Money

Bernie Madoff's investors who were ripped off for billions of dollars are finally getting some of their money back -- the U.S. has begun the first distribution of funds to his Ponzi scheme victims.

The Madoff Victim Fund -- established by the Dept. of Justice -- will dish out $772.5 million in funds forfeited to the government to more than 24,000 victims worldwide. It's the the first in a series of payments, and eventually more than $9 billion in recovered assets will be returned to victims.

According to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim ... Thursday's distribution of more than $770 million is "the single largest distribution of forfeited funds in the Department's history."

Chris Brown's painting skills can claim high-society status, thanks to his collaboration with a famed artist that pays homage to Andy Warhol.

Chris and renowned photographer Karen Bystedt teamed up to turn her iconic shot of Warhol into what's been dubbed the "Triple Andy Discount." The piece features Bystedt's photo plus the 2 painted by CB to create a collage of young, adult and middle-aged Warhol.

Chris, who goes by Konfuzed in the art world, previously worked with Karen on some of his monster art pieces. She's now hawking their Warhol, created in November 2015, on eBay ... with the starting bid at $500k.

Here's Celine Dion singing "My Heart Will Go On" one more time, but this time it's got a sick beat that got Celine up and dancing like you've never seen before.

The beat is courtesy of Steve Aoki, who joined Celine onstage for a Las Vegas benefit show Tuesday night at Omnia Nightclub. The 2 Vegas legends teamed up for this awesome performance -- Celine singing her "Titanic" hit, and Steve tacking on a remix you really gotta see.

Somebody hand Celine some glow sticks!

Seriously though, it was all for a great cause. The event raised $1 million for the Las Vegas Victims' Fund ... and also featured Kaskade, Lil Jon, Tiesto and Zedd.

But none of them had CD's ummm ... unique dance moves.

Lisa Marie Presley is about to file a lawsuit against her former financial managers, claiming they squandered more than $100 million over 10 years, but the company says Lisa Marie is broke because she's a spendthrift.

TMZ has obtained a copy of the lawsuit which could be filed as early as today. She claims financial guru Barry Siegel sold 85% of her interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) and then gave the money to Robert F.X. Sillerman as a way of ingratiating himself with the famous investor. She says the investments tanked and left her broke.

Among the alleged misdeeds -- Presley says unbeknownst to her Siegel spent $9 million of her money to buy an English estate and couldn't make the balloon payment on the property.

She also says Siegel stopped paying her taxes in 2012 which left her with a tax bill of $7 million.

She says as of May 30, 2016, the trust was depleted and only had $14,000 in cash and she had $500,000 in credit card debt.

We're told Siegel's position is that Lisa Marie overspent herself into destitution. In fact, he says she went broke twice because of her spending habits. He says as early as 2003 Lisa Marie was $20 million in debt and he was the one who righted the ship. Siegel says he tried hard to get her to stop her excessive spending over the next 10 years but it fell on deaf ears.

We're told Siegel plans to countersue Presley for $800,000 in unpaid management fees.

Lisa Marie's lawyer, Amjad Khan, tells TMZ, "Lisa Marie Presley has been betrayed by her former Trustee, Barry Siegel and Provident Financial Management -- Hollywood money managers to stars like Al Pacino and Rob Thomas."

"Shark Tank" star Robert Herjavec says an ex-girlfriend of his is trying to exploit the Harvey Weinstein/Hollywood sexual harassment scandal by extorting him for millions of dollars over what he says are false claims of sexual assault.

Herjavec has sued Danielle Vasinova, whom he dated from 2013 to 2015. He says when he ended the relationship she became a woman scorned and threatened to go public with false claims he gave her herpes and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

Herjavec says at one point she demanded $20 million in return for her silence, and he told her to kick rocks. He says at one point she reduced her demand to $5 million which he squarely rejected.

He also says she sold a story to the National Enquirer about his romp with her at a sex fantasy club. Herjavec says in Sept., 2014, Vasinova invited him to the sex club, telling him it was "a legitimate, fantasy experience ... innocent fun." He went, and consented to be strapped to a table and blindfolded, after which he was tickled with a feather.

Herjavec says unbeknownst to him, Vasinova took pictures of him while he was blindfolded, which she used in her extortion attempt.

Herjavec says after her extortion attempt failed he didn't hear from her for a while, until Monday, when he got a letter from her attorney saying Vasinova was threatening to reignite her assault claims. The letter says, "she bears full awareness that the problems plaguing Hollywood are far bigger than she is, and appreciates fully that her willingness to come forward now will not only be cathartic for her, but will go far in serving the interests of other women and men who have not yet found their voices."

According to the lawsuit, the letter goes on to suggest an "informal resolution" -- which Herjavec interprets as renewed extortion.

12:50 PM PT -- Local reports say the former Prez was dismissed ... guess he's gotta wait on that $17.20 payday.

Former Prez Barack Obama is still leading by example ... showing his fellow citizens that when you get called for jury duty -- no matter where or when -- you show up.

Obama returned to Chicago Wednesday morning to report for jury duty at Daley Center ... along with his Secret Service detail, of course. Though he now lives in D.C., the former president still has a place in Chi-town and got summoned there.

Barack will certainly be the most famous potential juror in Cook County this year ... but he'll still get paid the same as everyone else -- $17.20 per day ... if he's actually selected.

Tyrese claims Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith gave him a whopping $5 million so he could dig himself out of a financial hole from his custody case, but sources directly connected to both Will and Jada say it simply isn't true.

Our Will and Jada sources say they did not give Tyrese any money at all.

Tyrese posted last Sunday that Will and Jada gave him the gift in return for him staying mum about his trial. Tyrese wrote, "You've guys asked me to get off and stay off the Internet now that my daughters legal fees will be paid. I will listen."

Tyrese did add a post Tuesday admitting the money had not been received yet.

Will and Jada have been friends with Tyrese for years, and we're told they're extremely worried Tyrese is having some sort of a breakdown.

Kanye West is leaving no stone unturned -- literally -- on the construction site of his new Hidden Hills home, and he's apparently working at breakneck speed to get it finished so he and his family will have a place to live.

TMZ broke the story ... Kanye and Kim sold their Bel-Air home late last week for $17.8 million. That's a good thing for them, but the bad part is that they now need to move into their Hidden Hills home that has been under construction for years and is still not completed.

We're told the inside is in move-in condition, but the grounds are another story. Landscaping is a big part of an estate and it's also a safety issue for their 3 kids. The landscaping is far from finished and Kanye is now leading the charge to get it done ... STAT.

We're told the fam plans to move in soon.

Janet Jackson's music video shoot for "No Sleeep" damaged a guy's home so badly he couldn't live there for 2 weeks, and he wants a big paycheck to make it right ... according to a new suit.

David Tate claims a music vid production company, Zanmi Films, used his house in July 2015 to film Jackson's vid, and agreed to cover any damages they might cause. After shooting the vid, Tate claims he noticed extensive damage to his floors and walls caused by the production crew.

According to the docs ... he had to fork over the money for repairs and also move out of his crib for 14 days, but hasn't been compensated for his troubles.

Tate's asking for over a million dollars in damages.

We reached out to Zanmi ... so far, no word back.

Long before Tonya Harding got Nancy Kerrigan's knee capped -- she was an innocent little girl, and the kid actress who played her in "I, Tonya" made bank for the role.

Mckenna Grace plays young Tonya in the upcoming flick starring Margot Robbie -- which looks awesome, btw -- and was guaranteed at least $10k for her role. Mckenna's contract was filed in court due to her being 11 years old and all.

Don't the let the age fool ya ... Mckenna's no Hollywood rookie, having landed big roles in "Gifted" and "Amityville: The Awakening" -- plus TV roles on "Fuller House" and "Designated Survivor."

The best clause in her contract though -- Mckenna got to fly business class round-trip, and stay in a hotel suite for any filming out of L.A.

If real-life Tonya had it this good, maybe she wouldn't have ... y'know.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West turned their former Bel-Air home into a pristine palace before they sold it, featuring just the bare necessities ... for millionaires.

Photos of the home, obtained by TMZ, reveal an all-white look of the heavenly interior of the mansion. As we reported ... they stripped the place down to the studs and rebuilt it as a modern, minimalist home.

We broke the story -- the couple made a fortune on the 1-acre property ... selling it for $17.8 million last week after buying it for $9 mil in 2013.

Beyonce and Pharrell are a bunch of overachievers ... the items they donated for a charity auction fetched 19 TIMES MORE than anticipated.

TMZ broke the story ... Bey and P. Willy donated items auctioned off at Heritage Auctions to help raise money for The Lung Transplant Project... a non-profit that raises money and awareness to reduce transplant waiting list times.

Beyonce's "Formation" tour hat was supposed to bring between 1 and 2 G's ... but after Monday's auction closed it brought in a whopping $27,500!!!

Pharrell donated two pairs of adidas Originals ... the first pair featured the hit-making producers' John Hancock and an inspiring message, while the second pair will be custom-made for the winning bidder.

The kicks -- which were estimated to haul in about a G -- sold for $11,375. Score!!!

Look up in the sky -- it's a bird, it's a plane ... oh wait, it's E-40 suing someone over "Captain Save a Hoe," mayne!

40 Water just filed suit against author Erika Kane and her publishers for a book she recently started selling, which is titled "Captain Save a Hoe" ... ya know, the same name he used for his hit 1993 song. Safe to say, 40's not having it.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, 40 says he owns the rights to "Captain Save a Hoe" and Kane using it word for word on her book is straight-up ripping him off, not to mention unfairly profiting off his song and the character he created with it.

He's asking a judge to yank the book from shelves and for any dough she's made from it so far.

We've reached out to Kane for comment ... so far, no word back.

Cardi B has a message to haters who don't believe she's really rocking a $500k ring -- just watch me shine!

The "Bodak Yellow" rapper and her fiance, Offset, hit up Ace of Diamonds in WeHo Monday night and we asked her about the Internet trolls claiming her engagement ring's fake because she hasn't been wearing it out ... and she had the best possible response.

She wasn't the only one blinging ... Quavo was also there with a record-setting piece around his neck. Inside the club, the soon-to-be-wedded couple showed some PDA ... with diamonds still shining.

Chrissy Teigen has a tipping point when it comes to leaving $1,000 tips and it has nothing to do with what's on the menu.

We got Chrissy at LAX Monday and asked her about the monstrous $1,000 tip she left a waitress at an Ohio Outback Steakhouse last month ... on a $193 bill, by the way. Although Chrissy can't resist Outback's bloomin' onion, it's clearly not what made her drop an extra 500%.

As for dropping another fat tip like that in the future? Let's just say, if you're a server you better bring your A-game when you see Chrissy walk through the door.

If there's a strip club record book, Dwayne Bowe is headin' for it ... 'cause the ex-NFL star dropped an insane $25k on strippers in just 20 MINUTES this weekend ... and TMZ Sports has the video.

Bowe -- who led the league in receiving TDs in 2010 -- hit up VLive in Dallas with a couple friends on Saturday night ... and our sources say he made it rain for a brief, yet efficient, 20 minutes.

We're told 33-year-old Bowe and his crew hung around for a few hours and enjoyed themselves ... and even did some dancing of their own, while putting several women through nursing school.

Fun Fact -- Bowe made $9 million with the Browns in 2015, which translates to $1.8 million per catch that season.

He also reportedly made $54 MILLION during his NFL career.