Money

George Zimmerman could have a gold mine on his hands -- selling artwork to climb out of massive debt -- and no one's happier than the lawyer who defended him at his murder trial -- who's still waiting to be paid ... TMZ has learned.

Zimmerman is on the hook to attorney Mark O'Mara for a reported $1 million. Zimmerman could make a serious dent in that debt if he sells his first original painting on eBay ... because the highest bid is now well over $100K.

O'Mara wouldn't comment on Zimmerman's finances. But he did tell us, "If selling paintings helps him rebuild his life, I'm not going to stand in the way of that."

But we're guessing if there's a big fat check in O'Mara's mailbox ... he'll gladly cash it.

Katherine Jackson is irate that AEG is asking her to pay more than $1.2 million in costs associated with the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial ... claiming many of the so-called "expenses" are bogus.

AEG -- which won the case -- is asking the judge to sock Katherine with court costs. But according to new docs, obtained by TMZ, Katherine is blanching at a bunch of them, including:

-- $540,000 in models and blow-up court exhibits
-- $20,000 for 1,000 pages of jury instruction paper and other stuff
-- $53,000 for process servers
-- $118,000 unnecessary depositions

Katherine is even grousing about the $9 parking fees tacked on for court reporters to show up for the trial.

Michael Jackson's mom SAYS she's doing a heartfelt documentary about her son's life ... but the reality is ... it seems to be a shameful money grab.

Katherine Jackson has announced she wants to do the documentary, but needs the fans to send her money to pay for the licensing of Michael's image and music. Translation -- she's insinuating the big bad Michael Jackson Estate is being coldhearted and greedy by charging Michael's family.

Here's the reality ... Howard Weitzman, the lawyer for the Estate, tells TMZ NO ONE from the Jackson family has contacted him or anyone else from the Estate asking for permission to use MJ's image and music. Weitzman wants to make it clear ... "The Estate would never ask Michael's fans to contribute their money to finance any speculative project."

Katherine is using a website to solicit donations and is offering MJ merchandise as bait. FYI, the license for merchandising is held by Bravado, so Katherine can't do that without permission.

If Katherine makes the documentary, the people it will likely hurt are Michael's kids. That's because THEY are the ultimate beneficiaries of the Estate, and if the Estate does an MJ documentary in the future (which is almost certain), it will probably be devalued by anything Katherine does.

And it still gets worse ... Katherine and company have enlisted the help of Blanket, Paris and Prince to solicit funds from fans. It's pretty clear -- they don't understand the implications of helping her out.

So the bottom line -- if the Estate doesn't give permission to use MJ's music and image, the documentary won't get made. So what happens to the money the fans contribute? Well Katherine is using a website to solicit donations that allows her to keep all funds even if the project isn't made. So guess who ends up with the loot?

The creator of "The Walking Dead" -- one of the most popular shows on TV -- wants his pound of flesh from AMC -- to the tune of TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Frank Darabont was the mastermind who adapted the popular comic book into a series back in 2009. He claims in his suit he would get 12.5% of the profits, but he claims AMC unceremoniously fired him in 2011 and he hasn't received a penny.

Here's what he says is especially galling. The show is a juggernaut, sometimes even beating Sunday Night Football. Yet AMC tells him the show is operating at a deficit. Darabont says AMC has outright defrauded him by producing and distributing the show to itself and essentially cooking the books to screw him out of his share.

What really pisses him off ... Darabont says the creator of "Mad Men" -- which also airs on AMC -- gets a huge cut of a $3 million fee PER EPISODE, even though "Mad Men" gets less than 1/4 of the viewership of "The Walking Dead."

Terrence Howard -- who was evicted from Broadway -- has now been nailed with a huge amount of back rent.

Allow us to explain ... Howard lived in a fancy apartment building on Broadway in NYC. He fell WAY behind in rent and his landlord evicted him in May.

But there was some unfinished business. The landlord claimed Howard owed a whopping $51,907.85 in unpaid rent, so he sued for that amount.

Howard didn't show up for the court date, so the judge entered a default judgment in the landlord's favor.

Now here's the weird part. The judge didn't automatically accept the landlord's figure for back rent. Hizzoner has scheduled yet another hearing to determine exactly how much Howard owes.

Charlie Sheen vows to hit Denise Richards where it really hurts -- in the child support department, because he says he's going to court to get a judge to slash the amount she gets.

Charlie is telling friends ... a judge has NEVER signed off on his current child support agreement with Denise -- it was all agreed to privately.

Denise currently gets $55,000 a month in support for their 2 kids. He's enraged that he's been so generous, and not just with child support. Charlie says he shelled out $9 million for the home he bought for her -- specifically so their 2 girls could be close to him.

So Charlie is telling his buddies ... Denise is epically ungrateful because he says she's denying him the right to have XMAS morning with the girls. He says she's actually taken away the girls' phones so they can't call him.

So Charlie's going to court. Not only does he want child support reduced, he wants the judge to establish his iron-clad right to see his kids on specific holidays.

Michael Jackson's dermatologist/best friend sent a mass mailing to just about every patient he's ever had, declaring in the postcard he's still open for business, despite a boatload of problems.

As you know ... Arnold Klein -- who was once the premiere dermatologist in Bev Hills -- has declared bankruptcy after trying in vain to fight off a torrent of bad publicity in the wake of MJ's death. Turns out Klein regularly pumped Jackson up with Demerol in the last months of his life. Klein also used a slew of aliases to treat Jackson and write prescriptions for the singer.

Check out the back of the postcard ... Klein urges patients to ignore "other dermatologists [who] spread false rumors that Klein has retired!"

Talk about postcards from the edge.

Jack Osbourne just sold his condo in L.A. and he didn't have to work very hard at it ... 'cause the picture postcard views of Hollywood pretty much did all the work.

Ozzy and Sharon's kid sold his 2 bedroom crib in a 9-story Hollywood building for $1.12 mil. He bought it for 960K in 2008 ... so he pocketed a little change in the deal.

The pad's about as Hollywood as it gets ... with a rooftop pool that has panoramic views of the iconic Hollywood skyline, including the nearby Capitol Records building.

Lindsay Lohan has decided to open the flood gates -- penning a gritty, tell-all book about EVERYTHING ... her arrests, her drug abuse, her acting career, and her family ... and she's already gotten several serious publishing offers.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ, the book started as a series of journal entries, which she wrote in rehab as a therapeutic exercise. The book is still in its early stages, and it doesn't have a clear focus, but she says she wants to open up every part of her life.;

Lindsay met with a huge literary agency in NYC Thursday -- Waxman Leavall, which has repped tons of celebs who wrote books, including Victor Cruz, Novak Djokovic, Bill Murray, Brock Lesnar, and Cal Ripken Jr.

The meeting was filmed as part of Lindsay's docu-series on OWN.

Here's the problem -- it's Lindsay's life as told by Lindsay, which means we'll be reading her version of events.

So we gotta ask ...

Katie Couric actually scored millions of dollars with her new contract ... but it could end up being a huge paycut if her talk show goes away ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to Katie tell TMZ, she'll be raking in $6 million a year from Yahoo in her new role as "Global Anchor." That pales in comparison to her role as anchor of the CBS Evening News, where we're told she was pulling in $15 mil a year.

At ABC, we're told Katie's company had an overall deal that grossed $20 mil a year, but not all of that went to Katie personally.

We're told she's leaving ABC news entirely, and although her talk show has not been cancelled, it would be shocking if it didn't go away at the end of the TV season.

Hear ye, hear ye ... a King who once resided over Medieval Times in California claimeth he's been screwed out of his royal sum -- and now he wants what's coming to him.

King Scott Ehredt -- ruler from 2008 A.D. - 2013 A.D. (at the chain's popular Buena Park location) -- allegeth he was paid a less than royal amount to film a "Medieval Times" ad campaign in '11 ... even though his court was paid much more.

Your majesty sayeth non-employee actors on the shoot told him they were paid "thousands" for the campaign -- however he merely received $18 an hour ... peasants pay!

A rep for Medieval Times telleth TMZ they deny the allegations.

King Scott of Buena Park bids the judge for restitution to be determined at a later date ... as well as compensation for damages incurred.

... or they could just battle to the death in the Medieval Times arena.

Former "American Gladiators" star Nitro still has some fight in him -- TMZ has learned, he's currently being sued by a construction company over an obstacle course he built for charity ... and he's not about to roll over and take it.

United Rentals filed the lawsuit against Nitro -- real name Dan Clark -- claiming Dan's company Gladiator Events rented a bunch of equipment from United Rentals last year. According to the suit, the bill came to $41,722 and Nitro has yet to pay.

Sources tell TMZ, the rentals were mostly heavy construction equipment like backhoes and water trucks, which were used to make an obstacle course for a charity event Nitro runs called "Gladiator Rock'N Run."

"Gladiator Rock'N Run" helps benefit charities like, Talking About Curing Autism, and we're told the event has already raised nearly $250,000 for the good cause.

As for the lawsuit, we're told Nitro plans to fight it into submission.

Drake is a little too full of himself ... bailing on 2 concerts to which he committed before blowing up, and agreeing to perform only if he was paid a fame premium -- this according to a new lawsuit.

Several Chicago concert promoters claim Drake agreed to do the shows in 2012, just before he became very rich and very famous. According to the suit, the now-famous Drake said he would take the stage ONLY if the promoters would up the ante.

The show was set for March, 2012 at a venue that held 8,500 people. Drake performed 3 months later at a nearby venue that seated 28,000.

Khloe Kardashian has just filed court documents to divorce Lamar Odom and restore her name -- TMZ has learned.

As we first told you, Khloe planned to pull the trigger today on her 4-year marriage to Lamar, who has been deep in the world of drugs on and off for the last 2 years.

In the legal docs, filed by disso-queen Laura Wasser, Khloe cites "irreconcilable differences."

As we previously reported, the couple has a prenup so division of property will be a cinch -- they kept all their property separate.

And Khloe is asking the judge to take Odom out of her name, so she is once again simply Khloe Kardashian ... eliminating Odom from her life in every way.

And, Khloe is NOT asking for spousal support and wants the judge to reject any bid by Lamar for the same.

R. Kelly is not a child support dodging jerk ... so says R. Kelly AND his ex-wife Andrea Kelly -- and now the company who put him on blast for allegedly falling behind is backtracking.

Earlier today, The Custodial Support Foundation put out a press release saying "Hollywood Exes" star Andrea Kelly hired them to call out R. Kelly for falling behind on his child support -- but the singer's rep says their claim is BS ... and he's all paid up

Andrea's lawyer backs him up too ... telling TMZ his client says Kelly is up to date on his payments.

A rep for the C.S.F. tells us they're issuing a retraction to their story.

Jane Fonda is NOT a cheapskate whose charity is a charade ... she's actually an extremely generous woman who continues to open her personal vault to worthy causes ... say the people on her team.

Fonda is president and chairman of the Jane Fonda Foundation ... which has been called out by media outlets for not making charitable donations over a recent 5-year period.

Jane donated huge sums back in 2004 and 2005 ... so much that it was supposed to cover the next 5 years, and the amount exceeds the minimum donation required by law ... Jane's people say.

There was, however, a glitch. In 2011 ... Jane dove back into her bank account to continue making donations. But someone goofed and paid it out of Jane's personal account rather than the foundation's. When the mistake came to light, the person who screwed up got the axe.

Foundation officials say that error has been corrected and they're all good now.