Money

Some Taylor Swift fans are shelling out thousands to get a seat for her L.A. concerts, while others are gaining access for much less ... simply bribing security guards working the venue.

Taylor's set to perform show 6 of 6 Wednesday night -- a stretch of shows that has felt similar to when L.A. hosted the Super Bowl. Resale sites like StubHub are charging at least $700 before fees just for the cheapest seats.

However, we have direct knowledge of a handful of fans who've gotten in without tickets -- several of whom bribed security guards with cash.

The method -- these fans make it past the security checkpoints and to the ticketing agent. On Monday night, we know of 2 fans who got in at a mere $60 a piece ... while another paid $100 to get into one of the shows last week.

Once inside ... it's a bit of a stressful process as the fans tell us they were constantly moving, trying to find open seats, or standing in aisles and open zones until they were asked to move along, or the seat's rightful owners came back.

A woman on a family fishing trip in the Florida Keys sniffed out 70 pounds of cocaine floating in the coastal waters.

But this wasn't your average woman ... turns out the Mayor of Tampa made the shocking discovery with her loved ones off the Middle Keys City of Marathon.

Mayor Jane Castor, her brother, her son and his girlfriend spotted the package layered with bricks of cocaine bobbing in the water on July 23, according to a report Tuesday in the Tampa Bay Times.

Castor knew immediately what it was, thanks to her years of narcotics training as an ex-cop. She was also the former Tampa police chief.

Castor and her family lifted the bundle of blow onto their boat and transported it back to a dock near their vacation rental home.

The mayor then called the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, prompting deputies to immediately respond with two U.S. Border Patrol agents to seize the drugs.

One lucky Mega Millions ticketholder just became a billionaire -- yes, billionaire! -- overnight after winning the biggest jackpot in Mega Millions history.

The identity of the player is still a mystery, but the person just pocketed an eye-popping $1.58 billion from a ticket reportedly purchased from a Publix Supermarket in Neptune, Florida.

Tuesday night's winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33, and the Megaplier was 14.

Now the fun begins for the Mega champ, who gets to choose between receiving the massive payout in annual installments or in one huge lump sum of cash worth about $783.3 million. Not a bad choice either way you cut it.

Sandra Bullock's heartbreaking loss of her longtime partner is raising awareness for all ALS patients ... and spurring huge donations for an ALS organization.

Honchos at the ALS Association tell TMZ ... the group's seen a significant funding spike in the 24 hours since Bryan Randall died following a 3-year battle with ALS. We're told donations are up 500% over the same time last year.

Remember, Sandra's sister praised the actress for taking care of Bryan as he secretly fought ALS to the very end, and the family's asking for folks to donate to the ALS Association instead of sending flowers.

Sandra's fans are definitely heeding that call, and the ALS Association tells us it's "grateful for the amazing outpouring of support in honor of Bryan."

The org says the money pouring in will "help our urgent work to make ALS a livable disease through local care, national advocacy, and global ALS research."

Swifties in the U.S. will be swarming their local Starbucks -- the coffee chain's brewed up a playlist that's all Taylor Swift, all the time.

A spokesperson for Starbucks tells TMZ ... the company is celebrating Taylor wrapping up the first leg of her Eras tour by rolling out the Taylor playlist for use as a soundtrack inside its U.S. company-operated stores.

Cleverly, the playlist is called "Starbucks Lovers" -- referencing the line in "Blank Space" -- and it has 122 tracks! We're told the company is "a forever Swiftie" and the team is loving "the kindness and joy that her tour is bringing to the world."

In case that's not enough for ya, the chain has given 10 of its popular drinks nicknames that go along with her albums -- so stop ordering a chai tea latte, and start ordering the Folklore instead.

Offset and his legal beef with Quality Control Music -- the label behind his career as a member of Migos -- has ended ... with signs pointing to a settlement.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Offset filed to dismiss the suit against QC with prejudice Tuesday, ending a lengthy legal battle in which Offset claimed the label was trying to control the rights to his solo music and not honoring a deal they struck.

Sources close to Offset tell TMZ Hip Hop the superstar rapper won't be re-joining QC as a solo artist ... but we're told all disputes and differences were smoothed over.

Offset is currently releasing music on Motown ... his most recent single features wife Cardi B and he's got plenty of other songs in the works.

The compromise is par for the course for Offset this year ... he patched things up with Quavo ahead of Takeoff's birthday tribute as well.

The eBay listing has officially closed for the microphone Cardi B chucked into her crowd, spawning a police investigation ... making a killing on the auction block.

The eBay bidding war came to a close Tuesday morning, and the Shure Axient digital mic made a grand total of $99,900. The auction started at only $500, but got over 120 bids in about a week.

It's an impressive price to go out at, but it's got quite the story behind it -- as we reported, Cardi asked the crowd to splash her with water at Drai's Beachclub in Vegas ... but she got pissed when someone later tossed ice and a liquid on her, resulting in the mic chuck.

The rapper was named as a suspect for battery when a woman who claimed to have gotten hit by the mic went to the cops ... but Cardi was cleared last week by officials.

Top Dawg Entertainment rapper Reason is getting a harsh dose of criticism from the very label exec who's overseeing the album Reason's about to release. Awwwkward!!!

Reason was venting his frustrations with TDEl to Smac and T Rell on the "Back on Figg" podcast last night ... when TDE co-president Anthony “Moosa” Tiffith Jr. called into the show and cut down Reason's mutiny by, essentially, calling him a lazy artist.

Reason's last album dropped back in 2020, but the California rapper blamed Top Dawg Ent. for stalling him out on release dates, and failing to get him Latto and EST Gee features for his upcoming album.

At one point, Moosa put both Smac and T Rell on the spot and asked them to name 10 songs from Reason, which they couldn't ... effectively embarrassing him on the spot.

To add insult to injury, Moosa claimed former TDE co-president Dave Free -- who's since started his own label with Kendrick Lamar -- never wanted to sign Reason and compared his star power to a "substitute teacher!!!" There's a spitball that hurts.

Moosa said other TDE artists such as Doechii and Ray Vaughn are doing more with less than Reason and doesn't feel an EST Gee feature could elevate his career.

YK Osiris has a lot of explaining to do ... says celeb jeweler Seth Grossman, who claims the singer never paid him for a $20,000 Audemars Piguet watch he agreed to buy YEARS ago.

Seth tells TMZ Hip Hop, he first came into contact with YK through Sean Kingston, one of his longtime clients and associates. They met up in early 2020 before the COVID-19 shutdowns, and Seth claims YK convinced him to sell the AP he was wearing ... which you see YK try on, and happily flaunt, in the video above. Bling, bling baby!!!

Seth says he wasn't up on YK's music at the time but checked his YouTube and confirmed he was a legit star, and proceeded to fire off an invoice for the timepiece.

According to Seth, YK took all of his info so his accountant could wire the $20K ... but that wire transfer was essentially a pipe dream because Seth claims he's yet to see a dime!!!

At first, Seth claims YK was responsive with excuses ... but then the runaround began, with multiple phone number changes.

Seth says the times he was able to confront YK, the "Worth It" singer threw Sean under the bus with false claims that he'd returned the watch back to Sean.

In another instance, he claims YK blamed his own father for stealing all his jewelry as payment for managing his son.

Seth, founder of Essential Watches, is still pondering taking legal action against YK, but would rather pour his time and energy into running his Bev Hills boutique, 90210 Watches.

Tekashi69's claim the tattoo artist who inspired his name used to be on heroin is costing that man dearly ... at least according to the ink master himself, who says his wife left him over that drug abuse allegation.

Takashi Matsuba spells it out in his ongoing civil suit against the rapper -- and in the new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, he says he's entitled to a default judgment because Tekashi's old lawyer withdrew from the case and Tekashi's failed to retain new counsel.

But, in re-explaining the alleged harm he's endured, Matsuba makes this startling confession -- "I lost a number of friends, but by far the most important one is my dear wife. We divorced last year, because she no longer trusted me after Hernandez's false statements about me were broadcast on Hulu and Showtime."

Matsuba goes on to explain that his tattooing business has essentially collapsed by "the false suggestion that I may be a drug user."

You'll recall ... Matsuba was pissed over a couple 6ix9ine documentaries that name-dropped him -- one on Hulu, and another on Showtime. While he seems pissed about the Hulu reference, it's the Showtime doc that's in his legal crosshairs ... they're defendants too.

DJ Paul's love for natural disasters may have backfired ... the Three 6 Mafia legend is now facing a lawsuit for posting a viral clip of a tornado.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, a company named Viral DRM claims it owns the rights to the clip Paul posted on his Instagram, which shows an insane dashcam view of a tornado wreaking havoc in Elgin, Texas.

It's not hard to see what drew Paul to share the clip, which apparently was first posted back in March 2022. If the close-up shots of lightning bolts weren't eye-popping enough, the sight of the red pickup truck barely making it from out of the storm's eye will surely make your jaw drop!!!

Viral DRM says the clip was shot by a man named Ronald Brian Emfinger but the company says they now own the rights to the video. They say DJ Paul posted the clip on his account in March 2022 without permission

Viral DM is now suing for damages, claiming its ability to make money from the clip was harmed by Paul's posting.

"Barbie"s worldwide box office domination has expecting parents thinkin' plastic when it comes to baby names ... because folks are interested in naming their kids after the popular dolls.

BabyNames.com tells TMZ ... their site has seen a 300% uptick in searches for "Barbie" in the month of July. "Ken" has also blown up, with searches increasing by 200% in the same month.

Not as much as Barbie, but that holds up -- he's just Ken.

We're told a handful of users are also adding the titular names to their favorites list. According to the website, Barbie means "stranger," while Ken means "handsome." Barbie peaked in popularity in 1964, while Ken peaked in 1963.

As we reported, the Greta Gerwig flick has been crushing it in theaters -- it pulled over $162 mil in the U.S. alone in weekend one ... and it's already passed $1B worldwide.

The fan-favorite character, Allan -- played by Michael Cera -- has had a positive outcome on the Mattel reseller game ... because eBay listings for the rare doll have skyrocketed after the movie's release.

Sadly, we're told there's been no search increase for the name "Allan" when it comes to baby names. Sorry, dude.

Udonis Haslem is going the Tom Brady route in retirement -- the former Miami Heat hooper just became the owner of his own sports team ... the World Jai-Alai League's Rebote Renegades.

The three-time NBA champ -- who officially walked away from his basketball after 20 seasons last month -- announced his investment in the popular sport on Monday ... saying, "New chapter means a new venture as a @jaialaileague team owner 🤝."

Of course, the wall ball sport is seeing a similar rise in popularity as pickleball ... with names like Ray Lewis, UFC star Jorge Masvidal and tennis star Genie Bouchard all investing in the league.

It's an organic move for Haslem, who says he grew up with the sport ... which is huge in Miami.

"Honored to be a part of a sport with deep-rooted history, especially right here in my city and to me personally through memories of my dad," he added.

Leave the leash, treats, toys and water bowls at home -- these dogs are totally content on riding waves -- and make for some pretty cute pics, too.

The annual World Dog Surfing Championships went down near San Francisco Saturday, and it featured tons of pooches who threw on their life vests and went out to catch some waves ... all in the name of charity and good fun.

The event is pretty self-explanatory -- you place your pup on a surfboard and take 'em out to sea, push them up onto a relatively small wave (whitewater, really) and see how long they can stay on. In the case of some of these doggos, they were able to cruise pretty far!

As far as how this is scored ... it comes down to confidence, style and, of course, how long they can maintain their balance. As it turns out, there were some top dogs to be crowned.

Seven different categories were under consideration -- including Small/Medium/Large/XL solo rides ... as well human-dog and dog-dog tandems. There was also a category for best in show -- and that ended up going to a little guy named Carson, a Terrier of some sort.

Like we said ... this thing benefits great causes -- including raising money for nonprofits pertaining to dog rescues, surfing and environmental efforts. Folks who attended also had the opportunity to adopt shelter and rescue dogs ... a win-win for pets and prospective owners.

Elvis Presley was a proud gun owner, and now a revolver from his expansive firearms collection is hitting the auction block, where it's expected to fetch five figures.

The gun going up for sale is a Smith & Wesson Model 53 double-action revolver ... and it was gifted to Elvis in November 1976, just 9 months before he died.

Like most relics from '76, Elvis' revolver commemorates the Bicentennial ... Smith & Wesson's master engraver, Russell Smith, customized the gun with silver inlaid five-pointed stars and the weapon features gold accents, with "1776-1976" inscribed near the muzzle.

Elvis' gun also includes a bald eagle holding a 13-star Betsy Ross American flag on one frame, a gold minuteman flanked by stars on the other frame, plus the Liberty Bell on the back strap.

Basically, the revolver screams AMERICA!!!

Elvis' firearm is going up for sale through Rock Island Auction Company ... and it's featured in this month's "Premier Auction," where the winning bid is expected to land somewhere between $60,000 and $90,000.

3:07 PM PT -- Elon Musk might need more time to train and get ready for a cage match against Mark Zuckerberg -- but the Facebook founder says he's ready now.

Zuck fired back at Elon's chirping this weekend, taking to his own platform (Threads) to point out that he's all set to rumble, and at a moment's notice. He also says he suggested a date of August 26 when Elon first challenged him -- but claims EM is stonewalling.

Finally, MZ takes a jab at Elon's proposal of streaming the bout on X -- suggesting Threads would be a better place for generating actual revenue (for charity). Twitter/X has been in dire financial straits for months now.

Elon's teased the fact that he's pumping iron in preparation, but also notes ... Mark probably has him beat on stamina -- and that if they duke it out, he'd wanna end it quickly.

Elon Musk plans to make some loot for his company formally known as Twitter, because he's planning on live-streaming his highly anticipated fight with Mark Zuckerberg on X ... so he declared Sunday.

TMZ has been reporting, Zuck and Musk are both all in for mixing it up in the UFC octagon.  There were actually talks between UFC and the Italian Foreign Ministry about holding the fight at the Coliseum, but our sources say that's not going to happen.

We're also told if the fight goes down, it will likely take months. We're surmising from what we're hearing Elon needs more time to train ... something Zuck has been doing for a long time.

Despite their height and weight disparity -- Zuck's 5'7" and 150 lbs, while Musk towers over him at 6'2" weighing 230 -- M.Z. had a big edge when it comes to stamina.

The more these guys jawbone back and forth, the more likely it is they'll fight, because neither one is prone to blinking.

Stay tuned.