Money

Anthony Scaramucci's absurdly brief gig in the White House is going to pay off big-time, and help make the rich man even richer ... IF he chooses to cash in on making speeches.

Multiple sources plugged into the public speaking circuit tell us the Mooch is such a hot ticket right now, he could haul in $75,000 per event. We're told his market value as a hedge fund magnate and entrepreneur already made his speaking engagements worth roughly $25-50k -- but those 10 days in the West Wing make him a bigger draw, which means way more dough.

Our sources say the high drama around his administration stint adds extra appeal ... especially if he wanted to play the "sacrificial lamb." However, it's doubtful Scaramucci would turn on Trump in speeches just to make a buck. He's got plenty of money, and most D.C. insiders agree loyalty to the Prez wasn't his issue.

Bottom line -- Mooch is in position to clean up, and -- as they say -- come out smelling like a rose.

"Saved by the Bell" star Dustin Diamond will stoop to disgusting levels to make a quick buck, but at least it was for the sake of comedy ... we think.

Screech headlined a comedy game show at The Rialto Theatre in Akron, Ohio Saturday night and took it upon himself to participate in one of the challenges to win a cash prize ... and he went all out for $25.

The challenge was to take a shot -- but it was 50/50 odds whether it would be bourbon or someone's chewing tobacco spit. It didn't seem to matter to him, though ... as long as it resulted in the audience buying some of his merch.

The strangest part -- Dustin had already earned his 25 bucks BEFORE he took the shot of spit, so he just did that for show ... and extra t-shirt sales.

Wale doesn't mind people calling him out for literally showering his baby girl with cash on her birthday ... because he's used to the cultural ignorance.

We got the D.C. rapper -- who's Nigerian-American -- at LAX and asked what he made of haters criticizing the video of his daughter sitting in a pile of bills at her first bday party. Some people likened it to "making it rain" at a strip club.

Instead of getting pissed off though ... Wale's using this as a teachable moment. He explained the Nigerian custom of "spraying," and encouraged his haters to broaden their horizons.

R. Kelly's "After Party" tour is going to be a little shorter -- a bunch of dates have been canceled.

Four of Kelly's 10 upcoming tour dates were canceled Monday. Just last week he'd vowed he would continue touring, despite being accused of running a sex cult with young women.

Two shows in Louisiana got axed, one in Dallas and another in Los Angeles.

Our sources say the 4 stops were nixed due to poor ticket sales, which shouldn't come as a surprise. As we reported ... his Friday night gig in Virginia was barely half full, and fans were pissed he only played for 45 minutes.

Still, sources close to Kelly tell TMZ the tour will absolutely go on, explaining the L.A. show was only canceled because of a scheduling conflict with another nearby stop. The sources would not comment about the other 3 terminated shows.

As of Monday, there are still a few dates left of the "After Party" tour that have tickets for sale.

4:23 PM PT -- A rep for the Kardashians tells TMZ, "The patent lawsuit filed by Snap Light has no merit and is just another attempted shakedown. Kim has done absolutely nothing wrong."

A rep for LuMee tells us the lawsuit has no merit and Kim did nothing wrong. The rep added, "LuMee is an innovator of illuminated cell phone cases and was the first to market. Between its patents, copyrights and trademarks, LuMee has developed substantial intellectual property rights surrounding its product line. LuMee is currently asserting patent infringement against Snaplight.”

Kim Kardashian's use and promotion of an illuminated smartphone case is totally ripping off the guy who invented it, and he says he has receipts to prove it ... according to a $100 million lawsuit.

Kim's company ... Kimsaprincess, Inc. got slapped with the suit Monday -- a guy named Hooshmand Harooni says he got a patent back in 2013 for an "integrated lighting accessory and case for a mobile phone device." If that sounds familiar, that's because it's a perfect description of the LuMee.

No doubt you've seen Kim flaunt the LuMee on her social media. She says it helps her take perfectly lit selfies -- obviously, a major asset in her world. She even used it for her famous selfies with Hillary Clinton.

Problem is ... Harooni licensed his invention to a company called Snaplight, which is now getting buried in sales. Snaplight and Harooni say LuMee jacked their patented technology, and made it an unfair fight by teaming up with a supreme trendsetter like Kim.

In the docs, Snaplight says Kim is getting a cut of LuMee's sizable profits -- and now it wants a chunk of that cheddar too. The company says $100 million will cover its lost profits.

Allen Iverson was gambling in a Chicago area casino hours before he blew off a BIG3 basketball league game in Dallas over the weekend ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Iverson was first spotted at the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, IL on Saturday night into early Sunday morning. One witness says AI was still in the building at 3 AM.

The issue ... Iverson -- who's the coach and captain of the 3's Company team -- was supposed to be in Dallas to play Team Power but he never showed up.

Hours later, Iverson surfaced at the Sugar Factory restaurant (around 10 PM on Sunday -- wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing at the casino in the days before. Fans who recognized him asked for photos, but he refused.

The restaurant is 2 miles from the casino.

The BIG3 has launched an investigation into the situation.

Iverson had been frequenting the casino last week -- and had been gambling with a huge stack of chips at the roulette table.

Earlier in the month, he was spotted at another casino in Philadelphia.

Attempts to reach Iverson were unsuccessful.

O.J. Simpson's 2 kids with Nicole are buying up a bunch of properties in Florida, and Fred Goldman's attorneys want to know where they got the money to do it.

Sydney and Justin Simpson -- who are 31 and 28, respectively now -- both live in Florida and work in real estate ... and they're apparently doing very well in the industry. According to the NY Post, they've each purchased a handful of apartments in the St. Petersburg area over the last 2 years.

There are reportedly no mortgages on the properties ... suggesting they paid cash.

An attorney for Goldman -- who won a $33.5 million judgment from O.J. following the civil trial for the families of Goldman and Simpson -- says he wants to follow the money trail. Simpson still owes the bulk of that money, and clearly Goldman has an interest in finding out if Simpson's hiding cash from him.

It won't be easy. Much of Simpson's wealth -- pensions and annuities -- is protected under Florida law.

We got video of Justin in Florida the day O.J. was paroled. Definitely seems like he's doing well, based on the car he's driving.

Blac Chyna doesn't play when it comes to her money, and she made sure to get a giant wad of cash before her latest gig.

Chyna pulled up outside Project Club LA Saturday night -- she was hosting, but before the party could get started ... the money man had to come through. Our club sources say BC got $15k for the appearance, and we spotted a promoter getting into her ride with the goods.

Rocking new red hair, Chyna and bf Mechie finally strolled into the club after the transaction -- a great one for her. She only stayed about an hour.

Good money if ya can get it! Think she counted it?

Looks like Boosie was telling the truth -- cops say his bank account WAS hacked, but he didn't know it was his own brother draining $361,000.

TMZ broke the story ... the rapper said someone siphoned dough from his Capital One account and made a bunch of transactions. Now we've obtained the police report, which says Boosie's bro, Taquari Hatch, made more than a dozen wire transfers to different people ... who would then give him cash. Cops say he once sent as much as $80k in one transfer.

According to docs, Taquari even posed as Boosie while on the phone with Capital One customer service, but blew his cover when he mentioned having a wife ... which Boosie does not. We're told that set off alarms for the fraud department.

How's this for embarrassing -- 2 NFL players racked up a $10,000 bill at a Hollywood nightclub ... only to have their credit cards DECLINED, this according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

Player #1 is Detroit Lions defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson -- a 2nd round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft who signed a 4-year $5.2 million contract.

Player #2 is Tampa Bay Bucs lineman Caleb Benenoch -- a 5th round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft who signed a 4-year $2.59 million contract.

According to court docs filed in L.A., the guys invited Richard Harrington to Hyde nightclub on the Sunset Strip back in March and ran up a $9,332 bill.

But when it came time to pay, Harrington claims the players' credit cards were BOTH declined.

Instead, they asked Harrington to foot the bill -- which he did -- and they promised to pay him back. Harrington claims they each sent him $2,000 but that didn't cover everything.

He's still out $5,332 ... and is now suing them to get the money because he says they refuse to pay it back.

Amy Schumer is once again the only female comedian to make Forbes' highest paid list this year -- and that ain't necessarily a good thing ... according to Joel McHale.

We got the comic Friday at LAX, where we asked him to weigh in on Amy's ranking for the 2nd consecutive year ... during which she made $37.5 million.

Joel doesn't mince words here -- he says the comedy biz is still very much a boys club ... despite the fact there's tons of funny women out there who deserve more recognition ... and $$$$.

He also draws some comparisons to diversity in TV ... hinting that comedy's got some catching up to do.

Allen Iverson was rolling like a big shot on the roulette table this week ... 'cause by looks of it he was gambling with thousands worth of chips.

Allen Iverson tested his luck in Chicago this week ... hitting up a local casino while his BIG3 team was in town for a game.

The Answer posted up at the roulette table at the Rivers Casino on Thursday -- where witnesses say he was flanked by private security during his gambling run.

No word on how much he was betting. We're told he was drinking water.

A.I. has a penchant for the casinos -- he was spotted at the SugarHouse Casino in Philly earlier this month while the BIG3 was there.

There have been reports over the years that Iverson has a gambling problem -- but he's publicly denied that.

Amy Schumer's gladly hanging on to her past, and to a couple old co-workers from back in her days waiting tables at Michael Jordan's famous restaurant.

Amy went back to Jordan's The Steak House Thursday in NYC ... where she used to be a server back in '04. These days Amy's hauling in a little more than she did then -- $37.5 mil in 2017, according to Forbes.

But she was still down to reminisce with Milton and Edgar -- who she worked with back then. Amy also posed with Eddie, who's now a service manager.

We're told Amy called in advance to order and pay for her meal -- filet mignon with a side of creamed spinach. Eddie hooked up Amy in MJ's private dining room.

And yeah, Amy paid it forward ... leaving an $80 cash tip on her $67 lunch tab.

Here's proof your friends don't ever let you live anything down ... the OKC Thunder taking shots at Andre Roberson and his (non?) tipping habits after a dinner out in L.A.

Remember, Roberson found himself in a public tipping scandal a couple weeks back, when a server claims the $30 million man bricked his gratuity ... leaving a $14 tip on a nearly $500 check.

The guys were out at Catch last night, and by the guys we mean the WHOLE DAMN SQUAD basically, including Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, and Kyle Singler.

Of course we had to ask who paid, which the bros wouldn't tell us, but Kanter did take the time to (jokingly) call out Dre, for his end of the night courtesy.

Montel Williams is PISSED that Donald Trump wants to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military ... and says they're getting stiffed with his "too expensive" argument.

We got Montel, famously a Navy veteran, Wednesday in L.A. and he absolutely unloaded on the Prez for what he sees as blatant discrimination against able-bodied Americans who want to protect their country.

He's beyond intense, and one of the biggest reasons he's so fired up has to do with military spending on erectile dysfunction drugs. Montel dropped some eye-opening numbers on us as he called BS on Trump claiming trans medical expenses are too costly.