Money

Vanessa Bryant has asked a judge to give her mom the boot in her lawsuit to win lifetime support.

Vanessa's mom, Sofia Laine, has filed a lawsuit against Kobe's estate, claiming Kobe promised to take care of her financially for the rest of her life.

In new docs, Vanessa points to a legal fight Sofia was having against her ex-husband in 2004 and 2008 over spousal support. Sofia's ex-husband claimed he should not have to pay her because she was being supported by Kobe and Vanessa. Sofia fired back that her daughter and son-in-law had no obligation to support her, and whatever they gave her was simply out of the goodness of their hearts.

Sofia's ex also pointed to tabloid stories which claimed Vanessa bought a $1 million home for her so she wasn't in need of support. Sofia shot back ... the stories were "absolutely false" and "I would never permit Vanessa to do such a thing. I have not and do not (nor should I be required to) rely on Vanessa for my support."

And, Vanessa has other reasons why she wants the lawsuit dismissed. Among them ... Sofia argues Kobe made an oral promise to "take care of her financially." Vanessa's legal team says even if Kobe said that, it's too vague to be enforced.

And, there's this ... Sofia also says Vanessa and Kobe violated California labor laws by not giving her meal breaks, rest periods and giving her minimum wage for babysitting services. Vanessa fired back in legal docs, "[Sofia] was never an 'employee' ... [she] is a grandmother who, at times, helped her daughter and son-in-law by spending time with her grandchildren."

And, Vanessa's legal team argues, in order for Sofia to go after Kobe's estate, she had to file a creditor's claim within a year of his death, and she did not do that.

"Storage Wars" star Rene Nezhoda is having a bad case of déjà vu -- his store was burglarized, again ... and this time the crooks made off with thousands in merch, again.

So here's the deal, Rene and his wife, Casey -- owners of the Bargain Hunters Thrift Store featured on the show -- say they were enjoying a day off back on February 17 when they were notified that a couple of thieves were ransacking the San Diego area store.

We’re told surveillance camera footage shows the burglars entered through a back door after smashing the glass. When the dust finally settled ... we're told they made off with tons of sports memorabilia cards and other collectibles worth between $7k-$8k.

On top of that ... Rene, Casey and their crew say the store was a disaster -- physical damages only ran 'em about $1,500, but it took a long time to clean up the mess.

Two things to note ... Rene says the burglars missed out on some VERY expensive trading cards, and thinks one of the thieves left behind some possible evidence. DOH!!!

A spokesperson for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department tells TMZ ... detectives are in the initial phase of the investigation, but are working a few leads they've developed since the heist. They have not identified the suspects yet

Here's your chance to own a big piece of Notorious B.I.G. history ... a hubcap from the SUV the rapper was shot in is hitting the open market.

The folks over at Moments In Time are brokering the sale of one of the 4 hubcaps from the infamous GMC Suburban Biggie was riding in when he was gunned down March 9, 1997, as he left L.A.'s Petersen Automotive Museum.

We're told the seller originally got the hubcap from a family friend who owned the rental company which owned the SUV ... so it's been around the block. We're told the seller had the hubcap for years and just decided to unload it, with an asking price of a cool $150,000.

As you can see ... the hubcap still has part of the sticker that was slapped on it some 24 years ago, and you can still make out the advertisement for his 1997 album, "Life After Death."

The sticker says, "THINK B.I.G. MARCH 25 1997," which was the album's release date.

You can see the hubcap with the sticker in the crime scene photos from back in the day ... after B.I.G. was shot 4 times in a drive-by while the SUV was stopped at a red light on Fairfax and Wilshire Blvd.

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello got quite a scare this week when their place was broken into, but even worse ... cops say Shawn's now down one G-Wagon.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the singers were home together in L.A. when the suspects broke in through a window. We're told the perps made a pretty quick exit when they realized the couple was home ... but not before grabbing the keys to Shawn's ride.

Our sources say police were called and rushed to the house, but it was too late ... the suspects had already taken off in his Mercedes SUV.

We're told so far no arrests have been made, but LAPD is still investigating.

Kodak Black's creative juices have been flowing since his prison release, and we're not just talking music -- he's launched a clothing line that'll benefit a cause dear to him.

Kodak's attorney, Bradford Cohen, tells TMZ ... the rapper's starting a new clothing line dubbed L.O.V.E. ... an acronym for "Loyalty Out Values Everything." The brand's only in its infancy but Bradford says major retailers like DTLR, Hibbett Sports, City Gear and Snipes have pre-ordered the apparel.

So far, biz is boomin' ... we're told L.O.V.E. has nearly sold out its first run of pre-orders. There are also plans to roll out a sneaker line and possibly partner up with national brands down the road.

The best part of this venture is Kodak plans to donate a portion of the profits to local, national and international charities dedicated to empowering minorities and judicial reform ... according to his lawyer.

As you know, former President Trump commuted Kodak's sentence in January.

Famous Dex's very bad month just got a whole lot worse -- we've learned he got hit with 19 charges, including domestic violence and gun possession, stemming from 3 separate incidents.

Two of the allegedly violent altercations involved the rapper's ex-girlfriends. Back in November, cops say they responded to a domestic disturbance call at his home and found a woman with cuts on her. As we reported at the time, this led to a SWAT standoff -- police suspected Dex barricaded himself inside with guns ... after allegedly harming his ex.

For that incident, he's been charged with domestic violence, weapon possession, dissuading a victim from reporting a crime and defacing property.

It doesn't end there ... Dex allegedly got physical with a different woman back in October, and he's being charged with corporal injury domestic violence, threatening a domestic partner, exhibiting a firearm, inflicting bodily injury, dissuading a victim from reporting a crime, defacing property and illegal possession of a firearm.

Finally, there's the story we broke earlier this month ... when he was arrested for a loaded gun, cops claim they found under his seat during a traffic stop. Prosecutors now say he was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a restraining order, so they charged him for that plus possession of a firearm without a serial number.

The City Attorney's Office tells us Dex is facing up to 18 years behind bars if you add up potential punishments for all the charges, although we're told some counts may merge as the case develops.

On top of his legal troubles ... Dex claims he was the victim of an armed robbery earlier this month in the San Fernando Valley. He told cops the robbers made off with thousands in cash and a $50,000 watch.

Boosie isn't with all the fake acting when it comes to making movie magic -- dude actually puts some real hurt into his product ... just ask this guy who got an open palm to his dome.

The Louisiana rapper was reportedly down in North Carolina shooting a music video for his and DaBaby's single together, 'Period,' where they were apparently shooting a scene in a liquor store of some sort. Seems the video's gonna have some explicit violence featured.

Check out this guy -- who appears to be a hired actor and/or extra on set -- mouthing off to Boosie as he and DB try to buy some stuff at the checkout counter. He's saying Boosie isn't a real rapper -- and before you know it ... he's getting his head rocked.

Boosie unleashes a brutal slap straight to the man's face -- and no, he didn't ham it up for the cameras either ... this was a straight-up real one, which was captured from multiple angles.

As brutal as it looked from afar, it sounds even worse when it was filmed from up close.

Like we said, the man seems to be in on the scene -- it's not like this was done at random or out of malice or anything like that. Still, even if it was for the video ... a lot of people are saying Boosie didn't have to slap the guy this hard for real.

It looks like Boosie and/or DaBaby paid him for his troubles -- there's a follow-up video where one of them are seen handing this brave fella a cool $500. Apparently, he got an extra $54 as a "tip" ... so, all in all -- he made $554 for the wild stunt.

Someone hit the Beyhive ... Beyonce's storage units were broken into and burglars made off with more than $1 million worth of valuables.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... 3 L.A. area storage units filled with Beyonce goodies were hit twice by thieves earlier this month, and the culprits swiped her expensive handbags and dresses.

While the storage units are being rented out by her production company, Parkwood Entertainment, we're told the missing items from the first heist all belong to Queen Bey.

Our sources say burglars came back within a week, and took down 3 storage units in the same facility ... making off with handbags, kids toys and photos belonging to one of Beyonce's stylists.

Bey is the latest singer to have storage units burglarized, and we're told these kinds of crimes are on the rise. As we first reported, thieves recently stole clothes, family photos and mementos from Miley Cyrus' storage space.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has come up with a novel idea on how to repair the neglected roadways around the country -- a tax on mileage driven, and he's getting dragged.

The former presidential candidate said the Biden Administration is noodling on the idea and it's showing "a lot of promise."

Here's the criticism ... it's unfair to people who live in rural areas. because they have to drive further by necessity than urban dwellers.  But, more fundamentally, a mileage tax in big cities like L.A., New York City, Chicago and on and on hit middle and lower-income people harder than people who are well-to-do and can live smack in the middle of their city. People who are not well off typically move to suburbs far, far away from the city center.

Buttigieg, already nicknamed "Pothole Pete," has a tough job to sell ... the infrastructure plan will cost $3 TRILLION. The term "infrastructure" has been redefined broadly to include pre-K programs and childcare.

NBA star DeMarcus Cousins has sold the AMAZING Las Vegas estate where he's lived since 2017 ... and made a 7-figure profit to boot.

The pad is unreal -- complete with a home theater, basketball court and a massive outdoor pool with waterfalls and a slide!!

Cousins listed the property back in September 2020 for $8 million ... and got pretty close to his asking price ... closing the sale at $7.5 mil.

And, since he bought the place for $6.5 million, it turned out to be a pretty solid investment.

No word on who purchased the estate -- but the new owner will have 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a sports media room ... and there's an elevator inside the home!!

There's also a state-of-the-art gym -- perfect for the COVID-conscious 2021 world we're all still living in.

YG just dropped a new sneaker he says caters to the streets ... and he's giving away the shoes to folks forced to live there.

The rapper was out in Los Angeles Friday, hooking up the homeless with his Block Runner sneakers at the same time the kicks went up for sale online.

YG hit the streets of Skid Row, making sure folks staying at the Union Rescue Mission homeless shelter had a fresh pair on their feet.

It's a pretty big gesture ... YG's 4Hunnids footwear line, The Flame, is hawking the kicks for a cool $200 and the release is 3 years in the making. He gave away 50 pairs ... worth a total of $10k!

As for the online sales, they sold out within 7 minutes of going live.

Jim Jones is feeling really good about his home state legalizing marijuana, and not just for the buzz -- he's encouraging business-minded folks to ride this weed wave into the future.

The Bronx rapper tells TMZ ... making recreational cannabis legal is long overdue in the Empire State, and he's happy people won't have to worry about ducking cops ... just for smoking weed.

Jim seems even more excited about the economic aspect of the legalization, which is expected to be voted into law next week. Experts believe marijuana has the potential to become a $4.2 BILLION industry and create tens of thousands of new jobs in the state.

In fact, Jim likens this era to the gold rush, the dot-com boom or cryptocurrency -- but now it's cannabis that could make fortunes for industrious private citizens.

More importantly, JJ says the trend of legalizing pot is a clear sign those who've been incarcerated for marijuana-related crimes should be freed. Hell, Jim's all for hooking them up with marijuana-industry jobs when they're released!

The NYC bakery employee who had to deal with shocking, racist behavior from a woman with the new moniker "Bagel Karen" has been feeling the love from lots of folks since the incident went viral ... and it goes beyond financial support.

Vic -- the Davidovich Bakery worker who got called the n-word by Stephanie Denaro -- tells TMZ he's received overwhelming support from people all over the world on social media, but also customers flocking to the store.

He says during his Wednesday shift, one guy handed him a $100 bill in an envelope while another gifted him a $100 Metro card to help with his commute. Vic tells us his tip jar's also been stuffed ... and people have been calling the bakery to ask for his Venmo as well.

But, another customer felt helping Vic get rid of Karen's negative energy or any she left behind in the bakery was more important ... so she gave him some sage.

As we reported ... Vic's also been offered representation by several attorneys in case he wants to take legal action against Denaro, but he tells us he's still weighing his options. However, he doesn't plan to press charges against her.

In fact, Vic tells us he mostly wants his experience to be a lesson for others in his position on how a person of color can react to a racist. He says you don't have to respond to their insults and slurs with violence ... it's better to show love, even if they're demonstrating hate.

The marathon continues, but the marathon feud Nipsey Hussle's estate had with the Crips is over ... thanks to a settlement of a lawsuit.

Nipsey's brother, Samiel Asghedom, just informed the court in writing that the estate's reached the settlement with Crips LLC. The notice was filed Thursday in L.A. County court.

As we first reported ... Nipsey's estate sued the gang's corporate arm back in October over the rights to Nip's "The Marathon Continues" slogan.

In the suit, Hussle's estate claimed the Crips org filed a trademark for the phrase less than 2 months after he was murdered outside his Marathon Clothing Store, despite Nipsey's family already owning several 'Marathon' trademarks themselves ... all related to his famous store.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the sides are still hammering out some of the terms -- but they expect to submit the formal terms of the agreement shortly.

Johnny Depp's suffered another blow in his libel lawsuit in the UK -- he lost his bid to appeal the trial judge's ruling in favor of The Sun, which means he can't shake that "wife beater" label the UK tabloid gave him.

As we told you, Depp was looking to overturn the judge's November 2020 decision stating that allegations he abused his ex-wife Amber Heard were "substantially true."

Heard was The Sun's key witness in the case after Depp sued the tab for running the headline, "Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?" in 2018.

Depp's lawyers recently tried to argue that Amber had an unfair advantage and boosted credibility because she vowed to donate her entire $7 million divorce settlement ... something she still hasn't done.

Johnny's legal team hoped that would be enough to turn things around in his favor, but the UK Court of Appeal shut it down and upheld the November ruling. The court specifically highlighted parts of the original trial judge's opinion focused on Depp's text messages about being out of control from drugs and alcohol, and adding ... "the appeal has no real prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard."

The High Court's decision underscores what many close to Depp believed when he filed the defamation lawsuit -- there was very little upside for him to do it.

It seems now more than ever it was a huge mistake, because the A-list actor was still getting work following his divorce from Heard ... but then he brought the wife-beating allegations back to the forefront again by suing The Sun.

Now he's branded a wife-beater and there's yet another court ruling against him ... which could be a severe blow to his career.

Ja Rule is unloading some bad juju from the infamous disaster known as the Fyre Festival ... which is why he sold this painting for way less than his asking price.

The rapper who was tied to the dumpster fire of a festival sold the oil-paint portrait of the Fyre Festival logo for a cool $122k as a non-fungible token (NFT) -- meaning the buyer just gets a one-of-a-kind digital code linked to the image.

Ja originally wanted at least $600k for the physical painting, but a note Ja wrote -- and included in the sale -- shows his true feelings about the piece ... "F*** this painting."

Yeah, he wanted it gone, stat.

The image is 48" x 60" and was commissioned by Ja himself and created by Tripp Derrick Barnes. It once hung in the company's HQs in NYC before it was later moved to Ja's man cave at his NJ home.

But, when the Fyre Festival went to hell -- culminating with organizer Billy McFarland being sentenced to 6 years in prison -- Ja told Forbes last week he decided it was finally time to sell the painting because, "I just wanted that energy out."

Btw ... Ja sold the painting via his NFT exchange venture, FlipKick ... which will focus on selling NFTs that feature digital and physical objects.

The buyer is remaining anonymous, for now, but can also get Ja Rule's signature with the purchase. Pitiful cheese sandwich NOT included!