Money

Rita Ora couldn't resist flouting coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England to celebrate her birthday, but it's her party ... and now she's gonna pay for it, whether she wants to or not.

The British singer says she's "deeply sorry for breaking the rules" and understands it put people at risk ... and calls her 30th birthday bash over the weekend a "serious and inexcusable error of judgement."

The event reportedly went down Saturday at the Casa Cruz restaurant in West London, and Rita admits it was held "with the misguided view that we were coming out of lockdown and this would be OK."

That's not the case, and according to Daily Mail, Rita's already voluntarily paid a hefty fine of 10,000 pounds ... about $12k!

It appears that might not be the end of her trouble though, because police paid a visit to Rita's home Monday to seemingly further investigate the matter.

Ora claims the party was a "small gathering," but it's reported as many as 30 people may have been there. In England, all pubs and restaurants are supposed to be closed other than take-out, and people aren't supposed to be gathering indoors with people outside of their homes or support bubbles.

Charizard was always the most coveted holographic Pokemon card -- so it's not hard to believe someone might drop half a mil for one of the rarest ones out there.

Goldin Auctions is hawking a 1999 1st edition Charizard card that's got all the nerdy fixings that trading card aficionados geek out on. Namely, this one's got a grade of Gold Label Pristine 10 by SGC, and it's Black Diamond Certified ... meaning it's in near-mint condition. So yeah, it's beyond valuable, people!!!

The opening bid for this thing started at $50k, and the current bid stands at $150k ... and there's still two weeks left for people to jump in.

As for why GA honchos think their Charizard card could go for at least $500k -- we're told they're basing it on a few factors. For one, another Charizard card with a 10 rating recently got bought and sold in a private transaction for a whopping $250k.

Not only that, but Charizard is getting a second lease on life as far as interest in the younger generation -- one Logan Paul recently bought a Charizard card that was also graded 10 for a cool $150k. Bottom line ... we're told the Goldin Auctions folks believe the demand is there, and they're banking on people dropping a pretty penny for theirs.

There's only 10 people with bids on this card for now -- but by the closing bell, Goldin is expecting way more ... and for the price to fall at a record number. If it hits $500,000, like they're hoping, it would be the first time someone's shelled out that much for a Charizard.

Herman Cain's widow has a fight on her hands with her late husband's assistant ... who claims Herman promised her a severance package ... and had gold and cash stashed to cover it.

Lisa Reichert -- who says she was Herman's executive assistant for 9 years until his death -- filed docs in Henry County, Georgia opposing Gloria Cain's attempt to serve as administrator to Herman's estate.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Lisa claims Gloria grossly understated Herman's assets and failed to list gold coins and bars she claims were stored in Herman's safe deposit box, along with other cash.

So, why does she care? Well, Lisa claims the estate failed to acknowledge her severance claim, which she says Herman repeatedly promised to pay her when he was alive. Lisa fears if Gloria's appointed administrator of the estate she'll distribute the $482k in assets she listed without setting aside enough to cover her claim against the estate.

Lisa wants a court-appointed neutral administrator instead of Gloria to handle the estate.

How's Justin Jefferson rewarding himself for ballin' the hell out during his rookie season?!

BLING, BABY!!!

TMZ Sports has learned the Minnesota Vikings star receiver just copped a new diamond chain featuring a jet pendant ... and it's AWESOME!!!

We're told the wideout hit up Leo Frost in Houston a few weeks ago to get the ice made ... and the famed jeweler sure as hell delivered.

The jet -- an obvious nod to Justin's "Jet" nickname -- is iced out ... while the chain features stars on the links.

All told, the piece is 14k gold with 37 carats of VVS diamonds!!

No word on what JJ paid for the drip ... but don't worry -- dude can afford it, he signed a 4-year, $13 MILLION deal this year!!

Tristan Thompson is all about changes these days ... and he's just changed his citizenship to the U.S. of A.

Tristan was sworn in as an American citizen earlier this week ... shortly after deciding to join the Boston Celtics.

Tristan was a Canadian citizen and came to the United States to study at the Univ. of Texas back in 2009. He was only there a year, before joining the NBA draft.

Tristan says, “I came to the U.S. on a student visa and have always had big dreams. I’m now truly living the American dream.”

Dude's got a lot to celebrate. The Boston deal's netting him $19 mil over 2 years.

The athlete’s U.S. citizenship comes after news broke on November 21 that he reached a two-year, $19 million deal with the Boston Celtics as its new center.

Thompson began his professional basketball career in 2011 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he played for nine seasons.

On the home front, Khloe says she and 2-year-old True are staying put in L.A. ... she just bought a new home right next to her mom. Presumably, there will be lots of commuting.

Khloe and Tristan got back together during the pandemic, and from all accounts, they're going strong.

Nelly's custom-made dance shoes were all the rage on this season of "Dancing with the Stars," and now they're going to a great cause -- helping young women who are survivors of human trafficking.

As we told you ... the rapper wowed 'DWTS' fans and the judges with his slick moves and his hip hop-inspired footwear, but now that the dancing competition's wrapped up, he's sending his shoes to The Teen Project to be auctioned off.

Our sources say Yung Swivel's donating at least 10 pairs to the organization -- which also aids young women who've suffered trauma and homelessness -- and his entire collection is expected to fetch $50,000 ... if not more.

Nelly's been a major advocate of The Teen Project over the last few months, helping the org raise $820k overall in 2020 ... which is about $300k more than last year.

The rapper's been working to raise funds for Vera's Sanctuary, a rehab facility operated by The Teen Project for victims of sex trafficking. Our sources say the money raised by Nelly has already been used to send women who've been through Vera's to college.

Aaron Carter is ready to rumble ... and he wants to beat the crap outta any boy band-type singer willing to step in the ring with him!!!

The singer has inked a deal with Celebrity Boxing promoter Damon Feldman, who tells TMZ ... Aaron's planning to fight in April or May in Los Angeles, once the coronavirus pandemic slows down.

Aaron's opponent is still up in the air, but we're told his dream match would be against Justin Bieber. We get it ... that would get the most headlines, but for lots of reasons, it's highly unlikely.

If the Biebs ain't down, we're told Aaron's ready to fight anyone else of his ilk -- a singer ready to put his hands to the test.

Aaron's got some experience in this arena ... he fought his brother, Nick Carter, back on their old reality show, "House of Carters."

What was UFC star Brandon Moreno doing when he received the biggest phone call of his life???

Eating a DELICIOUS burger ... of course.

Here's the deal ... 26-year-old Moreno -- the #1 contender in the UFC's flyweight division -- got a big 1st round win against Brandon Royval at UFC 255 last Saturday night.

Moreno -- who had to weigh in at 125 lbs. -- wanted to blow off some steam after the fight ... so naturally, he went to grab a cheeseburger.

Enter the biggest opportunity of Moreno's career ... when his manager called him and said Dana White had just offered him a title fight against 32-year-old champ, Deiveson Figueiredo.

The catch??

The fight is December 12 at UFC 256 ... ONLY 14 days from today.

Moreno tells us ... “I was eating some burger from Shake Shack, and then my manager called me and said, ‘I’m with the matchmaker now. Do you wanna fight December 12?’"

"I said, ‘Man, this is really, really close to the fight.’ I talked with my head coach, and he said, ‘Man you are ready. You don’t have any injuries from the fight. So let's go. This is the opportunity of your life.’ So I take it. I’m ready. I’m so ready!”

BTW, Figueiredo ALSO fought on Saturday ... submitting Alex Perez in the 1st round.

Moreno -- without hesitation -- said yes to the fight ... but he has to weigh 125 lbs. in a few weeks. So, did he finish the burger??

Damn straight!

Amazon's buying lots of love this year ... by giving away $500 million in holiday bonuses to its frontline workers.

The shipping giant announced Thursday the one-time bonus will go to frontline employees in the US of A working the holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full-time staff working during the month of December will each get $300. Part-timers will get $150.

The news comes just days after Amazon veteran staffers grew furious over new hires getting as much as $3,000 in signing bonuses to work the holiday season ... while vets got measly turkey vouchers worth about 10 bucks.

This is the second time Amazon has rolled out a one-time bonus ... back in June it doled out another $500 million to its U.S. workforce. It's bittersweet, really. Remember ... Amazon's caught a lot of flak for reportedly overworking employees during a pandemic.

Making matters worse ... many workers said they did NOT feel safe from the virus. At the time, Amazon declined to disclose how many of its workers had been infected by the virus ... before finally revealing in October nearly 20k employees were either presumed or confirmed to have contracted coronavirus.

Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos crossing the $200 billion net worth has also riled up his critics. You'll recall protesters targeted his D.C. home back in June ... with a guillotine.

The National Dog Show is giving us some sense of normalcy in 2020 ... COVID be damned.

The Kennel Club of Philadelphia kept the Thanksgiving Day tradition alive with its annual dog show ... though things did look a little different out there, and understandably so. There was no crowd to cheer on the pooches prancing and strutting their stuff on the floor.

The winner this year -- a Scottish Deerhound named Claire. Congrats to the doggie!!!

And, without a crowd, it looks like the KCP borrowed a page from pro sports teams ... using cutouts of dogs and their owners to fill the seats. Those who bought cutouts were also supporting a great cause ... with proceeds going to the AKC Pet Disaster Fund.

The show -- which aired on NBC after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade -- complied with COVID-19 safety protocols to pull off the show, which is remarkable in and of itself.

The humans wore masks. As for the dogs ... there's usually around 2,000 competing, but this time around only 600.

It looks like the White House may finally be listening to a recommendation from the CDC ... it's replacing the HVAC systems in some pretty historic buildings.

According to official documents, obtained by TMZ, Uncle Sam is shelling out $1,956,924.38 to replace HVAC systems at the Jackson Place Townhouse Complexes. The townhouses include the President's Guest House, better known as the Blair House, as well as a slew of other townhouses on the block that begins at 700 Jackson Place ... right near the White House.

The CDC has previously issued guidelines to employers on how to protect staff and others to slow the spread of the virus. Among the recommendation includes improving HVAC systems and/or finding ways to increase the percentage of outdoor air that makes up the air inside buildings. The order for the new HVAC systems, according to the doc, was solicited October 27 and it's slated to be completed around January 2022. It's a huge task.

The Blair House -- reserved for former presidents and other dignitaries when they're in town -- consists of 4 distinct buildings merged into one. The property has 119 rooms ... including 14 guest bedrooms and 35 bathrooms. So, yeah ... the work could take a while.

It should be noted ... it's not the first time some of the townhouses have had work done. There was $24k worth of repairs done last year, including a new HVAC system at 726 Jackson Place. There were other upgrades in 2016 costing around $60k ... but nothing along the lines of the $2 million to repair the HVAC systems for the entire townhouse complexes.

Megan Fox apparently has a great thing going with Machine Gun Kelly ... good enough that she's decided to pull the trigger and divorce Brian Austin Green.

The actress filed her divorce docs Wednesday after nearly 10-and-a-half years of marriage to the '90210' star. In the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- Megan asks for joint legal and physical custody of the couple's 3 kids and wants to terminate the ability for either her or Brian to get spousal support.

Brian filed a response agreeing to almost everything, he's checked the box for spousal support to still be on the table. Neither has indicated anything when it comes to child support.

There's also a major discrepancy when it comes to their date of separation. Megan says they were done in November 2019 and Brian lists March 5, 2020.

Brian and Megan got married back in June 2010 in Hawaii, and have 3 kids together ... 8-year-old Noah Shannon, 6-year-old Bodhi Ransom and 4-year-old Journey River.

Faizon Love claims he was scrubbed from a movie poster just because he's Black ... and now he's suing Universal over it.

The actor filed the lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the studio of racial discrimination for removing him from an overseas version of the "Couples Retreat" poster ... while leaving the rest of his white costars in it.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Faizon claims his name and image were erased from the poster when the movie was released outside of the U.S. He says Universal had no issues featuring Black actors in the film, but claims the studio decided to segregate white and Black talent when it came time to market to an international audience.

Faizon says he let the snub slide at first ... claiming the film's producer, Scott Stuber, promised him the overseas poster would be taken out of circulation and Universal Pictures chairman at that time, Adam Fogelson, promised he'd throw a few roles Faizon's way.

However, in the lawsuit, Faizon claims the poster without him is still being used and he never got those acting gigs he says he was promised

We reached out to Universal, which declined to comment.

Here's a pretty solid betting tip for all you boxing (and gambling) fans ...

Ryan Garcia says he's "100% sure" he'll knock out Luke Campbell in the first 3 rounds of their January fight ... adding, "I'm very, very, very sure of that."

King Ryan talked all sorts of trash about his opponent on Kevin Hart's "Cold As Balls" YouTube series ... explaining why he believes the fight could propel him to global stardom.

In fact, the 22-year-old told Hart it's downright "the biggest fight of my life so far."

"This is going to put me on, you know, that level where I get that respect," Garcia said. "I think this fight will solidify me as probably one of the best in the world right now."

Ryan is clearly oozing confidence over the upcoming fight ... and perhaps rightfully so, the dude is now 20-0 after knocking out Francisco Fonseca in the 1st round of his last tilt in February.

There's more ... Ryan also talked about his friendship with Canelo Alvarez -- and how they're still on great terms despite Canelo's messy split with promoter Oscar De La Hoya, who still reps Ryan.

"We’ve got the best relationship," Garcia said of Canelo. "We might not have the same language -- he speaks Spanish -- but, man, we get along so good."

Oscar has previously told TMZ Sports he thinks he can bring Ryan a $700 MILLION fight contract one day ... so yeah, no need to burn that bridge, right!?

Michael Jordan is feeling the holiday spirit -- the NBA legend just donated $2 MILLION to help feed people in need!!!

"In these challenging times and in a year of unimaginable difficulty due to COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to pause and give thanks," Jordan said.

"I am proud to be donating additional proceeds from 'The Last Dance' to Feeding America and its member food banks in the Carolinas in Chicago to help feed America’s hungry."

Of course, "The Last Dance" documentary was wildly successful -- it's very cool to see MJ using that extra cash to help the less fortunate have a nice holiday.

The people at Feeding America -- which touts itself as "the largest charitable food assistance network in the U.S." -- were stoked to receive MJ's gift.

"An incredible gift to be thankful for -- NBA legend Michael Jordan is donating $2 million to help our neighbors facing hunger!"

Feed America says it works with 200 food banks and 60,000 food partners across the country -- and they're encouraging everyone who can help to pitch in!

President Trump still hasn't conceded, but The White House Gift Shop can certainly read the writing on the wall ... it's slashing prices to unload some Trump merch.

The gift shop website is now offering several Trump-centric products at a discount -- some up to 50 percent. Most of the items can be found in the "Our Featured Products" section.

Here's a list of what's on sale ...

The President Trump American Flag Pin, regular price $24.95, is now $15.95. The pin has "45th President of The United States, Donald J. Trump" engraved on the backside.

2018 ornaments -- just in time for Christmas -- are half off. One package which is normally $350 is now available at $175, and a smaller package normally $100 is on sale for $50. In both cases, the ornaments are engraved with "New leadership, new era, new generation, new hope" on the front, and "North Korea peace talks in Singapore,” "Dow at highest levels in U.S. history" and other accomplishments on the back.

And, of course -- Trump's red hats. Both the "Keep America Great" and "Make America Great Again" styles are marked down to $34.95 from $37.95.

Meanwhile, the WH shop is also promoting the pre-order of Inauguration Coins featuring the 46th President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The coin is priced at $100, and it says it will ship on Jan. 1 in advance of the Inauguration on Jan. 20.