Money

Britney Spears just brought a piece of Vegas to the Cheesecake factory she stiffed ... because her waitress just hit the jackpot.

TMZ broke the story, Britney chewed and screwed Sunday when she walked out of the Thousand Oaks, CA restaurant without paying her $30 bill for an appetizer and salad. Britney says she thought her security guy paid the tab and he thought she did.

Now she's bringing in the ultimate peacemaker to make things right -- Benjamin Franklin. Our Britney sources tell us the waitress is getting a $100 tip -- more than 300%. That's on top of the $30 tab.

We're told Britney -- who left with hard evidence of her heist (a doggie bag) -- felt terrible about the mistake.

Britney -- she stiffs good.

Apollo Nida just got his tab for committing check fraud and money laundering -- $1.9 MILLION in restitution.

TMZ has obtained court docs which breakdown who gets the money Apollo must now pay. Some of the heavy hitters include:

-- JP Morgan Chase $828,300
-- IRS $127,011
-- Delta Airlines $24,985
-- State of California $15,778
-- State of Connecticut $45,525
-- State of Texas $39,275

And there's more. Apollo -- who is married to Phaedra Parks from "Real Housewives of Atlanta" -- screwed over pretty much everyone with whom he came in contact.

Britney Spears had a delicious meal at The Cheesecake Factory and best of all it was FREE ... because she skipped out without paying the bill.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... Britney and BF David Lucado were at the Thousand Oaks, CA restaurant where they had an appetizer and a salad.

At the end of the lunch the waitress came over with the $30 bill, and Britney said her security guy would pay it. She and David then walked out -- with a doggie bag.

Problem is ... security never paid.

Britney's people tell TMZ ... she feels "horrible" and it was an honest mistake. The guard thought Britney paid and she believed he paid the bill.

But here's the real headline -- She's worth north of $50 million and she took the salad home in a doggie bag. Waste not, want not.

Britney made things right with the waitress ... in a big way!

Drake just paid a ton of respect to Rappin' 4-Tay -- in the form of cold, hard cash -- to settle a beef in which 4-Tay claimed Drizzy jacked his rhymes.

4-Tay first put Drake on blast when YG's hit "Who Do You Love" came out. Drake drops lyrics on the song that are clearly ripped straight from 4-Tay's 1994 hit "Playaz Club."

4-Tay was offended Drake didn't give him credit on the song. No lawsuit was ever filed, but sources close to the situation tell us a very lucrative agreement was reached.

4-Tay's manager tells TMZ ... Drake's record label agreed to pay 4-Tay $100,000 for "borrowing" the lines.

Not shockingly ... 4-Tay tells us he's no longer offended.

Kim Kardashian stands to make around $85 MILLION from the new video game iPhone app that boasts her namesake ... more than she made last year in all of her other ventures combined ... TMZ has learned.

Sources familiar with the deal tell TMZ ... Kim's cut is 45% of net profits. The game -- "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" -- is set to gross a reported $200 million this year alone.

We're told the actual expenses associated with the business are relatively low. A straight 45% cut of $200 million totals a whopping $90 million. Industry sources tell TMZ ... expenses would not exceed $10 million.

So ... we're no mathematicians, but 45% of $190 million is $85.5 MILLION FREAKING DOLLARS.

To put this in context ... according to Forbes, Kim made $28 million last year.

As you know ... the game is all about becoming a virtual celebrity, but it costs real money to buy your way to the top.

Now the bad news for Kim. We're told she has to pay her agent, Uncle Sam and, of course, Kris.

"Clean House New York" screwed over a person they pretended to help ... by sticking him with the income tax bill on his remodel ... so claims the man who also said the show wrecked his pad.

Paul McClure appeared on CHNY in 2011 after his mother died ... leaving him with a lot of clutter. He says the show offered to redesign his Manhattan pad and remove all the junk.

But McClure says the 'Clean House' crew promised not to make any structural changes but they knocked down a wall, damaged furniture, and made shoddy repairs ... according to his lawsuit. He also claims they got rid of an expensive rug, some vintage doors and stuff with sentimental value.

McClure says he was told Uncle Sam is entitled to taxes on the value of the remodel but the show promised to foot the bill. McClure says the show only paid part, so he's pissed.

McClure is suing for $300K minimum.

The wife of "Love and Hip Hop" star Yung Joc must have finally reached her tolerance level of watching her hubby and his sidepiece on TV ... so she's pulling the plug on their marriage.

Alexandria Robinson filed to divorce the 31-year-old rapper. They were high school sweethearts and have been married for 13 years. They have 3 kids.

Alexandria acknowledges in her docs ... she and Joc have been separated since Feb. 2012.

She wants the works -- spousal and child support. She says she only pulls in $1,875 a month. But she's banking on getting royalties from his music publishing rights.

Not surprisingly, Alexandria cites adultery as grounds for the divorce.

Joc's been carrying on a high profile relationship with Karlie Redd on "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta." They live together on the show. And get this ... the GF gets really pissed off when she suspected he cheated on her.

Touche.

Tyga's baby mama has some 'splaining to do ... because Sunday in Malibu she got their Rolls-Royce Phantom impounded -- for a really dumb reason.

Law enforcement sources tell us Blac Chyna was pulled over after cops got complaints a matte black Rollie was being driven erratically ... and since there aren't too many of those $300k whips toolin' around, they quickly found Chyna and pulled her over.

That's when the real trouble began ... during the stop, cops ran BC's plates -- she was driving without a license, so they impounded the vehicle -- and will only release it to a licensed driver.

Forget the hos and their area codes ... Ludacris is more into realtors in different zip codes now -- he just ditched a sweet West L.A. penthouse condo to move into the Hollywood Hills.

We got pics inside the 2 bed, 2-bath West L.A. condo he sold for $830K. He paid $669K for the place back in 2002 ... right after "Area Codes" blew up, by the way.

Luda also sold a 2nd unit in the same building ... but lost a couple hundred grand on that one.

If the condos seem like small potatoes for Ludacris ... keep in mind he recently paid $4.8M for a baller pad up in the Hills of Hollywood, and still keeps a $2.8 million crib in Atlanta.

The pint-sized heavy metal musicians who became a huge hit at Coachella have just signed a spectacular contract with a huge record label that will make them the richest kids on their block.

The band -- Unlocking the Truth -- formed when the kids were just 10 and 11. They were so good they were quickly booked on Amateur Night at the Apollo. But they hit it big at the ripe old ages of 12 and 13 ... when in April they became the youngest group ever to perform on the main stage at Coachella.

The kids -- who are now 3 strong with a 13-year-old bassist -- got noticed by none other than Sony and just signed a great deal, which was filed with the court and obtained by TMZ. Under the contract, they'll get the following advances:

-- $60,000 for the first album
-- $325,000 for the second
-- $400,000 for the third
-- $450K for the fourth
-- $550K for the fifth

Mind you, if they sell enough records they'll also get royalties.

And get this ... their influences are Metallica, Slipknot and Disturbed.

Badasses.

The curious new friendship between Chris Brown and Drake has NOTHING to do with Rihanna or brotherly love ... we've learned it's a cold, business decision about making millions.

Chris and Drake -- whose posses literally destroyed W.i.P. nightclub in NYC in 2012 over a Rihanna beef -- have decided they can actually make more money together than separately ... this according to sources working closely with the 2 performers.

They're now in the studio ... laying tracks down for Chris' new album. We're told Drake will perform with Chris on some of the songs and he'll also be the producer.

There's a bonus for Chris -- by working with Drake he'll be able to continue being affiliated with Young Money and that keeps the door open to collaborations with Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj. As a matter of fact, we know Tyga -- also part of Y.M. -- was in the studio with Drake and Chris on Thursday.

Two other reasons Chris and Drake think working together will sell more albums:

-- People will pick the lyrics apart, trying to figure out if they are talking about Rihanna ... the woman who they both slept with and the catalyst for the W.i.P. brawl.

-- Everyone wants to hear who sounds better -- Chris or Drake.

Columbus Short is finally revealing exactly what drove him into such a rage that he delivered a knockout blow to a guy's face earlier this year -- and it might change your opinion of the hot-headed actor.

Short was on Atlanta's V-103 radio station when he was asked about the bar fight back in March, and he said ... "I had to defend my wife at a bar. This man was being highly, highly disrespectful ... slapping her in the face with $20 bills."

TMZ broke the story ... Columbus knocked out Felton Hyche III, and at the time all we knew was that Hyche had allegedly said or done something rude to Short's wife.

Columbus also explains that Hyche was the one who got physical first -- but if what he says about the money to his wife's face is true, we gotta ask ...

Dr. Dre -- who just made a fortune selling off Beats headphones -- wants to stop cheap, Chinese-made knockoffs from jacking his reputation ... so his company is suing alleged counterfeiters for what could easily be BILLIONS of dollars!

In the lawsuit, Beats claims a nefarious group of unnamed websites based in China ... are getting filthy rich selling cheaply-made, counterfeit headphones, bearing the red "b" logo -- and raking in more than $135 BILLION in revenue.

Beats points out it's the headphone of choice for Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Diddy and tons of other celebs ... according to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ -- so it has a vested interest in protecting its trademark.

Beats is suing to stop all sales of the forgeries ... and to take over all of the domain names used by websites hawking the fakes.

The Situation is in the worst kind of legal trouble -- the kind where his lawyer can't help, because his lawyer is the one who's suing him ... for 4 years of unpaid legal bills.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino and his brother Marc Sorrentino owe long-time attorney Richard Wolfe $29,000 in legal fees from 2009-13 ... according to the lawsuit filed by Wolfe, and obtained by TMZ.

In the suit, Wolfe says the bros did knock $10,000 of their tab -- but also made failed attempts to pay ... including a cancelled $2,000 check, and a bounced $2,000 check.

He now wants damages for the bad checks, on top of the $29K.

As we first told you ... Mike's tanning salon employees accused him of bouncing their paychecks last month, and he got arrested for fighting his other brother.

So, yeah ... paying legal bills would be beneficial for this guy.

Kim Kardashian is so famous ... a dentist is trying to sell a judgment he got against the reality star for nearly FOUR TIMES what it's worth ... because she's just that famous.

The backstory is great. Kim went to Dr. Craig Gordon back in 2001 to switch out her silver fillings for more attractive porcelain fillings. According to a 2002 lawsuit ... Kim stiffed the dentist ... but she was a no show in court and he got a default judgment for $1,605.73.

Dr. Gordon tried in vain to collect ... even going as far as trying to prevent her from divorcing Kris Humphries until she paid the judgment ... but that didn't work.

So now Dr. Gordon is trying to sell his judgment to the highest bidder ... someone who either likes or hates Kim so much, they'll spend time and money to get a check from KK herself.

Now here's the best part. Since interest has accumulated, the judgement has swelled to $3,486.85. The good doctor believes he can sell it for $13,000 ... he says because of its "collectible value."

Now that's what you call a judgment with teeth.

Ashley Greene's ex landlord finally unloaded the Sunset Strip apartment the 'Twilight' star set on fire last year -- for $1.1 million -- but Ashley could still be on the hook, financially, for the blaze.

The 2-bedroom, 1,800 square-foot Hollywood apartment had to be completely remodeled -- the photos show the transformation -- after it was burnt to a crisp back in March 2013. Our real estate sources tell us the repairs cost $303,000 ... and the building's HOA insurance ended up footing the bill.

As we previously reported -- Ashley, her brother, a friend and her 2 dogs were inside the apartment when a lit candle started the fire. One of the dogs died.

By law, the new owners had to be told about the fire and the dog.

Ashley's still dealing with lawsuits from her old landlord, the building owner, several neighbors, and even the doorman -- and the HOA is still trying to get her insurance to reimburse the $303K.