Money

Russell Westbrook's moving in on Scott Disick's turf -- 'cause the Oklahoma City Thunder star just dropped $4.65 MILLION to buy the reality star's Beverly Hills pad ... and it's sick as hell.

Disick only bought the place last year for $3.7 mil -- but flipped it for almost a million dollar profit when Westbrook came a callin'.

The house is awesome -- 4,000 square feet, 5 beds, 6 baths and crazy views that stretch so far, you can see Catalina Island on a clear day.

The Weeknd has been accused of straight beat jackery on his hit song, "The Hills" -- and according to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ, the Weeknd's own producer has already ADMITTED to the theft.

The company behind the lawsuit is Cutting Edge Music -- which claims "The Hills" contains a baseline featured in the score of a movie called, "The Machine."

C.E.M. says it not only owns the licensing rights to the song -- but insists they NEVER gave permission to The Weeknd to use it on his song.

But the smoking gun, according to the suit, is a tweet allegedly sent in March by one of Weeknd's producers -- in which he complimented the composer for the movie music and said it "might make it 2 the weeknd next album."

He added, "Huge fan of what u did 4 the machine movie."

Two months later, the song was released -- became a monster hit -- and C.E.M. was furious.

Now, they want Weeknd to fork over the profits from the song -- though they haven't mentioned a specific number.

2 Chainz beat ol' St. Nick to the punch this year by hooking up a young fan's family with a house full of new furniture.

A disabled vet named Deirdre Plater is raising 2 kids on her own near Atlanta, and one of them is a die-hard fan of 2 Chainz ... the kid even learned "I'm Different" on piano and trumpet.

The family had fallen on hard times, and didn't have any furniture. 2 Chainz caught wind of this from Mark Barnes, who runs the local Boys & Girls Club and mentors one of Deirdre's kids.

2 Chainz didn't only buy them furniture ... he showed up at their home to surprise them with it. New bedroom set, new dining room table and new living room suite!

Chainz says he's also paying the family's rent for the next year! The surprise reveal was one of those major holiday warm fuzzy moments.

Time to step up yo' game, Santa!

Wu-Tang Clan's one of a kind double album is absolutely something to f*** with if you're controversial pharmaceutical tycoon Martin Shkreli ... who's been revealed as the secret buyer.

You'll recall the Wu's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" was recently sold to an anonymous buyer, and now Bloomberg says Shkreli is the guy who pulled the trigger -- dropping $2 million to snatch up the album.

32-year-old Shkreli is the hedge fund manager and pharmaceutical exec who made headlines earlier this year for jacking up the price on a cancer/AIDS medication ... from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

Shkreli, who grew up in Brooklyn, said he loves the Wu-Tang classic "C.R.E.A.M." ... naturally. Unbelievably, he also says he hasn't listened to 'Shaolin' yet! He says, "I could be convinced to listen to it earlier if Taylor Swift wants to hear it or something like that" ... but otherwise he's saving it for a rainy day.

As part of the Wu-Tang purchase, Shkreli has to keep the music under wraps for 88 years -- so, he's gonna die with it. And you can start pouring the haterade now because he's already bragging about his next potential purchase.

The man who accused famed 'X-Men' director Bryan Singer of sexually assaulting him when he was a teenager has just been sentenced to prison ... for fraud.

Michael Egan was convicted of securities fraud and a judge just decided his home for the next 2 years will be federal prison.

Egan had accused Singer and other Hollywood types of sexually assaulting him multiple times at pool parties and vacation spots when he was a teen. Egan's case was full of holes ... it eventually crumbled and he dismissed his lawsuits.

The guy who says The Game ripped off his pic of $300k in hard cash ... says he's ready to help the rapper make stacks of his own, but Game's telling the guy to hit the bricks.

Timothy Sykes is calling out Game for reposting his drawer full of money shot without crediting him on Instagram. He tells us he found out when friends started tagging him on the photo ... which Sykes originally posted 4 months ago.

Still, Sykes says no hard feelings, and he's willing to teach Game the stock market tricks he used to turn $12k worth of bar mitzvah loot into $4.35 million!

Game thinks it's ridiculous Sykes got miffed at all. A source tells us Game is pointing out the post clearly says, "Mood" ... and he never claimed the shot was his, but he has plenty of his own dough to post.

As for Sykes' stock tips? We're told he says, "No one can show me shit. I'm rich bitchhhhhhhh!!"

Charlie Sheen can cry extortion all day long, but his ex-fiancee Brett Rossi is firing back ... there's no secret plot to take his money, she's gonna do it in open court!

Rossi was in NYC on Tuesday when we asked about Charlie's claim that she squeezed him for cash and threatened to reveal his HIV diagnosis. Watch the clip ... she's remarkably calm while responding to Sheen's accusation.

Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas are officially single, after dividing a huge chunk of movie change.

According to final divorce docs, obtained by TMZ, Antonio made a lot of dough on "The Mask of Zorro," "Desperado," and "Spy Kids." He keeps all the cash from those flicks and she gets to keep what she made from her earlier work.

Melanie and Antonio split money from every movie either of them did between 2004 and 2014, including "Shrek 2," "Puss in Boots," "Machete Kills," "Expendables 3" and others.

It appears they signed some sort of postnup in 2004 which changed the financial deal of their marriage ... they married in 1996 but it seems they kept everything separate from the date of their marriage until 2004.

Antonio is not getting out clean ... he's paying her $65k a month in spousal support.

She gets the house in Aspen and they sold their L.A. mansion and split the profits.

And there's a lot of rich people's stuff that was divvied up. She gets a Picasso called "The Painter and His Model." He gets a pencil drawing by Picasso and another pencil drawing by Diego Rivera.

Criss Angel is aggressively going after his ex-girlfriend, saying she's trying to shake him down for a ton of money by claiming they essentially lived together as husband and wife.

Criss was in a relationship -- it appears for around 4 years -- with Sandra Gonzalez, with whom he got engaged to in 2011. Sandra is now threatening Criss with a palimony lawsuit, alleging they had an agreement that he would support her, just the way a financially successful spouse would support the other.

Criss, who has moved on and married another woman, had his lawyer fire off a letter to Sandra's lawyers, saying his relationship with Sandra was anything BUT hubby and wife. In fact, he says in the years he and Sandra were on and off, he publicly dated another woman.

The lawyer goes on to say Criss and Sandra kept things separate ... separate tax returns, separate bank accounts, and they never held themselves out as husband and wife.

He also says he was extremely generous with her, loaning her money for a failed business, buying her luxury cars, a nose job and taking her on fabulous vacations.

A die-hard Kendrick Lamar fan paid $350 for a backstage meeting, but got banned from the concert after Kendrick's manager tried to bamboozle her for $10,000 ... according to a lawsuit.

Whitney Larkins says she emailed Lamar's manager, Dave Free, asking for 3 minutes of one-on-one time with Lamar ... on top of the $350 VIP meet and greet package she'd purchased. In a lawsuit she filed on her own, Larkins says Free replied she could get the 3 minutes for a "cash payment of $10,000."

The figure didn't scare her off because Larkins says she repeatedly tried to get more info from Lamar's team, which apparently ticked off someone. Larkins says she got an email the night before the concert saying she was banned, and would get her $350 refunded.

Larkins isn't pissed at Lamar, in fact she calls him "one of the greatest rappers alive of all time who is on par with Tupac." But she says Free crushed her dreams and left her with "deep sadness" -- and wants more than $1 million to make it go away.

And the best lawsuit line ever -- she calls Free an "arrogant, snotty and an all-around bad dude from the rooter to the tooter!"

Celeb shock photographer Tyler Shields brought Adolf Hitler back to life for a photo shoot just so he could kill the leader of the Nazi party … twice.

Shields recreated famous images of dead presidents in the past, so his take on the moment Hitler put a bullet to his head back in '45 isn't really a far stretch.

Shields tells us it took him 2 years just to find the right guy to play the Fuhrer … a role won by Kick Gurry. One take features a woman's hand, presumably Eva Braun, pulling the trigger -- in the other he does the deed himself.

Tyrese just won a huge case against the woman he blasted for taking advantage of his mother -- a verdict that will save him $83,000!

Cynthia Banks wrote a book about Tyrese's mother and her struggles with alcoholism. Tyrese didn't support the project and publicly shamed the author ... who then sued him in Texas for defamation. She initially won a judgement in the case because Tyrese never responded.

Tyrese fought that ruling by filing to have the judgment tossed, and he won it on Monday. He was going to have to pay Banks $83k ... but now he's off the hook.

Bindi Irwin finally got a judge's stamp of approval to get paid for winning the "Dancing with the Stars" title ... TMZ has learned.

According to court docs, the contract was finally approved last week. TMZ broke the story ... Bindi's deal -- which has to be filed with the court since she's 17 -- had been held up because the court wanted proof her father, Steve Irwin, was giving up all rights to Bindi's dough.

It was unclear whether the judge was just unaware of the Crocodile Hunter's demise -- or just a stickler who required hard evidence Steve was out of the picture.

According to the contract ... Bindi's total haul for winning the mirror ball thingy is well over $350k. Crikey!

Plaxico Burress pled guilty to tax evasion in New Jersey Monday -- but will NOT spend one second behind bars ... TMZ Sports has learned.

As we previously reported, officials in Mercer County, NJ charged the ex-NFL star with two tax crimes for failing to pay $48k in state taxes ... each count carried a maximum 5 year prison sentence under NJ's new ultra-strict tax laws.

But Plax's rep tells TMZ Sports ... Burress struck a plea deal with prosecutors in which he agreed to plead guilty and in exchange he'll serve no jail time.

Instead, Plaxico will do community service and pay penalties -- in addition to repaying the money he initially owed. In fact, we're told Plax has already paid off his financial debt.

Burress' rep tells us the whole thing was a giant misunderstanding -- explaining Plax screwed up when initially tried to pay his taxes online.

"He messed up. He knew he messed up. Everyone cooperated, and Plaxico paid the fine," Plax's rep says.

At least one Lakers player is hot these days ... even though he's dead ... 'cause George Mikan's rookie card just sold for more than $400,000!!!!!

A rare Mikan 1948 Bowman rookie -- the ONLY one ever graded gem mint 10 by PSA -- was snatched up at the SCP Auctions' Fall Premiere auction for $430,664.

The craziest part ... the same card was bought back in 2009 for $225k ... so clearly, Mikan was one hell of an investment.

As for the buyer -- the auction house hasn't revealed the person's name.

File this one under: Is it too late to become a boxer?

Adrien Broner doesn't have to ask that question ... 'cause the WBA lightweight champion is showing us all the upside of getting socked in the face for a living ... you can afford $750k jewelry for your trouble.

We spoke to Joe Avianne from Avianne & Co. jewelers in NYC and he told us Broner came to him wanting a 1-of-1 for his wrist ... basically something no one will ever have again.

Joe went to work for AB ... dreaming up a yellow stoned blinged out monstrosity with over 100 karats worth of diamonds in the bracelet that ended up setting the champ back 3 quarters of a mil.