Money

8:55 AM PT -- EBay is cracking down. A spokesperson tells TMZ, "These booklets are prohibited under eBay's policies. Any items that attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering are not allowed to be sold on eBay."

Sources at eBay assure us that all the programs will be removed and they will educate the sellers who have listed them.

Some of Nipsey Hussle's fans who packed into Staples Center at his celebration of life -- are turning a quick profit off the service by hawking their FREE programs for HUNDREDS of dollars.

Tons of programs from Nipsey's memorial started flooding eBay hours after the service ended, and we've seen some sellers asking for more than $1,000.

One auction ending Friday morning closed at $500 for the piece of history.

Remember, tickets to the Celebration of Life were distributed at no cost, and the booklets passed out at the service were also free -- because Nipsey's family wanted it that way -- so these sellers are turning huge profits off the slain Crenshaw rapper.

It's at least the second time we've seen folks try to use Nipsey's memorial to cash in ... scalpers tried to sell the free tickets for astronomical prices before getting shut down.

Nipsey was remembered as a great man, talented rapper and savvy businessman during his memorial -- so, you could argue he'd see the unabashed profiteering as a smart move.

On the other hand ... his estate and family absorbed all the cost of that amazing memorial service for his fans. So, maybe it's just a bad look.

The capitalism continues.

Meek Mill and The Game are just a few of the celebs who went on a MASSIVE shopping spree at Nipsey Hussle's Marathon store ... just their small way to help out the fam.

We're told in the last few days, and in the lead up to the late rapper's celebration of life at Staples Center ... items have been flying off the shelves after Meek, Game and others made it their mission to stop by the famous store on Slauson Ave. to drop tons of cash.

T.I., 2 Chainz and NBA stars, J.R. Smith, DeMar DeRozan and Al Harrington are just some of the other celebs who did their part. We're told they refused to accept any free items and would only pay for the items they selected.

You can see in the video posted on Instagram by Meek ... the store's been nearly wiped out. That particular corner's been incredibly busy as of late. Hundreds of fans have stopped by leaving candles, flowers and notes for the legendary rapper who was tragically murdered earlier this month.

John F. Kennedy's last-known autograph -- signed hours before he was assassinated -- is going up for auction ... and it can be yours for a small fortune.

The folks over at Goldin Auctions are handling the incredibly rare and historical item ... JFK's John Hancock on a small, spiral bound notepad the president hastily signed before boarding Air Force One on the fateful morning of November 22, 1963.

You'll recall, the President was in Fort Worth giving a speech before he headed to Carswell Air Force Base ... where Air Force One was waiting to take him to Dallas. According to Goldin Auction, JFK took a pen outta his jacket and signed the notepad thrust towards him before a final wave goodbye.

You can see from this footage on YouTube, JFK does exactly that. It's quick, so pay close attention.

As you know ... JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas as the President and First Lady were riding in the presidential limousine.

Check out the pics of the notepad ... you can see JFK's signature written in a red ballpoint pen with some light smudging below. It also features the owner's notes in pencil on the historical significance of the signature ... who claims it was signed around 10:25 AM -- 2 hours before Kennedy was fatally shot.

Daymond John's dishing some business advice for Lori Loughlin's daughter in wake of the biggest college admissions scam in U.S. history ... OWN IT, BABY!!!

We got the "Shark Tank" star out in NYC and asked the fashion mogul if he had any advice for Olivia Jade ... Lori's daughter who got swallowed up in her mom and dad's federal grand jury indictment, which accused the couple of paying $500k in bribes to get Olivia and her sister into USC.

The fallout was immediate ... Olivia withdrew from USC and also lost a gig with Sephora. But, check out the clip ... Daymond strongly believes if Olivia doesn't try to hide she can definitely bounce back.

Worth noting ... it's unclear if Olivia was in on the scheme. Either way ... it's clear Daymond thinks carving out a future rests on her hands. As for any advice for Lori and her hubby, Mossimo Giannulli ... seems that's a laughing matter.

Jussie Smollett has just been hammered with a lawsuit the City of Chicago promised ... and he may effectively go on trial for allegedly staging the "attack" in January. All told, the City wants what will almost certainly be upwards of a half a million dollars.

The lawsuit -- to recover the costs of investigating the case -- outlines what the City claims Jussie did. It says Jussie and Abel Osundairo had been friends since 2017 -- socializing and exercising together. It says Abel assisted Jussie in obtaining recreational drugs.

The lawsuit claims Jussie told Abel shortly before the "attack," "Might need your help on the low."

The lawsuit claims, as we reported, Jussie scoped out the location for the "attack" with Abel and Ola 2 days before the attack and a dry run the day before. They agreed Abel would attack Jussie but would not hurt him too badly and would give Jussie a chance to appear to fight back.

The suit claims they also scripted the entire attack ... starting with the brothers calling Jussie "Empire f***** Empire n*****" -- referring to the homophobic and racist slurs.

They discussed the brothers placing a rope around Jussie's neck and pouring a liquid on him.

The brothers were also instructed not to bring their cellphones -- presumably, so they couldn't be tracked.

The suit says Jussie intentionally misled officers into believing his attackers were white, when he knew otherwise.

As we reported ... the city threatened to sue Jussie if he didn't fork over $130k to cover the cost of investigating a case it says was faked by the "Empire" star. The City of Chicago fired off a letter to Jussie's people earlier this month ... but his camp told the City to go pound sand.

The City says the cost of investigating the case was at least $130,000 in overtime alone, but it wants hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of that to cover attorneys fees and additional expenses. And then the City wants the judge to multiply that times 3, to punish Jussie.

Jussie Smollett is living it up on the beach in Hawaii like a guy with no problems at all -- not at all like a guy who's staring down an impending legal battle with the City of Chicago that could cost him dearly.

The "Empire" star is on vacay right now with his family, laughing it up and catching some rays in paradise. Dude's even going boogie boarding!

It's about as far away from Chicago as he could be, mentally, anyway. The other shoe could drop any day now ... remember, the City of Chicago says it's about to slap him with a civil lawsuit to recover the $130k cost of investigating the alleged homophobic and racist attack.

For now ... Jussie and his fam are snacking, catching waves and having a blast.

We got Jussie over the weekend in Woodland Hills where he was mum about the suit. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, insists Chicago is maliciously defaming his client, hinting the actor might file a lawsuit of his own.

Ray J has a new lead on who the culprit is behind his missing pup -- he says a dognapper made off with his beloved Boogotti, and he is willing to do anything to get his pooch back.

As we've reported ... Ray J and Princess Love are offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who finds their missing Maltese, who disappeared earlier this week from the Ray's parents' Calabasas home. Ray says Boo didn't innocently wander off their property either.

He tells us Boogotti escaped through a gate on the property, but then he claims a white dude, in his early 20s, pulled up in a Dodge Charger, grabbed the pup off the street and bolted!!!

Ray J tells us losing Boogotti is like losing a family member ... and he's pleading with the alleged dognapper to return him to his home. He's also willing to pay a ransom, if necessary. His manager, David Weintraub, tells us the entire family is worried sick.

9:11 AM -- Avenatti vehemently denies any wrongdoing. He said, "Any claim that any monies due clients were mishandled is bogus nonsense." He tweeted what he says is a testimonial from the paraplegic client he's accused of stealing millions from ... saying the client signed the doc less than a month ago attesting to his ethics.

Avenatti added he looks forward to proving his innocence.

8:52 AM -- TMZ's obtained the indictment and it's pretty damming. He's being indicted on 36 counts of fraud, perjury, failure to pay taxes and other financial crimes. According to docs ... Avenatti allegedly stole millions from a mentally ill paraplegic on disability who had scored a $4M settlement from L.A. County. The money had been wired to Avenatti in January 2015 and he allegedly hid the dough for years.

Avenatti's also accused of using $2.75 million in proceeds from another client's legal settlement to buy a private jet. Avenatti allegedly concealed that settlement too. The infamous lawyer is also accused of owing millions of dollars in back taxes and making false statements to the IRS.

Michael Avenatti's under a mountain of legal trouble now -- the IRS and the Department of Justice say he's been hit with a 36-count indictment that could land him in prison for life ... but he's already calling it BS.

A federal grand jury in California handed up the indictment Thursday, and if 36 charges sound like a lot ... it is. He faces up to 335 years in prison if convicted!!!

Avenatti says he intends to fully fight all charges and plead not guilty. He added, "I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me."

As you know ... Avenatti was arrested and charged last month for allegedly trying to extort millions out of Nike. That case was brought on by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York -- and on the same day, the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A. announced a separate case against him for wire fraud.

If you're keeping score, that's 3 federal cases and dozens of charges.

As we reported ... Avenatti allegedly siphoned off a $1.6 million settlement he scored for a client in 2017 and hid it in a personal bank account he controlled in the wire fraud case. He's also accused of defrauding a bank for millions of dollars worth of loans by submitting fake tax returns between 2011 and 2013.

Israel Folau -- a star rugby player -- has been fired from Australia's national team after he said gays will burn in hell in a social media post on Wednesday ... Rugby Australia announced.

30-year-old Folau took to Instagram this week to post a picture that read, "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters," will all, "end up in hell unless [they] repent."

The post immediately went viral ... and caused such a backlash -- Rugby Australia acted swiftly, terminating his $4 million contract just hours after the post went up.

"As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action," RA chief executive Raelene Castle said.

“In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract.”

Folau has repeatedly bashed gays in homophobic rants throughout his career ... reportedly writing in a separate social media post last year, "God’s plan for gay people was hell."

For his part, Folau has reportedly insisted he's not homophobic ... saying he's a devout Christian who believes the Bible condemns gays.

On that topic, Castle said, "Whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts."

R. Kelly going to a club for an hour and walking away with $22k cash might have lots of people upset -- but his ex-wife sure ain't one of them ... quite the opposite, actually.

A rep for Drea Kelly -- R. Kelly's ex of more than 10 years -- tells TMZ ... she takes no issue with R. Kelly getting out there and making a buck -- but not because she thinks he's innocent ... it's more about what it means for her and their kids.

We broke the story ... R. Kelly showed up to a club in Springfield, Illinois over the weekend, where he sang a bit of "Bump N' Grind," hung out for less than an hour ... and walked away with $22,000. He asked the media to go easy on him, as this was just a means to an end.

We're told Drea sees it this way ... if R. Kelly's working to fulfill his financial obligations, "no one can be mad at him for that." Besides, Drea's rep tells us the man certainly has responsibilities that need tending to with dough ... for the sake of his kids.

As we reported ... R. Kelly went BACK to jail last month because he couldn't pony up his back child support bill ... more than $160k. He got sent to the can but was bailed out when someone covered his tab after spotting him (again).

Not only that ... as far we know, R. Kelly is still on the hook for nearly $21k per month in child support, which he was also unsuccessful in getting a judge to lower at the time.

No word on whether he's paid Drea that $21k -- which he presumably still owes her monthly for their minor child, who's 17.

It's interesting ... R. Kelly told Gayle King during his CBS interview he wasn't able to pay Drea, in part because she's badmouthed him to the media ... and torpedoed his ability to make money.

Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is standing by his plan to cut every citizen a monthly check -- just for being over 18 -- and says it's a necessity to help American workers who keep losing jobs to robots.

The NY entrepreneur broke down his "freedom dividend" plan Wednesday on "TMZ Live" ... telling us the $1,000 monthly stipend to all adults won't make people lazy -- in fact, he says it's the exact opposite.

Watch ... Andrew says there's cold hard proof his proposed plan will make people want to work, get an education and improve the economy -- and you don't have to look beyond our borders to find it.

The candidate also addressed any comparisons to Donald Trump -- a businessman with no previous political experience. His bottom line -- the current POTUS doesn't represent every entrepreneur, and Yang's sure he can do better.

Cops say they've found the guy who trained a laser pointer on Tom Brady's face during the AFC Championship game ... and shocker, the guy's a hardcore Chiefs fan.

Bonus shocker ... sources connected to the suspect tell us the guy had been boozing before he broke out the laser.

Remember, TB12 was hit with a green light during the wild 4th quarter of the Jan. 20 game at Arrowhead Stadium -- which the Chiefs eventually lost in overtime.

Cops investigated the situation and eventually cited 64-year-old Dwyan Morgan -- who we're told is a MASSIVE Chiefs fan.

Unclear how authorities were able to track Morgan down -- but we know there were a TON of cameras at the game both for the TV coverage AND for security purposes ... so that probably helped.

Morgan has now been hit with a disturbing the peace citation and faces up to ONE YEAR in jail plus a $1,000 fine if the judge decides to throw the book at him.

Sources connected to Morgan tell us ... his intention was never to hurt anyone, he was just trying to have fun and didn't expect things to blow up the way they did.

We're also told Morgan was drinking before the laser incident -- and we all know beer and lasers don't mix.

So, how does Morgan feel about the situation now? One source close to the Chiefs fan says he feels bad for embarrassing Chiefs Nation, but has no plans to apologize to the Patriots.

In fact, we're told he still hates the Pats and Tom Brady ... passionately and will continue to root against them -- just not from Arrowhead, because he's been banned.

We reached out to Morgan for comment -- but he ain't talkin'.

Charles Van Doren, perhaps the most infamous TV game show contestant ever -- and the subject of an Oscar-nominated movie -- died Tuesday at his Connecticut retirement home ... according to his family.

Charles famously admitted cheating on the NBC game show, "Twenty-One," back in the 1950s. He actually testified before Congressional investigators and said the games were rigged. It was a huge scandal because prime time game shows were enormously popular back then ... drawing up to 50 million viewers.

Robert Redford directed the 1994 movie, "Quiz Show" -- with Ralph Fiennes playing Van Doren -- about the cheating scandal. The movie earned 4 Oscar nominations and 4 Golden Globes nominations.

Van Doren won $129,000 -- which would be more than $1 million today -- but later told Congress he had been given the questions and answers in advance. He also said he was coached up on how to create more drama as he pondered his answers on the show.

Although he was from a very prominent and wealthy Manhattan family ... Van Doren was disgraced after the cheating scandal. He went on to become an editor for Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote a few books.

He'd been living in the retirement community for several years before his death.

Lori Loughlin, her hubby and all the parents involved in the biggest college admissions scam in U.S. history should NOT do any time behind bars ... so says Steve Madden.

We got the famous shoe designer, and ex-con, Tuesday in NYC ... and who better to ask about Lori and Mossimo Giannulli 's case? Remember, Madden did 2 and a half years in prison for money laundering and stock fraud.

He joked Lori might need some help at the prison commissary soon -- but then got serious about what she's facing.

As we reported ... a Federal Grand Jury indicted Lori and Mossimo with an additional crime of "conspiring to launder the bribes" on top of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. The new charges could mean nearly 5 years in prison, at minimum, if they're convicted.

Steve, who admits he knows Mossimo, thinks a prison stretch is absurd in this case. Watch the video ... he calls their $500k plan to get their girls into USC, "misguided, for sure" -- but adds it doesn't warrant incarceration.

The Weeknd is gunning for eSports supremacy -- buying an ownership stake in one of Canada's biggest gaming franchises, TMZ Sports has learned.

The singer is now a part-owner of OverActive Media -- which has teams competing in League of Legends, Overwatch, Call of Duty and more.

In fact, OAM's Overwatch team, the Toronto Defiant, is one of the top-ranked teams on the planet. OAM also owns Splyce, which competes in LoL.

"As a big esports fan, I am really excited to be involved in this project," The Weeknd said in a statement ... noting he will collaborate with OAM in "unique and innovative ways."

The Weeknd is just the latest mainstream star to buy into an eSports franchise -- following Michael Jordan, Drake, Magic Johnson and Rick Fox.

The big question now ... when are these guys all gonna pick up the sticks and compete against each other?!

Free tickets to Nipsey Hussle's public memorial service were gobbled up within minutes, and now the scalpers trying to profit from the slain rapper's death are being shut down.

Tickets for Thursday's service at Staples Center were being hawked for as much as $500 a pop on the secondary market ... but Craigslist is flagging the sales ads and yanking them from its website.

AXS, which handled ticket distribution, tells TMZ ... the memorial service's entire ticket inventory was completely cleaned out Tuesday morning within minutes after being made available to the public.

But, anyone trying to make a quick buck off the memorial is out of luck ... AXS tells us it's cracking down on scalpers and ticket fraud because tickets are being distributed through the company's mobile app and are non-transferable.

Nipsey's memorial starts Thursday morning at 10 AM sharp, and anyone traveling in a group must enter together. Tickets were distributed to California residents only, with a max of 4 per group.

The rules didn't stop scalpers from trying to take advantage of people who missed the boat ... but Craigslist ads have been removed or flagged for removal throughout the day.

TMZ broke the story ... Nipsey's family and Staples Center honchos met Wednesday to plan logistics for how to honor the Crenshaw rapper at the 21,000-seat venue. LAPD officials were also there, helping plan for security and safety.

Nipsey was gunned down March 31 outside his Marathon Clothing store and his alleged killer, Eric Holder, was charged with murder.

After the memorial service, Nipsey's funeral procession will embark on a final victory lap around the city.