Money

This might be a record ... but former NBA star Larry Johnson has been accused of being a deadbeat dad ... BY FOUR WOMEN AT THE SAME TIME ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Johnson wasn't just a stud on the court ... but the 46-year-old apparently lived up to his last name in the bedroom as well, siring 5 kids with 4 different women over the years.

It gets worse ... Johnson, the #1 overall pick in the 1991 NBA Draft, filed for bankruptcy in California earlier this month ... claiming he's racked up more than $300k in debts.

A chunk of those debts, according to the docs, are owed to the 4 baby mamas -- who claim LJ owes more than $120k in unpaid child support payments.

So, where'd all that Grandmama money go? We reached out to LJ for comment -- so far, no word back.

You ever see a fashion item that you just NEEDED TO HAVE???

NBA star Richard Jefferson did -- a Vans cheetah-print snapback baseball hat ... and he paid $700 to buy it off some random dude's head!!!

RJ was at Hi Fi Kitchen & Cocktails in Scottsdale, AZ Saturday night -- when a dude named Andrew walked in with the cheetah cap.

Andrew tells TMZ Sports ... the Dallas Mavs star beelined it over his way with cash in hand ... and started making offers for the dome piece. Andrew declined at first ... but ultimately gave in for a handful of $100 bills -- 7 in total.

So, why was Jefferson so obsessed with the hat? Andrew says RJ actually purchased the lid for teammate Chandler Parsons ... who was also eyeing the cap that night.

The best part of the story -- Andrew says he originally bought the hat for $25.

Not a bad return on investment.

Chad Johnson just proved he's the best Twitter pal in the history of the freakin' world ... 'cause the former Pro Bowler just forked over $1,000 to one of his followers ... so she could have a good b-day.

We spoke to Heather Torregano -- @DaRealNette on Twitter -- and she tells TMZ Sports this all started when she tweeted a link to a GoFundMe account she started to try to raise some money for b-day plans.

"I work as a waitress and a bartender, plus I pay out of my pocket to go to school. I was just trying to have a good birthday, I haven't had one in a long time."

She said she was as surprised as anyone when she checked the account and saw a PHAT $1,000 donation from Johnson who she says has been following her on Twitter for a couple of years.

Torregano says ... when she saw Johnson accounted for nearly HALF of her goal of $1,600 in one fell swoop, she was overcome with emotion.

"I cried, honestly. I was expecting people to give maybe like $20 or $50 ... but a full $1,000? There is no way I could have expected that."

Oprah Winfrey is holding the yard sale to end all yard sales -- in the form of a massive online auction -- and the items up for sale reveal ... Oprah's a little bit of a freak.

Look past her run-of-the-mill plates, tables, chairs, etc. -- and the thing that stands out is her abundance of nude artwork. For example, there's the set of four framed nude male mythological figures ... expected to fetch between $800-$1,200.

There's also a nude painting by Aristide Maillol ($8,000-$12,000), a few Ellie Dolgin nude statues (around $10,000), and a painting of a nude woman by Richard Edward Miller with an estimated worth of $80,000-$120,000.

There's also a weight set that looks barely used (no shade, just the truth) for about $500, a pen with Oprah's name on it for $50, and some kind of lamb sculpture that lays for about $2,000.

FOX claims there's nothing special about the word "Empire," and the network has now filed a lawsuit trying to torpedo a demand by a record label laying claim to the name.

The label is called Empire Distribution -- they do distribution and publishing as well with big artists like Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Too Short, N.O.R.E. and Sean Paul. The label claims FOX has no right to use the name Empire because the show tarnishes its brand.

Empire Distribution has claimed it's being hurt because the fictitious label on the show is run by a "homophobic drug dealer prone to murdering his friends."

Empire Distribution is willing to live with the taint, but only if Fox pays $8 million ... $5 million if the show uses Empire Distribution's artists as regulars.

But now FOX has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to declare Empire Distribution's demand bogus. In the new world order, Fox notes that Empire Distribution is relatively obscure, showing up on the 7th page in a Google search.

There was a civil war in Mexico surrounding the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight -- TECATE VERSUS CORONA -- but now ... one beer has finally obtained the rights to be the official cerveza of the fight!

Here's the tale of the tape ... Tecate has been a long-time sponsor of Pacquiao -- while Corona has often backed Mayweather.

According to promoter Bob Arum, both companies were dead set on buying the rights ... which led to a good old fashioned BIDDING WAR!!

But when it comes to beer sponsors, there can only be uno ... and according to Arum, the winner was TECATE ... which bid $5.6 MILLION!!!!

"We've never seen anything like that on a beer sponsor," Arum told ESPN ... "Both companies were after it. It's a huge number."

Arum says Tecate's bid was $400k higher than Corona.

Pauly Shore's bank teller was violently dismembered early Monday morning.

As you may know, the comedian owns The Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip. There used to be an ATM in the patio area, attached to the building.

After closing Monday, thieves were somehow able to break the ATM away from the wall and made off with the machine and $10,000 cash.

There's a surveillance camera, but we're told there may be some sort of problem in clearly IDing the culprits.

Gilbert Arenas is being sued by his longtime girlfriend Laura Govan -- the mother of his 4 kids -- who claims Gilbert kicked her out of their L.A. mansion and then sold off her $1 million engagement ring.

TMZ Sports has obtained court docs filed by Govan ... in which she claims her and Gilbert are in the middle of a NASTY split.

In the docs, the "Basketball Wives LA" star claims she started dating Gilbert in 2002 ... before he made nearly $200 million in NBA contract money.

The two never had a formal wedding, but Laura claims they "lived together as husband and wife" and Gilbert promised that she would "share equally" in all of his earnings from 2003 on ... as if they were legally married.

Govan says the relationship fell apart around the end of 2014 ... when Gilbert "notified [Laura] to vacate the premises" of their home.

To make matters worse, Laura says Gilbert then "forcefully took" the $1 million engagement ring he gave to her in 2008 and sold it without her permission.

Now, Laura says she wants her cut of the Arenas fortune -- which she says includes profits from a number of marijuana clinics which she says Gilbert owns.

Former "CSI" star Gary Dourdan's ex chick doesn't give a crap he's broke as a joke -- she still wants her blood money ... as in the cash he owes her for allegedly breaking her nose.

According to docs ... Nicole Cannizzaro wants to make sure Dourdan's recent bankruptcy filing -- his second, by the way -- doesn't affect her settlement with the actor for an alleged domestic violence incident in 2012.

Cannizzaro says Gary owes her two payments of $10k, plus $2500 per month for the next 3 years and 3 months -- and she's trying to make sure she still gets paid.

Justin Bieber's egging victim demanded a million dollars for destroying his reputation as an online auto industry leader.

Sources close to the situation say Jeff Schwartz feels he's known everywhere as the guy Bieber egged and spit on, and it's damaging the reputation he's built up over 20 years in car sales media software.

We're told Schwartz isn't satisfied with the $80k Bieber has already anted up for the egging damage. Now he wants money for his good name. He also wants money because he claims Bieber verbally abused his wife and daughter.

We're told Schwartz gave Bieber's people an ultimatum ... pay him $1 million or else he'd sue. Bieber's people told Schwartz to pound sand, so he filed suit this week.

Bieber -- who moved away from Schwartz and Calabasas -- pled no contest to vandalism for the egging and was placed on 2 years probation.

Justin's people dispute much of what Schwartz claims.

"Love and Hip Hop" star Masika Tucker is up in lights on the Sunset Strip, and lots of people who see her now think she's a whore ... and that has has triggered a bitter lawsuit against her co-stars.

The whole brouhaha is over a couple of strip clubs. A guy named Sam Sharif owns Ace of Diamonds in Vegas and Metropolitan Nightclub in WeHo, which has an Ace of Diamonds night every Monday.

Sharif hired Masika to promote the WeHo AOD, and part of the promotion was a big, splashy billboard on the Strip. It didn't sit well with Masika's enemies, "Love and Hip Hop" stars Nikki and Marcelle Mudarris.

Nikki and Marcelle actually rent their WeHo building to AOD, so they were really pissed off when they saw Masika's billboard. When Sharif refused to take the billboard down, Nikki and Marcelle put another billboard up nearby, with Maskika's mugshot from 10 years ago with the word "T.H.O.T."

Sharif says that billboard has torpedoed his business because he was catering to high-end clients and now people thinks it's a sleazy club advertised by a whore. He also says people think he's a fraud and really doesn't own the club.

Money cures all, and Sharif is suing for a million bucks.

Talk about a golden touch ... TMZ Sports has learned Floyd Mayweather used an 18 karat gold pen -- worth $4,000 -- to sign his contract for the big Pacquiao fight.

It's called the Peerless 125 (because there are only 125 in the world) by Cross ... and it's one of the most expensive writing implements in the world.

A spokesperson for Cross says he's pumped to add Floyd to the list of "noble" clients who use the company's pens ... including Oprah and President Obama, who has actually signed official docs with a Cross.

BTW -- Floyd retired the pen after he signed contract ... saying it's now "a part of history."

The children of James McNair -- the comedian who was killed in the crash that severely injured Tracy Morgan -- got a $10,000,000 settlement from Walmart ... according to court docs.

McNair was killed when a Walmart truck driver plowed into the van carrying him, Morgan and a few others home from a show they'd just performed.

The driver, Kevin Roper, has pled not guilty to vehicular homicide and is awaiting trial.

10:15 AM PT -- Suge collapsed after the hearing, an ambulance came and they are taking him to the hospital. Certainly better than a 20 X 8 cell.

Suge Knight just got the worst news possible ... a judge sided with the prosecutor in his murder case and set bail at $25 MILLION ... but not before his lawyer compared Suge's plight to Lucious Lyon on "Empire."

The judge feels Suge is a danger to be out and about given his extensive record and specifically, incidents involving guns, violence and witness intimidation.

Attorney Matt Fletcher threw a Hail Mary, accusing the prosecutor of watching too much "Empire." Fletcher, said, "It's like she watches "Empire" and comes in and says, 'He was an unrepentant and shameless criminal. Prosecute him.'"

As you know ... Lucious was arrested in the "Empire" finale for murdering Bunkie.

And then Fletcher starts to hammer away at Cle Bone Sloan, one of the men Suge ran over, repeatedly referencing Bone's statement to cops that he f***** Suge up.

Suge is in bad shape, claiming he's going crazy in jail because he's in solitary with no hot water, no blanket and only sporadic showers.

Nick Cannon is already back on the prowl -- searching for a bachelor pad where he can crash in L.A.

Our real estate sources say Nick is sniffing around Santa Monica and the Hollywood Hills for his new West Coast HQ. We're told his criteria are pretty simple -- fully furnished and rent to own.

As we first told you ... Nick's already dropping $11k/month on a sprawling New Jersey mansion he scooped up a few weeks ago.

As for the furnished part -- it's just a bachelor pad, and let's be honest ... he's done enough remodeling lately.

Kevin Hart handed his ex-wife keys to a new Caddy, but she gave him something pretty awesome too -- peace between the mother of his 2 children and his new fiancée.

Torrei Hart tells TMZ, the 2015 Escalade Kev gave her for her 37th birthday came on the heels of her squashing all old beef between her and Eniko Parrish.

It's no secret ... the Harts' bitter divorce included nasty Twitter rants and cheating accusations -- but Torrei says things are so cool now with the future Mrs. Hart ... the ladies even hang together at the kids' hoops games.

Torrei adds Kevin was so supportive when he knew she needed a new ride ... he even let her pick out ANY vehicle she wanted.

Bottom line ... that crap they say about grudges might be true.