Money

Rascal Flatts has allegedly violated the law on the most hallowed ground in Hollywood ... the site of the Oscars!!!

An owner of retail space at the Hollywood and Highland complex -- which includes the Dolby Theatre where the movie shindig has been thrown -- is suing the band's restaurant company for double-crossing him.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, R.F. signed the lease for 7,960 square feet of empty space and the owner of the space agreed to give R.F. $1 million to build it out. The owner says he gave R.F. a $102k advance, but believes none of the money was spent on improvements.

It looks like the whole deal went to hell ... the owner also says R.F. is behind around $300k in rent.

The investigation into how Stan Lee's bank account got swindled out of $300k has gotten even more bizarre -- it appears someone also used the comic book legend's money to buy a freakin' condo.

Sources close to the Marvel Comics legend tell TMZ ... someone recently plunked down $850k of Stan's dough to buy a condo in WeHo. Neither Stan nor his financial team approved it. We're told the revelation came to light after his team rolled out a full audit following a recent check forgery for $300k.

As we reported ... Stan filed a report with Beverly Hills PD claiming someone forged the check as a loan from Stan's bank account to the merchandising company, Hands of Respect.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have poured boatloads of cash into their Hidden Hills home over the past few years, but it was all worth it ... because the house is now $20 million ABOVE water.

Sources tell us ... the couple sunk around $20 mil into renovations since they bought the property -- once owned by Lisa Marie Presley -- in 2014 for $20 mil. It's been in a constant state of design, re-design, construction and expansion -- not to mention all the landscaping -- until they finally moved in a few weeks ago.

Now get this ... we're told Kim and Kanye had the property appraised ... and the estimated value is $60 million. Do the math, and they're in the black $20 mil.

Kyle Richards is sending a message to any other burglars thinking of trying to break into her home again -- letting 'em know she has 3 large dogs ready and willing ... to lick their faces off.

Kyle posed with her pooches, which she says just got back from dog training. However, based on those adorable faces ... we're guessing it's more obedience than attack dog school. Ok, maybe the German Shepherd would mess you up ... but the other two? C'mon, look at those mugs.

As we reported, Kyle and Mauricio Umansky's new Encino home was broken into last week while they were on vacation in Aspen. The burglars made off with about $1 million in jewelry and handbags. The dogs were not at the home either.

We'll say this ... they probably bark really loud. That helps.

Colin Farrell's lunch date went from good to bad ... to downright ugly in just a matter of minutes.

Colin and his rumored GF, Kelly McNamara, grubbed in L.A. Wednesday. That's the good for Colin -- she's a catch -- but the look on Colin's face as they walked to his car says it all. They were greeted by a parking ticket ... and even ran into the cop who dropped it on them.

Looks like the officer pointed out the parking sign. For next time.

There goes the $63 that woulda fixed the tear on that shirt.

Taylor Swift has fired back at 2 songwriters who have sued her for allegedly stealing "Shake It Off" ... she says the reason is simple -- the phrases in question are too short to get legal protection.

Taylor's being sued by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler. The 2 guys wrote a song in 2001 called "Playas Gon' Play," performed by 3LW. The song repeatedly uses 2 phrases ... "Playas, they gonna play" and "Haters, they gonna hate."

Taylor and her legal team say Hall and Butler cannot "monopolize the idea that players will play and haters will hate."

Hoda Kotb isn't sweating reports she's making $18 million less than Matt Lauer after taking over his "Today" co-anchor seat ... and insists there's no bad blood with her ex-coworker.

We got Hoda Wednesday morning outside 30 Rock, and she said Matt sent her a congratulatory text after finding out she got the gig. Then we asked about her alleged new salary of about $7 million -- the same as Savannah Guthrie -- but way less than Lauer.

Hoda addressed it ... with all the class you'd expect.

Former boxing champ Vinny Paz -- the inspiration for the Miles Teller movie "Bleed for This" -- says he's the real victim in a VERY violent incident in Rhode Island.

Here's what we know ... cops responded to a home in Providence early Tuesday morning -- where witnesses claimed the 55-year-old pummeled another man during a dispute over money.

Witnesses told police Paz had accused the other man of stealing $16,000 from him -- and that's what started the attack.

Paz, however, is calling BS on the allegations -- tweeting, "I'm the victim." He didn't go into any further detail.

The other man was hurt pretty bad though ... cops say he was hospitalized with broken teeth, a black eye and bite wounds.

Cops told the AP they're still looking to speak with Vinny directly to get his side of the story.

Paz was 50-10 as a pro boxer -- but he's most famously known for bouncing back after a bad car accident in the early '90s left him with a broken neck.

Paris Hilton's monstrous diamond engagement ring is worth about $2 million -- but the crazier part is when Chris Zylka knew she was the one, and ordered the rock.

Celeb jeweler Michael Greene, who designed Paris' multi-million dollar bling, tells TMZ ... Chris reached out to place his order 5 to 6 months ago, back in the summer.

Keep in mind ... Paris and Chris had just gone public with their relationship back in February, so it was likely less than a year into things that he decided he wanted to lock down Paris.

Greene also tells us the huge diamond -- 20 carats strong -- took about 4 months to cut, and the setting only took a couple days. He says Chris came in to get it right before their Aspen ski trip.

We're told Chris was shaking when he picked it up because he was "so nervous." With that kind of hardware in his pocket, we would be too.

10:10 AM PT -- Andy Dalton posted a video update Tuesday morning, saying they've raised OVER $100K ... and are gunning for $150K now.

Think Andy Dalton's popular in Bills Country??

Since his miracle TD pass that punched Buffalo's ticket to the postseason, Bills Mafia has given OVER $57K to his charity -- in just 24 hours since the 1st donation!

FYI, Dalton's 49-yard toss completed a shocking upset over the Ravens on Sunday ... and effectively ended Buffalo's 17-YEAR playoff drought.

Pretty soon after the game, donations to the Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation -- which supports sick and physically challenged kids across Cincy -- came pouring in.

"To all the Bills fans that are donating to my foundation, thank you ... we can't thank y'all enough," Dalton tweeted.

A 'Jeopardy' contestant learned the hard way that Alex Trebek and co. are sticklers when it comes to pronunciation ... especially between "gangster" and "gangsta."

Nick Spicher appeared on the trivia show Monday night, where he was asked to provide the question to a clue that included Coolio's song "Gangsta's Paradise" and author John Milton's book "Paradise Lost."

His answer -- "Gangster's Paradise Lost" -- was almost correct ... except he said -ster instead of -sta. He was awarded $1,600 at first, but Trebek circled back and deducted the money when judges found his answer to be inaccurate, taking away an additional $1,600.

Betcha didn't know Tom Glavine was a huge Catholic antiques collector!!

Well ... he WAS a huge antiques collector, but the Hall of Famer is parting ways with some of his beloved historic items ... and now they're hitting the auction block!!

TMZ Sports spoke with Charles Pharr -- owner of Four Seasons Auction Gallery -- who says Glavine and his wife are looking to move into a new house and wanna get rid of some extra stuff.

Some of the notable items include:

French cabinet -- estimated $1,600

Church offering podium -- est. $1,000

7 Gothic chairs previously owned by Cher (yes, you read that correctly) -- est. $3,000

Executive office chair -- est. $500

18th century door Jesus painting -- est. $800

Not only would the winning bidders get the cool stuff, Pharr took advantage of the opportunity to create some really unique sports memorabilia and had Glavine sign his autograph on each item.

Chrissy Teigen built a massive following with just 1 cookbook ... and now it looks like she's ready to build an empire around it.

The supermodel just applied to lock down the trademark, "Cravings," to use on a bunch of home goods. The name comes from her 2016 cookbook "Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat." According to the docs, Chrissy's looking to slap "Cravings" on housewares like kitchen appliances, hair dryers, bed linens, towels, comforters, window treatments and more.

Chrissy appears to be branching into the blogosphere, too. Docs show she also applied to use "Cravings" for the name of a blog dedicated to homemaking, lifestyle, cooking and, of course, recipes.

Snoop Dogg may have been the headliner at a Hurricane Harvey Relief party, but the guy throwing the bash -- Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee -- got the VIP treatment ... right there on stage.

The famed attorney threw a huge holiday shindig this month that reportedly cost a MILLION dollars to produce ... and it was all for a good cause -- to raise money for Hurricane Harvey victims.

Buzbee clearly spared no expense for the 1,200 party guests, hiring Snoop for the evening's entertainment ... who brought along a handful of exotic dancers.

One of the girls took a shine to Tony ... and he didn't seem to mind. Check it out.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel pulled the ultimate billionaire move -- shutting down an iconic portion of L.A. to throw his employees the most baller New Year's Eve company party at L.A. Live.

According to docs obtained by TMZ ... Snapchat and its CEO are plunking down approximately FOUR. MILLION. BUCKS. to rent out Microsoft Theater and virtually every venue facing Microsoft Square -- Katsuya, Lucky Strike, Tom's Urban, Conga Room and Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill.

We're told Spiegel's also planning to fly in SC employees from around the world.

The planning's been months in the making -- the ice rink usually at Microsoft Square through the New Year was removed just last week. We checked, and Snapchat secured proper permits to host as many as 5,000 guests who will be treated to a 105-foot DJ tower and pyrotechnics. There are also 2 full street closures to secure the area.

And get this ... there's gonna be a surprise performance and we're told it's Drake. Oh, snap!

"All the Money in the World" hits very close to home for Balthazar Getty -- the story's about the 1973 abduction of his father, John Paul Getty III -- and for that reason ... he says he's not going to see it.

We got the actor at LAX Wednesday getting ready for vacay and asked for his thoughts on the movie, but he says the fam decided to stay mum. He does concede it's an interesting story.

As we reported ... Kevin Spacey was set to play the role of Getty's great-grandfather -- J. Paul Getty, who refused to pay the $17 mil ransom to get John back -- but got axed amid allegations of sexual assault and was replaced by Christopher Plummer.