Money

Expensive lesson for The Calling's lead singer ... American Express will go wherever you will go -- especially when you STIFF 'em on tens of THOUSANDS of bucks.

TMZ obtained a copy of the lawsuit AMEX filed against Alex Band ... claiming he racked up $30,000 in debt over the last 2 years, and has refused to pay it back.

The financial giant wants its money STAT, and is suing for more than $30K ... to cover the debt and their legal fees. Band's rep hasn't gotten back to us yet.

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Carl Crawford says his baby mama is trying to shake him down for more cash ... despite the fact he gives her AT LEAST $10,000 per month, this according to docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

Crawford -- who's in the middle of a $142 MILLION contract -- is also in the middle of a custody war with ex-girlfriend Amy Freeman, the mother of his 2 minor children.

As we first reported, Crawford's pissed that Freeman recently picked up and moved the family from Arizona to L.A. -- claiming she's trying to squeeze him for more money with the help of CA's more favorable child support laws.

Now, Crawford has filed new docs claiming the judge should force her to stay in AZ because it's not only best for their children ... but because he takes damn good care of her in the Grand Canyon state.

Crawford says he's not only paying for the kids to go to fancy schools, but has showered his ex with multiple homes, cars and $10k per month in child support.

Justin Bieber's DUI arrest has NOT cost him the support of a major sponsor ... TMZ has learned Adidas is standing by him -- for now.

The athletic shoe company tells TMZ, "Nothing is changing in our relationship with Mr. Bieber at this time" ... which sounds like they're leaving that door open.

Bieber signed a big endorsement deal with Adidas back in 2012 -- he and Selena Gomez are the celebrity faces for the company's NEO line.

The Biebs earned about $58 million last year ... a good chunk of that from deals he made to hawk sneakers, headphones, nail polish, makeup, a prepaid credit card and the acne cream, Proactiv -- which paid him about $3 mil until that deal ended.

None of those other companies -- as far as we can tell -- have made any move to ax Bieber.

And judging by that mugshot ... maybe he shoulda stuck with Proactiv.

Tori Spelling is not the only one who got the shaft from Dean McDermott ... we're told he has stiffed the people who created his new cookbook, even though he got tons of money for the project.

Dean currently hosts a show in Canada -- the Canadian version of the U.S. show "Chopped" and it's doing well in no small part because of his domestic issues. So Harlequin publishing company decided to make a cookbook deal with him.

So Dean authored a book called "The Gourmet Dad" -- a personal account of a guy's guy who cooks for his family.

Sources connected with the cookbook tell TMZ ... Dean received an advance of more than $250,000 from Harlequin, but part of that money was for Dean to cover all expenses. When it came to paying the people who worked on the book, however, it was a very different story.

We're told Dean stiffed the following people:

-- Photographer ... $33,319.80
-- Food Stylist ... $14,648.74
-- Prop stylist ... $6,609.91
-- Canadian taxes ... $6,613.40

The people Dean stiffed say they've called him repeatedly and sent him emails and texts but he's blown them off.

Staffers -- many of whom work on "Chopped" -- are indignant, because they let Dean live in their homes for free during the book and show projects and fed him gratis.

Now they call him "The biggest mooch in Toronto."

Empire Today needs to get in the stripper game -- because Justin Bieber literally laid out a plush CARPET of money inside King of Diamonds this week ... and TMZ has pics of the action.

As we reported, Bieber threw down roughly $75,000 inside the Miami strip joint ... and we really mean threw down ... just look at the rainstorm aftermath.

Sources at the club tell us, Bieber had the entire top level reserved for himself and his crew. The singer also handpicked 4 of his favorite strippers to keep him company with endless lap dances.

Not a bad life. For Justin.

Flo Rida got taken for a Rida -- at least according to new court docs -- the rapper claims he forked over $170,000 to purchase a house in the Sunshine State ... and the owners ran off with his money.

Here's the story -- Flo claims he attempted to purchase the home from Florida couple Pierre and Marie Malette in 2009 ... but the deal never closed.

Flo claims he handed over the money as a down payment, but the Malettes never signed over the house ... leaving Flo with no house and no money.

Sources close to Flo tell us he's not as upset about the house -- he wasn't going to live there ... it's more about the dough.

The Malettes have since filed for bankruptcy ... and now Flo has filed a claim in their case, demanding his $170K.

Paris Hilton flaunted her latest super expensive luxury ride -- a sweet red Ferrari -- and that got us thinking: Just how many cars have parked in Paris' garage?

Might be a classier way to word that ... but you get the point.

Macaulay Culkin's estranged dad Kit Culkin suffered a massive stroke Tuesday ... and he's in very bad shape ... family sources tell TMZ.

EMTs responded to an emergency call from Kit's home in Grants Pass, Oregon just after 1 PM. A family source tells us ... Kit was taken to the hospital where he remains in intensive care.

We're told Kit -- who is 69 -- has lost almost all of his motor functions and the prognosis is not good.

Sources tell us ... family members have been summoned to the hospital.

Lil Kim is on the brink of a zombie apocalypse ... the makeup artist who accused the rapper of stealing her undead face has now filed a lawsuit ... demanding $150K minimum.

We broke the story ... Canadian artist Samantha Ravndahl vowed to sue Lil Kim after the rapper allegedly lifted her zombie image off Reddit and used it to hawk her new album. Samantha demanded a full take down from Kim's social media platforms ... but seems Kim blew her off.

Now it's no more Miss Nice Zombie ... Samantha has followed through on her promise, suing the rapper as well as the photo-sharing website WhoSay.

Eddie Murphy is on the attack against a comedian who has not-so-subtly insinuated Eddie is his daddy.

Eddie's lawyer fired off several threatening letters to Brando Murphy, claiming the comedian has all but advertised on a sandwich board that he's Eddie's offspring. In one letter -- obtained by TMZ -- Eddie's lawyer, legal pit bull Marty Singer, threatens to sue him for millions if he doesn't back off.

According to the letters, these are some of the things Brando has done:

-- Changed his last name to Murphy
-- Performing with Richard Pryor's son, Mason, in the "Sons of Comedy" tour.
-- Showing up at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Eddie frequents and screaming, "My father won't talk to me!"

Brando is not backing down, sending his own threatening letter to Eddie, insisting he's never presented himself as Eddie's son and calling Eddie's accusations "vile, base, contemptible, miserable, wretched and loathsome."

Brando says he'll sue Eddie for defamation if he continues what he calls a campaign of intimidation.

Rapper Pitbull torpedoed a famous Egyptian singer's music video -- after the singer spent hundreds of thousands to produce it -- and it's all Akon's fault ... this according to a new lawsuit.

Singer Tamer Hosny filed the suit against Akon ... claiming he paid the singer $300K for both him and Pitbull to sing on Tamer's new song "Arabian Knight."

Akon delivered the track -- but according to the lawsuit, in return for the $300K ... Akon and Pitbull were supposed to appear in the "Arabian Knight" music video ... but Pitbull was a no show.

Tamer claims Akon promised to deliver Pitbull for the shoot, so it's his fault and he's on the hook.

Tamer says it's double the disaster because he had to pay $100K for cameras and crew the day of the shoot ... all for nothing.

For some reason ... Pitbull was not sued.

Porsha Williams may have a new story line on "Real Housewives of Atlanta" -- holding a cup outside Walmart, begging for money so she can pay her homeowner's bills.

Porsha lived in a high-rise condo complex in Atlanta ... and she's fallen behind on her homeowner's dues -- to the tune of $17,959!

Now the homeowner's association has filed legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- requesting that her bank account be frozen and the money that goes in gets diverted to pay her homeowner's bills. Fact is ... the only real money she gets is from 'RHOA.'

Porsha has been strapped for cash lately ... we're told she's getting $5K a month in spousal support from Kordell Stewart, but apparently that's not nearly enough to make ends meet.

We're told Porsha is living with her mom now. At least the price is right.

Some Trace Adkins fans are pissed ... bitching that Trace ruined their country cruise by jumping ship in Jamaica ... and all they got in return were concert tix.

We broke the story ... Trace got into a nuclear argument with an impersonator on board the ship ... and left the big boat for rehab.

Passengers feel ... cruise officials lied to them and said Trace left for a family emergency -- and tried to placate them with an hour-long open bar.

One woman posted on Facebook, "[Trace] gets shipped off and we get replaced by an hr of free sh**ty watered down well drinks for one hour ... What a JOKE!"

We're told ... Trace's camp is now trying to make good by offering passengers free tickets and a meet-and-greet at a future concert. For some fans, it's awesome.

But others -- who paid thousands to go on the cruise -- say they can't collect ... because they came from faraway places -- even foreign countries.

FYI ... the free tix don't come with an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The real "Wolf of Wall Street" Jordan Belfort still thinks he's king of the world -- despite owing nearly $100 million in restitution to his victims -- dropping names like "Leo" and "Marty" like they're his best friends.

The fast-talking Belfort was running his mouth Monday in L.A. ... and all but took credit for the film.

Pretty shocking, considering Belfort is still way in the red after bilking victims out of more than $200 million in the 90s. He was subsequently ordered to pay back $110.4 million ... so far, he's only ponied up $11.6 million.

"Entourage" director Doug Ellin had a brush with disaster on a yacht this weekend in Miami -- accidentally dropping his expensive camera into the ocean ... after shooting a wild bikini scene for the movie ... but thankfully, the damage was minimal.

Sources on the set tell TMZ, Ellin was stepping off the yacht onto a smaller boat when he accidentally dropped his personal camera into the water. He offered to pay divers $1,000 to find it, but it was impossible.

Luckily, the camera didn't contain any official film footage ... but it did have more than 500 behind-the-scene photos of all the girls in bikinis. Arguably a bigger loss.

Justin Bieber didn't just make it rain ... he made it pour in Miami ... first hitting up a famous nightclub -- and then dropping $75K in a strip club ... this according to a rep from the strip club.

Justin flew from Colorado to Miami Beach -- where he was spotted going into Mansion (above). A few hours later he went to King of Diamonds ... we believe to attend Lil Scrappy's birthday party.

A KOD rep confirms to TMZ ... Justin got $75K in 1 dollar bills, and went wild.

And get this ... the club was also celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

As for what Bieber was dreaming about -- check out this video from inside KOD last night.