when Britney was at the tail end of her Vegas "Piece of Me" residency, she realized "she had nothing on her calendar for almost all of 2018. She then asked Management to find something for her to do so she wouldn't be bored for a year."

The sources claim Management came back to her and suggested a European tour, adding, "She literally begged to do the 2018 European Tour run. She was very excited about it and called repeatedly to ask to have it confirmed. There is a text message exchange between Management and Britney on December 16, 2017, where management provides her with the tour routing. She asks a few questions, and expresses how excited she is to do it."

The sources say once she was on tour, "she simply didn't want to be there so she was trying to find every excuse to leave the tour, at which time she made up the story about being forced to do it."

Britney said she was forced to sign a document committing to do the European tour. Sources connected to the conservatorship say she was asked, not forced to sign, and she did. Furthermore, the sources say the conservatorship changed protocols because Britney would agree to do various things but when it came time to do them "she would lie and deny having agreed to do it. The conservatorship was then forced to put into effect protocols requiring management to get her to sign off on all professional obligations so the conservatorship could show it to her to 'remind her' that she consented to the obligation."

The sources say Management did indeed ask her to sign the document committing to the tour, because that was the protocol the conservatorship had in place, and Britney "willingly signed."

We're told various people in the conservatorship will dispute many of Britney's claims involving getting married, having a baby, being denied the right to see her kids, not knowing she could end the conservatorship ... among other things.

Kiefer Sutherland might have the urge to reprise his role as Jack Bauer to catch some bad guys ... because cops say thieves jacked his gardener's equipment.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the perps likely didn't know who they were messing with last month when the '24' star was getting some landscaping done on his L.A. area home.

We're told at some point while Sutherland's gardener was doing his job, the suspects made off with his tools and other gear -- a weed whacker and hedge trimmer specifically -- valued at more than $1,500.

Our sources say Kiefer was home at the time and there's surveillance footage of the theft in progress, but no arrests have been made so far. Cops are still investigating.