Money

The 18-year-old who Kanye West allegedly beat up last week in a chiropractor's waiting room has approached the rapper, asking for a ton of money to settle the case without criminal prosecution ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected with the 18-year-old tell us ... his lawyer called Kanye's people and expressed the desire to strike a civil settlement -- FOR A PRICE -- several hundred thousand dollars.

We're told the 18-year-old is adamant -- he does NOT want to go through a public trial. As we reported ... Kim Kardashian claims the young man was hurling racial epithets, calling her a "n***er lover" among other things. We're also told he has not been responsive with the police since the incident.

As for the $$$ ... although eyewitnesses in the Beverly Hills chiropractor's office say Kanye pummeled the guy ... we're hearing he has no apparent injuries. Nonetheless, avoiding a criminal trial has a price.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson should have no problem finding someone to do windows at his house if he keeps handing out new SUVs to housekeepers.

Now, THAT is major boss swag, Rock. Major.

James Cameron is not a script-stealing thief ... and does NOT have to pay billions of dollars from "Avatar" profits ... because he just won a HUGE lawsuit, TMZ has learned.

TMZ broke the story ... science fiction writer Bryant Moore sued Cameron for $2.5 billion back in 2011 -- claiming he had come up with the basic premise behind "Avatar" ... and Cameron jacked it.

Now, according to court docs a federal judge just shut down Moore's suit ... saying the plots of his projects were "palpably different" from "Avatar."

The judge also said the similarities that do exist -- sci-fi with a love story -- are too vague to be protected.

"Sleepy Hollow" star Nicole Beharie is begging for a lawsuit ... so says her stylist, who tells TMZ, she's on the brink of taking the actress to court after Beharie stiffed her on a HUGE styling bill.

Sharone Blades tells us ... Beharie hired her to style the actress for a Television Critics Association event Monday ... and agreed to pay $5,000.

Sharone says she did a bang-up job and Nicole loved her dress ... but has only forked over $2,000. Sharone says she confronted Nicole ... who countered by saying she didn't like the dress after all.

If you're disappointed Miley Cyrus didn't show at the Miami South Beach Outdoor Festival on New Year's Day .... you're not alone, because the promoters of that event have filed a lawsuit claiming one of Miley's people took a huge amount of money but never delivered the singer.

A Florida concert promotion company says it sent $125K to a woman claiming to be Miley's booking agent -- a deposit to secure Miley for the shindig. The money was wired to a bank account while the deal was being finalized.

The lawsuit claims the booking agent cleaned out the bank account and on New Year's Day ... no Miley.

The promoters seem to believe they really were dealing with Miley's agent. We spoke with the woman, who says she does NOT work for Miley but was acting as an intermediary. She claims she forwarded the money to Miley's real agents.

This photo of Machine Gun Kelly is now at the center of a big legal battle ... thanks to the photographer ... who claims the rapper's manager STOLE it from him to make crappy t-shirts.

Dario Calmese filed the lawsuit in New York, claiming he initially shot the MGK photo in 2012 for a limited edition t-shirt line with clothing company Black Apple (above) -- emphasis on "limited."

During production, Dario claims Black Apple submitted the photo to MGK's manager Byron Kirkland for final approval ... and everything appeared hunky dory.

The Black Apple tees hit the market without a hitch -- but soon after, Dario claims the mug shot photo began to surface on cheap knockoff t-shirts around the web, including at online stores Spencer's Gifts and Live Nation Worldwide.

Now Dario is pissed ... claiming Byron hijacked the photo for his own personal t-shirt production -- outside of Black Apple -- not only using the pic without his permission, but cutting him out of the action as well.

Nadya Suleman just pled NOT GUILTY to all 3 counts of felony welfare fraud.

TMZ broke the story ... Octomom was charged with cheating the welfare system out of more than $16K by failing to report income she made from personal appearances and her masturbation video.

Octo faces nearly 6 years of prison, but here's the way it usually works. If she pays what she owes, prosecutors will probably reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and judges usually don't send first time offenders to jail -- they get probation and community service.

Octo was receiving food stamps and other assistance because she stupidly had 14 kids.

Rapper Jim Jones sucked the life blood out of a vampire flick ... and now the bitter investors have sued Jones claiming he lined his own pockets with the money that was supposed to be used for the movie.

Short story ... Jones was supposed to produce a movie called "Vampire Life III." He was also going to provide the soundtrack for the movie.

The investors plunked down $200,000 with high hopes ... hopes that were dashed when Jones stopped returning their phone calls and emails.

The investors were PISSED when they learned ... Jones allegedly used some of the money to make mix tapes that were supposed to go in the movie but Jones was releasing them independently.

The investors were doubly upset when they found out Jones allegedly used the rest of their seed money to produce and release a Vampire-Life clothing line that was supposed to be merchandising for the movie.

Bottom line -- the investors feel like they were had -- the movie with a cool soundtrack and clothing line was a fiction ... the only thing that was real was Jones using their money to profit from the music and the threads.

The investors want $700K minimum.

Recovering addict Lindsay Lohan is taking steps to ensure she stays clean and sober ... she's put herself up for hire to spend evenings in bars and nightclubs.

Sarcasm aside -- we've learned LiLo has hooked up with some Londoners with connections to the city's hottest clubs and other night spots ... and they've negotiated deals for her to make tens of thousands of dollars in appearance fees.

We're told Lindsay has already made some appearances and more are scheduled ... she's pulling in between $5K - $15K per appearance.

She claims she's stone cold sober ... in the middle of these boozefests.

So Oprah, looks like she took your advice, right?

Beyonce's dad is rolling in money problems -- on the heels of accusations he's a deadbeat dad ... TMZ has learned he's being sued, ironically, by a company that used to handle his cash.

According to the legal docs ... a credit bureau is trying to collect $64,587.14 from Mathew Knowles -- money it claims he owed to an accounting firm he hired.

The firm handles finances for high-end entertainers and athletes -- a world MK used to run in back when he was Beyonce's manager.

Of course those days are long gone, and Mathew's finances took a nose dive when Bey dumped him in 2011.

As TMZ first reported ... Mathew was sued by his baby mama Alexsandra Wright last month for $24K in back child support -- but he claims he was the victim of a clerical error and is actually paid up.

We reached out to Knowles ... and his rep had no comment on the lawsuit.

Lloyd's of London has dropped its claim that it doesn't have to honor a huge insurance policy on grounds it was never told Michael Jackson was a drug addict ... and we've learned Lloyd's has now agreed to a payout.

Lloyd's filed a lawsuit claiming it did NOT have to honor the policy it issued to cover losses from the failed "This Is It" tour. Lloyd's felt it had been deceived because no one ever disclosed Michael had serious drug problems.

The case just settled and we know ... Lloyd's has paid something to settle. We're told it's not the full $17.5 mil under the policy. We do not know the amount ... just that it forked over money.

The reason a payout is so important -- Lloyd's essentially folded on its fraud claim.

Robert Pattinson has just gotten rid of the L.A.-area mansion he once shared with Kristen Stewart ... ya know, before she cheated on him with the married director of that "Snow White" movie.

We've learned ... Pattinson just closed the sale of his 4,026 square foot Spanish Colonial home in Los Feliz for a cool $6.35 MILLION.

The "Twilight" star has only owned the home for a few years -- he bought it back in Sept. 2011 for $6.275 ... so not a huge profit, but better than taking a loss.

The mansion is pretty incredible -- with a great back yard, 3.5 bathrooms and a steller master bedroom that Kristen Stewart probably never saw again after July 2012 ... when she went behind Robert's back and hooked up with the very married Rupert Sanders.

Justin Bieber learned a hard (boiled) lesson -- cracking eggs on a neighbor's house ... makes cops scramble ... and gets your friends busted. For drugs.

But if ya love puns ... egg raids can be fun! For everyone but Lil Za.

Counting Crows can count to a million ... which is exactly what they're suing UMG record company for, claiming they were ripped off royally over royalties.

The group claims UMG has taken an absurd position ... that they are NOT entitled to royalties for downloads of ringtones made from their famous songs. Counting Crows says BS.

What really galls the group ... they say UMG is making a fortune off the ringtones by licensing the recordings to Apple (iTunes), eMusic, Amazon, Verizon, T-Mobile and others.

Tori Spelling's dog will not bite the dust in the foreseeable future ... because the pooch just got a reprieve.

TMZ broke the story ... Spelling boarded the dog 3 years ago with her dog walker because she felt it was unsafe to have a big pit bull around her small kids.

Tori was paying a hefty $525 a month to board Dizzle, but the dog walker went nuclear last week when she hadn't received payment and threatened to take the dog to a shelter ... which means almost certain death.

But good news for Dizzle ... Much Love Animal Rescue contacted the dog walker and offered to take the dog and place it in another boarding facility until they can place the pooch in a proper home.