Money

Sonja Morgan better learn how to say "broke as a joke" in French -- she just lost her fabulous St. Tropez villa in her bankruptcy case ... and a bunch of pigs nearly screwed the deal.

The trustee in her longstanding bankruptcy sold off the Riviera vacay spot for $5.7 million, according to court docs obtained by TMZ.

The "Real Housewives of New York" star has been telling people SHE was selling to be financially responsible, but truth is the court-appointed trustee sold it ... and Sonja had no say in the deal.

Sonja had said she was listing it for $8 million -- but the trustee sold it for much less, partly because the place wasn't easy to unload. According to the docs, the trustee ran into several issues ... including wild boars destroying the landscaping back in January.

French wild pigs, dude. Zut alors!

Meek Mill ruined the career -- and maybe the sex life -- of a former Philly cop who now wants the rapper to pay dearly.

As TMZ first reported, Mill was arrested in 2012 for allegedly having weed on him, but when cops came up with zilch he sued the city of Philadelphia. Meek lost the case, but one of the involved officers claims he lost a lot too.

In a new lawsuit, the cop says Meek defamed him in interviews ... damaging his reputation and character. He was fired for allegations unrelated to Meek's case -- but claims it's been hard to find work because of Meek slamming him in the media.

Worst of all, the officer hints he's uhh -- misfiring in the bedroom. He claims the case "had a strong affect on my life and relationship performance with my fiancée."

The-Dream maintains he never laid a hand on his baby mama ... and this weekend hinted she was only making brutal accusations against him in order to get paid.

We broke the story ... The-Dream is being accused of punching, kicking and strangling his ex-girlfriend ... when she was pregnant with his child. TMZ even obtained photos of her alleged injuries.

Outside Mr. Chow on Sunday night, the R&B star reiterated his innocence, but this time made a remark about people always gunning for his money ... clearly directed at the baby mama.

The writers of "Men in Black 3" used a homework assignment stolen from a film school student to finish their blockbuster screenplay ... so says the student, who's now suing for TWO BILLION DOLLARS!!!

In fact, Constantino Basile says his script ideas were so good ... they were used in THREE big Hollywood movies and spoofed by Steven Spielberg for the classic SNL short "Laser Cats 7" ... according to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ.

Basile claims he submitted his stories "The World of Jupiter" and "Crisis on Jupiter" as assignments for a class at Los Angeles Film School back in 2011.

In the docs, Basile says a teacher at the school sold his work to Hollywood film writers ... who incorporated various elements of the stories into their movies, including "MIB 3," "Prometheus," and "Elysium."

The bad news for Basile -- those films weren't exactly hailed by critics ... but "Laser Cats 7" was pretty damn funny.

Iggy Azalea shouldn't be counting her money from the "Fancy" parody Weird Al intends to record ... because she may encounter an insurmountable legal snag.

Yankovic ambushed Iggy backstage at a concert earlier this month -- telling her he wants to record one of her songs -- the 24-year tells us she was flattered.

Iggy says she'll benefit financially because she'll get a licensing fee for use of the song. Not true. Since it's a parody ... Al doesn't have to pay a fee. He may, however, decide to give her a cut, but that is not a licensing fee -- that's called the goodness of his heart.

Iggy is more on point on the subject of Al's hair ... check out the video.

New York state has seen enough of "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star Stevie J's deadbeat ways ... and may now snatch his property from him and sell it to pay off the $1.2 million in back child support he owes.

TMZ has obtained documents issued by the state informing Stevie it now has the power to seize any property he owns. Interestingly, the state sent Stevie 4 separate notifications between 2011 and 2013 ... all of which he apparently ignored.

TMZ broke the story, Stevie was arrested Monday at his home in Georgia for failing to pay the support.

This guy's also an alleged deadbeat with the IRS -- we've learned there are FOUR income tax liens against him totaling $371,000.

Marc Anthony has been ordered to pay ex-wife Dayanara Torres more than $28,000 in child support ... more than twice what he was paying but WAY less than she wanted.

TMZ broke the story ... Torres claimed she was living a peasant lifestyle with her $13K a month in child support for their 2 kids ... and wanted it upped to $113,000.

A judge just ruled ... Anthony must now pay Torres $28,680 a month. She also gets an increase in her yearly vacation allowance -- from $6K to 12K.

In the order the judge notes Anthony raked in more than $600,000 A MONTH in 2014. Now get this ... he's making LESS than he did previously, when he pulled in more than $12 MIL a year.

And this is interesting ... Anthony has been giving $25,000 a month to charity in 2014. Now that's what he roughly has to pay Torres.

Matt Lauer places silver in the morning show ratings, but he's gold at NBC ... because the network has just re-signed him for multiple years.

Lauer has been through a rough few years, playing the role of scapegoat for NBC's botched firing of Ann Curry. And the show slipped from ratings dominance.

But the criticism has subsided and the show's rating have gone up some ... so NBC just re-signed Lauer with just a few months to go before his contract expired.

Lauer was earning around $30 million in his last contract, and it's a safe bet he got a raise.

This could be an interesting summer for the show. Savannah Guthrie is on maternity leave, and the plan was for Katie Couric to temporarily re-team with Matt.

Susan Sarandon claims she was betrayed by her former business manager who lured her into investing more than $10 MILLION in a real estate deal the manager was using to line his own pockets.

Sarandon has filed a lawsuit -- obtained by TMZ -- in which she claims her moneyman Richard Francis convinced her to invest a huge sum of money in a real estate partnership. Sarandon says unbeknownst to her ... Francis and his son had a huge stake in the venture.

Sarandon put more than half the value of her portfolio in the real estate venture -- sources tell us somewhere between $10 and $20 MILLION.

The actress fired Francis last year and then says she discovered 3 shocking things -- Francis had a secret stake in the deal, there was no liquid cash in the venture, and if she wanted out she would get only 50 cents on every dollar she invested.

Robin Thicke re-upped his chakra security after visiting a gem store this week ... picking up a jumbo-sized crystal used for protection.

The singer dropped by Crystalarium in West Hollywood with 4-year-old son Julian Tuesday and snagged a 2 foot high chunk of Amethyst.

Spiritual sources tell us ... Thicke spent a few thousand bucks on the stone -- which is used for purification and protection ... as well as getting in touch with the higher consciousness.

Thicke has been making a full-court press to get back with wife Paula Patton. Rock on, dude.

"Love and Hip Hop Atlanta" star Stevie J is out on bond ... but it's just the beginning of his legal battle.

As TMZ first reported, Stevie was arrested in Georgia on Monday for allegedly owing his baby mama more than A MILLION BUCKS in child support.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino is already having money problems with his new tanning salon ... his employees had to call the cops to get paid.

A rep for the Middletown Police Department tells TMZ ... 4 employees from Boca Tanning Club in Middletown, NJ filed a police report claiming their paychecks had bounced all over town.

According to the police, each employee was owed between $100-$200.

We're told cops spoke with Sitch's brother Frank, and told him criminal charges could be filed. The employees received their full paychecks pronto.

Chief Keef says back rent was not the trigger for his eviction ... he tells us he was booted from his apartment because his neighbors just didn't like him.

TMZ previously reported ... Keef was evicted from his unit in Highland Park, Illinois Tuesday. Sheriff's deputies escorted him out, and there were reports he owed $11,300 in back rent.

But our photog spotted a self-professed "turnt up" Keef in West Hollywood hours after the eviction ... and he says it's not about money ... it's because, "I'm too bad, I guess I'm a bad little young boy, I gotta go."

Ray J has forked over $50,000 of his own money to produce a rap video for Michael from the Reelz TV show ... it's called "Gingerbread."

Ray J's manager David Weintraub -- who also manages the "Hillbillies" cast -- brokered the deal.

As for the video itself ... it features dancing gingerbread cookies, what looks like a goat, a woman giving birth, and Michael's grandmother ... twerking.

At least one half of Ellen Degeneres' fave pre-teen duo is set to make big money -- as in the $400,000 neighborhood -- and it's all laid out in her first movie contract.

Sophia Grace and Rosie -- who first shot to fame singing with Nicki Minaj on Ellen's show -- just released their first movie, and since they're minors ... their contracts have to be filed with the court.

TMZ obtained a copy of Sophia Grace's five picture deal, and the 11-year-old is making bank! She got $50,000 for the direct-to-video release, "Sophia Grace & Rosie's Royal Adventure."

And Sophia's definitely rooting for sequels -- 'cause she will earn $75K per film if producers shoot 2nd and 3rd installments. Then it's off to SIX-FIGURE territory ... $100K each for #4 and #5 in the series!

We don't know the figures on cousin Rosie's deal, but she's definitely signed for the sequels. Always good to have your name in the title.

A fool and his money are soon parted ... just ask Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Paul Nassif who says a con artist bilked him out of nearly $400K in a real estate scam.

Nassif claims Anthony Zogaib came to him last year with a plan to buy fixer-uppers online, spend $10-15K to repair each of them, then flip them for big fat profit.

Nassif -- ex hubby of "Housewives" star Adrienne Maloof -- claims in a lawsuit, he paid 50% of the downpayment and 50% of the remodel costs. The plan was for them to split the profits.

Nassif says he shelled out a total of $367,000 to Zogaib -- but the dude never bought a single home. He says Zogaib refused to return his money.

We've reached out to Zogaib ... so far no word back.