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Jussie Smollett was a man of no words as he left an office building Friday in the San Fernando Valley.

Jussie was leaving the Warner Center in Woodland Hills in the PM when he was asked about the civil lawsuit the City of Chicago intends to file against him to recover the $130k cost of investigating the alleged attack.

The Empire actor's lawyer, Mark Geragos, went on and on how the City was maliciously defaming his client, suggesting they would file a lawsuit of their own, but Jussie was mum.

Jussie's in a box on this one ... he has been so strong proclaiming his innocence, settling with the City for ANY amount would be off script, despite the fact a settlement is often made to minimize the enormous costs of trial.

Stephanie McMahon has her sights set on Conor McGregor and Rob Gronkowski ... telling TMZ Sports she would LOVE to get both sports superstars in the WWE ring.

We talked to McMahon -- Vince's daughter AND WWE honcho -- Friday night in NYC ... and asked her if there was anyone outside the WWE fam (like Conor or Gronk) she'd be interested in signing to the organization.

"Anybody who has a real big personality. I'd love to have Gronk in the ring. Conor McGregor, huge personality," McMahon told us.

"It's really about bringing in the biggest personalities with the best athletic ability."

We followed up ... asking if there have been any conversations between WWE and Gronk or Conor.

"We are always having conversations."

So, yea ... definitely wasn't a no.

That wasn't all ... Stephanie also talked about the 1st all-female main event at WrestleMania -- and she made it crystal clear there's 1 simple reason Ronda, Becky, and Charlotte are headlining -- they're the best.

"It's not about women having this opportunity because of a movement. It's about these 3 women, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey being the biggest stars in WWE right now with the best storyline, the best characters," McMahon says.

Lori Loughlin looked like she didn't have a care in the world as she yukked it up with her daughter, Isabella, Friday afternoon, but there's no doubt this is all for the sake of appearance.

Lori and Isabella were out and about in Bev Hills and were all smiles and laughs as they waited for the valet to bring their car around.

It's anything but a fun time in their lives these days. Lori and hubby Mossimo Giannulli face felony charges for allegedly paying a $500k bribe to get Isabella and Olivia Jade into USC by hook or crook.

Prosecution sources tell TMZ, any plea bargain they strike will have a prison recommendation attached, although it's ultimately up to the judge.

Olivia Jade, who clearly didn't really want to go to college, reportedly isn't speaking to her parents she's so pissed off and distraught over the whole mess.

Beyonce did NOT walk out of a meeting with Reebok because it lacked diversity contrary to reports ... this according to the shoe company.

A rep for Reebok tells TMZ ... "The report that Beyoncé walked out of a meeting with Reebok due to lack of diversity is categorically false. Our discussions with Beyoncé and her team continued for several months after our initial meeting. We are disappointed that false information is being reported as fact."

It is not yet clear why the deal ultimately fell through.

ICYMI ... ESPN reported during a segment on Rachel Nichols' show, "The Jump," claiming Bey walked out of a meeting with Reebok after realizing its corporate structure wasn't at all diverse.

As we reported ... it was just announced Beyonce ultimately signed with Adidas, which will relaunch Bey's Ivy Park line.

Avicii's taking a posthumous farewell lap ... with a new album set to be released after the family decided it did NOT wanna keep his music locked away.

The late superstar DJ's team announced Friday it will be releasing a new album this summer titled "TIM." Avicii's government name is Tim Bergling. The album's set to drop on June 6, but fans won't have to wait that long to get a taste of Avicii's latest genius. The single "SOS" will be released on April 10.

Avicii's team says the DJ was close to completing the new album before his tragic passing back in April 2018. The team says Avicii left behind a collection of nearly finished songs ... along with notes, email conversations and text messages about the music.

The DJ's family then decided it wanted to share it with fans around the world. Proceeds from the album will benefit the Tim Bergling Foundation to help prevent mental illness and suicide.

Jussie Smollett's lawyer says the actor will not be intimidated by the City of Chicago's latest move -- to recover $130k in investigative costs -- hinting he might sue the City for defamation.

Jussie's lawyer, Mark Geragos, fired off an angry letter to the city, saying Jussie "will not be intimated," calling the claim his client faked the "attack" "false and defamatory."

As we reported, the City is preparing a civil lawsuit to recover the $130k it spent in investigating Jussie's claim that he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack. The lawsuit is significant, because it effectively puts Jussie on trial and the standard of proof is much lower than a criminal case.

Geragos says the attack was real, and points to the Osundairo brothers as the culprits.

And, Geragos is quick to point out, the State's Attorney dropped all 16 felony charges against his client.

He then threatens that he will grill Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson like cheeseburgers in depositions if the City goes through with the lawsuit. Both men were extremely critical of State's Attorney Kim Foxx for dropping the charges, saying Jussie did indeed fake the attack.

Rihanna's dad is facing more legal blowback for allegedly pretending to rep her ... but this time, it's a social media star threatening to sue.

First, a little background ... you'll recall back in January, RiRi sued her pops, Ronald Fenty, claiming he's fraudulently profiting off her brand by falsely advertising himself as her rep through a talent development company called Fenty Entertainment.

That case is ongoing, but it appears to just be the tip of the iceberg. Harvey Justice -- aka Chef Henny -- is going after Ronald for doing exactly what Rihanna claims in her lawsuit.

Harvey's attorney, Alex Spiro, fired off a legal letter to Ronald claiming Ronald told Harvey multiple times he repped Rihanna.

What's more ... Harvey -- who made a name for himself on YouTube with more than 9 million views from parody videos, always showing him cooking with Hennessy -- claims Ronald told him Rihanna plays a central role in the company.

Harvey says he trusted Ronald so he signed with him back in April 2018 and was promised a $750k marketing budget but says he's only gotten $50k. Where's the rest? Harvey claims Ronald keeps telling him it's being held up by a South American investor.

The chef says he wants what he was promised plus additional damages ... or else.

Jussie Smollett is about to get sued by the City of Chicago and, in the process, he could effectively go on trial for allegedly faking the "attack."

As we reported, the City of Chicago fired off a letter to Jussie's people, demanding $130,000 for the cost of investigating the case. Jussie's people told the City to go pound sand.

The City had to wait 7 days before filing a civil lawsuit against the actor. Well the 7 days has now passed, and the City has made its intentions clear -- they are going forward with the lawsuit.

A spokesman for the City says, "Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019. The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Once it is filed, the Law Department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to Mr. Smollett's L.A. based legal team."

The stakes are high for Jussie ... the City can ask for 3 times the actual cost of investigation ... $390,000.

In addition, in order to win, the City must prove that it's more likely than not that Jussie faked the "attack." This, in effect, puts Jussie on trial before an administrative law judge.

Sonny Vaccaro -- a LEGEND in the shoe brand industry -- says he'd offer Zion Williamson a $100 MILLION endorsement deal ... telling TMZ Sports the Duke star deserves more than what LeBron got out of high school.

"There are particular, singular athletes that can move the needle," Sonny says ... "Zion Williamson has moved the needle before he even became a professional."

Of course, LBJ currently holds the record for biggest shoe brand contract ever given to an NBA prospect ... scoring a $90 million deal from Nike before he took the court for the Cavaliers in 2003.

Sonny -- who helped broker the first-ever Michael Jordan-Nike deal back in the day -- says he'd have no problems eclipsing that LBJ number for Zion.

"Zion Williamson is known to 14-, 15-, 13-, 60-, 70-, 80-year-old people because of his brilliance, his charismatic presence. That's why he's different."

Seems a lot of people agree ... when we got former Blue Devils star Jay Williams out in NYC over a month ago -- he said a 9-figure contract for Z wouldn't surprise him.

Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos are a done deal ... officially -- and it sounds like she's walking away with a huge chunk of change, while he's retaining the lion's share of their companies.

Mackenzie says she's "finished the process of dissolving my marriage with Jeff," and says she's given him all of her interests in the Washington Post and 75% of their Amazon stock. She's also surrendered her interest in Blue Origin ... the aerospace company Jeff started in 2000.

To be clear ... she's not giving him all of that. No doubt, Jeff's paying out a nice chunk of what was their $149 billion net worth. BTW, that number was $137 billion when they announced the split ... so, it's been a good year for Bezos. Financially.

The former couple got hitched back in 1993 -- 6 months after they met, and way before he became the world's richest man -- and they have 4 children together ranging in age from 13 to 18.

The division of their assets could've been complicated by how much they have -- besides cold hard cash, they are straight-up baronial. They own 400,000 acres of property and are 2 of the biggest landholders in the country.

The now-exes jointly announced their plans to split following what they called a trial separation.

Jeff, of course, has already moved on to date former "So You Think You Can Dance" host Lauren Sanchez, the estranged wife of talent mogul Patrick Whitesell. As we reported, Jeff and Lauren started hooking up in 2018, after separating from their respective spouses.

Lauren and Patrick are also going through a divorce.

Jeff and MacKenzie both went to Princeton, but they met in New York when he was vice president of a hedge fund. After getting married, they quit their Wall Street jobs and moved to Seattle, where Jeff started an online bookstore -- the dawn of Amazon. Jeff started the bookstore in his garage, just like Steve Jobs.

MacKenzie is an award-winning novelist and the executive director of an anti-bullying org. called Bystander Revolution.

Owning a HUGE piece of John Lennon history has never been easier -- assuming you can get a little help from your friends ... and your friends are filthy rich.

The folks over at Gotta Have Rock and Roll are set to auction off the piano Lennon used to write The Beatles' eighth studio album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Fans looking to score the iconic upright piano are gonna need a small fortune ... it's expected to fetch upwards of $1.2 MILLION!!!

This is the same piano Lennon stored and used at his famous Kenwood house on St. George's Hill estate in Weybridge, England. Legend has it, he had at least 2 pianos at the crib but this particular one was his fave.

The piano itself is a piece of history ... it dates back to 1872!! It's a product of John Broadwood & Sons, which was founded in 1728 and whose previous customers include a couple of dudes named Mozart and Beethoven.

The instrument has a plaque that says, "On this piano was written: A Day in the Life, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Good Morning, Good Morning, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite and many others. John Lennon. 1971."

The online-only auction starts April 10 and ends April 19. Minimum bid is a whopping $575k.

Quick point of reference -- the piano Lennon used to write "Imagine" sold back in 2000 for an insane $1.7 MILLION ... to George Michael.

"Selling Sunset" star Chrishell Hartley knows there are haters who doubt she and her castmates are legit in the real estate game, and now she's punching back ... with a velvet glove.

If you haven't seen it (what the hell ya waiting for?), the new Netflix hit series follows the super hot female agents of The Oppenheim Group real estate brokerage. Chrishell joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and we asked her point-blank -- hardcore real estate agents or just pretty faces? What's the deal?

Chrishell says she understands why viewers might have doubts. We mentioned all 6 women on the show are super gorgeous, right?

But, she insists they don't just talk a big real estate game, they can all back it up in more ways than one. Even though she's low man on the totem pole, Chrishell -- whose husband is "This is Us" star Justin Hartley -- says she's quickly making a name for herself.

12:11 PM -- Felicity's also gone up before a judge and said she understood the seriousness of the charges. She had already surrendered her passport. So with that, she's also done. That was fast.

12:01 PM -- Lori and Mossimo have just appeared before a judge and both have surrendered their passports. The actress reportedly said hi to the prosecuting team, smiled and shook their hands. Lori and Mossimo are now done with their part of Wednesday's hearing.

11:03 AM PT -- Lori Loughlin just showed up to the Boston courthouse, and was quick to get inside. She avoided answering any questions from reporters, but was also met by some fans cheering, waving, and carrying Lori cutouts with them.

Lori gave a quick wave before marching into court.

Felicity Huffman has just arrived to face a judge for her involvement in the massive college bribery scandal.

The "Desperate Housewives" actress appeared in a federal courthouse in Boston Wednesday where she -- along with other parents including Lori Loughlin -- will reportedly know more about the conditions of their release.

As we first reported ... Lori and Felicity could cut plea bargains but prosecutors wanna see the parents do time behind bars. As one official told us, "You can't have people being treated differently because they have money. That's how we got to this place. Every defendant will be treated the same."

Lori and Felicity face up to 5 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

As we reported ... Felicity and Lori -- recorded on wiretapped calls discussing the scheme with ringleader William Rick Singer -- are accused of paying bribes to help get their kids into elite schools.

Felicity and her husband, William H. Macy, allegedly paid $15k to participate in a college entrance exam cheating scheme on behalf of their eldest daughter, Sophia Grace, who was given twice the amount of time to take the SAT as other students. The feds say the proctor corrected her answers. She scored 1420 on her SAT ... an improvement of approximately 400 points over her PSAT.

Lori and her hubby, Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying a whopping $500k to have their 2 daughters -- Isabella and Olivia -- designated as recruits for the crew team at USC ... even though they were never actually on any crew team. Mossimo allegedly sent Singer pics of the girls on rowing machines to make it look like they were indeed athletes.

On the morning the indictment was announced, 7 FBI agents showed up to Felicity's home with guns drawn and arrested her. The feds also showed up to Lori's home but she was in Vancouver. Mossimo was nabbed and later released. Lori surrendered the next day.

47 others were also caught up in the massive college bribery scandal the feds dubbed Operation Varsity Blues. The parents are accused of paying off Rick Singer ... the alleged ringleader who created a fake nonprofit, charitable foundation that served as a front to launder the payments.

The feds also said Singer -- who pled guilty to racketeering charges -- allegedly instructed the parents they could write off the alleged bribes as tax-deductible"donations" ... to his nonprofit.

According to court records, the actresses and others allegedly paid as much as $6.5M to get their kids into various schools ... including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and USC. In all, the feds uncovered about $25M in bribes.

Lori -- out on $1 million bond -- was mum when paps got her out the other day leaving a yoga session. The fallout from the scandal was immediate. Loughlin's girls withdrew from USC and Loughlin lost gigs with "Fuller House" and Hallmark.

If you don't get a Tommy Lasorda bobblehead at a Dodgers game this season, now ya know why ...

The Los Angeles Dodgers are suing a promotions company after they claim they were stiffed out of 42,000 Lasorda bobbleheads ... this according to court docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

In a lawsuit filed by the team Tuesday ... L.A. says it entered into an agreement with Plan P2 Promotions to make thousands of "100% hand-painted, break-resistant poly-resin" Lasorda dolls.

The plan, it seems, was to give the 7-inch figurines away at a game later this season.

The problem?? The Dodgers claim the company never delivered the Tommy goods ... and now, the MLB organization is suing for $175,000 for breaking the terms of the contract.

The good news for L.A. fans?? The giveaways will still go on -- the Dodgers have already handed out a Walker Buehler figurine ... and have 11 more bobblehead nights planned.

Eight of those dolls are already set -- they include guys like Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen -- but the team's yet to say who will be a part of the final three bobblehead giveaways.

Does that leave the door open for another company to swoop in and save the day with the Lasorda bobbleheads???

Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman could cut plea bargains if they want 'em -- but they wouldn't be getting off easy ... because prosecutors want prison time, TMZ has learned.

Federal law enforcement sources tell TMZ, any plea would come with a recommendation by prosecutors that the actresses serve some time behind bars. The official told us, "You can't have people being treated differently because they have money. That's how we got to this place. Every defendant will be treated the same."

Prosecutors will not have the final word if the cases are plea bargained. The U.S. Attorney would make a recommendation to the judge, but the judge has the final word.

Lori and Felicity each face a maximum of 5 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Our sources say it is "likely" plea bargain discussions will begin, but we're told no plea deal has been made.

Lori and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have been accused of paying ringleader Rick Singer $500,000 to get their daughters into USC by falsely claiming they would participate in the crew team.

Felicity is accused of paying Singer $15,000 to rig her daughter's SAT test.

50 people have been charged in the alleged scams, and we're told more indictments are expected.

"Cheaters" is crowdfunding for its upcoming season ... and there are some career-changing perks for anyone willing to invest in the reality TV show.

We've learned the hidden-camera show is getting creative in order to fund its 19th season ... and it's looking to raise $1 million from fans and investors to help produce 40 to 60 episodes -- with directors and producers credits up for grabs.

Here's how far your dollars will stretch:

$100 -- signed photo of late host Clark Gable III

$250 -- "Cheaters" t-shirt and signed photo

$500 -- 2 t-shirts and signed photo

$1,000 -- Production Assistant credit on IMDb, t-shirt and signed photo

$2,500 -- Head of Security credit on IMDb, t-shirt and signed photo

$5,000 -- Ride along, Director credit on IMDb, t-shirt and signed photo

$10,000 -- Ride along for 2, Producer credit on IMDb, t-shirt and signed photo

$25,000 -- Ride along for 4, Executive Producer credit on IMDb, t-shirt and signed photo

"Cheaters" is still looking for a host to replace Clark, who died earlier this year in Texas ... but that's about the only gig on set that's not up for sale.

The sweet perks aren't the only return on investment ... after episodes air, we're told investors will be paid back up to twice the amount of their original investment over a few years.