Money

Rapper Mo Fayne's song and dance about needing to get out of jail to fix a bum wing and send his daughter off to college didn't fly ... 'cause the judge just denied his request.

The "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star had a hearing Monday in Georgia, where prosecutors argued Fayne should remain locked up behind bars until sentencing in his federal bank fraud cause ... for which he's already pled guilty.

For starters, prosecutors said Fayne should NOT be let out of jail because long before he was locked up he had already been looking for ways to finagle his way out of jail by Googling which countries he could head to without fear of extradition.

Prosecutors also said Fayne's a hardcore fraudster who talked about swindling other people. They called him a menace and a danger to the public.

The judge shared the feds' concerns about Fayne's online travel search, as well as allegations he'd bragged to a witness he wouldn't end up spending a day in jail.

Fayne's been locked up since December after violating the terms of his bond for allegedly contacting a potential witness. He's slated to be sentenced in September.

TMZ broke the story ... Fayne pled guilty to 6 counts of federal bank fraud after prosecutors say he funded a lavish lifestyle during the pandemic with a Paycheck Protection Program loan. He's accused of using the money to pay off debts, like child support.

The man who claims to have found and returned Daniel Sturridge's stolen dog in 2019 is now suing the soccer star ... alleging the athlete has STILL not paid him the reward money he promised.

Foster Washington spelled it all out in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports ... saying Sturridge owes him reward money -- which was reported to be around $37,000 -- for helping him get his Pomeranian, Lucci, back nearly 2 years ago.

Washington says after Sturridge claimed the dog had been stolen in a July 2019 burglary in Los Angeles ... Washington found Lucci on the street.

Washington says because Sturridge reportedly offered a reward, he reached out.

In the suit, Washington says he got in touch with Sturridge and ultimately returned the dog expecting the reward money in exchange.

The problem? Washington claims Sturridge -- who's reportedly made over $40 million in his soccer career -- never paid him a dime ... so now he's suing him over it, claiming Sturridge breached a contract by not living up to the reward offer.

The WNBA has suspended Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller over an "offensive" comment he made about an opposing player during a game ... when he complained to a ref that she weighs "300 pounds."

The player he was talking about is Las Vegas Aces star Liz Cambage -- who says she weighs 235 pounds and was deeply offended by the comment.

Here's the backstory ... Cambage -- the #2 overall picking the 2011 WNBA Draft -- claimed Miller crossed the line when complaining to the refs about her during Sunday night's game in an effort to get a call against her.

Cambage claims she overheard Miller saying something like, "C'mon, she's 300 pounds!"

Cambage unleashed a fiery post on social media ripping Miller -- saying she's "very proud of being a big bitch" ... and "I will never let a man disrespect me, ever, ever, ever, especially a little white one."

Miller apologized Monday morning -- saying, "I made an inappropriate and offensive comment in reference to Liz Cambage's height and weight. I regret what I said in the heat of the moment and want to sincerely apologize to Liz and the entire Aces organization."

He added, "I understand the gravity of my words and have learned from this."

Now, the league has dished out punishment -- issuing a 1-game suspension against Miller and tacking on a $10,000 fine.

Kim Kardashian's maintenance and cleaning crew have come together to go after her in court for allegedly failing to pay wages, provide meal breaks and cover expenses ... but Kim claims she's the wrong target, and the vendor is the one who short-changed the workers.

According to the legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- 7 staffers who say they worked for Kim at her Hidden Hills property are suing her, claiming they were told upon hire they were full-time employees ... but they say they were treated as independent contractors instead and got screwed out of full-time employee benefits.

However, a rep for Kim tells TMZ ... she hired a third-party vendor for the ongoing maintenance/cleaning services, and she's not privy to the agreement made between the vendor and the workers. The rep insists Kim “is not responsible for how the vendor manages their business and the agreements they have made directly with their staff."

The rep adds ... "Kim has never not paid a vendor for their services and hopes that the issue between these workers and the vendor who hired them can be amicably resolved soon."

In the docs, the workers allege they were not given pay stubs, not paid on a regular schedule, not given meal and rest breaks, not properly reimbursed for expenses, not provided a system to record their hours, and thus ... were not paid for all of their hours, including overtime.

According to the lawsuit, one employee also claims he was fired after he inquired about his rights and those of his son ... whom he says was only 16, but worked more than the maximum hours allowed for a minor under California labor law.

Again, we're told Kim's stance is this is an issue with the vendor ... and she's not the one workers should be going after. As one source put it, Kim's never missed a cellphone bill payment, let alone payment for workers at her home.

Stephen Curry's incredible Bruce Lee-inspired kicks just sold for more than $62,000 at an auction ... and the proceeds are going to families affected by recent anti-Asian hate crimes.

Remember, the Golden State Warriors superstar rocked the custom pair of his signature Curry 8s against the Atlanta Hawks last month ... as a tribute to the martial arts legend and to show solidarity with the Asian community.

Curry promised to part ways with the special sneaks to help the families of the 8 victims who were killed in the Atlanta shooting on March 16 ... and on Saturday, they sold for an impressive $62,730 at Goldin Auctions!!!

The kicks are dope -- Curry partnered up with the Bruce Lee Foundation for the shoes ... which feature amazing portraits on each shoe of Lee and his family.

Curry recently explained his decision to channel the legend at the time ... applauding what Lee "stood for in terms of unifying people, speaking on the collective harmony of everybody from different backgrounds, different races but especially his Asian heritage."

"I think he has a lot of quotes and just narratives and themes that he spoke of consistently that still ring true today and I know his foundation do a lot to live that out, to impact people's lives and continue to spark change."

Lee's daughter, Shannon, was honored by the former MVP's tribute ... saying the gesture was a "beautiful example of allyship and solidarity in action."

Ice Cube has some cash that's long owed to someone who made dozens of beats for him over the years ... so claims the guy, who's now taking the rapper to court over it.

Producer Sir Jinx just sued Cube for what he claims are unpaid royalties he recently discovered are due to him for production work he provided to IC. If you're not familiar, SJ helped make a bunch of Cube's beats dating as far back as his first album in 1990, "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted."

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Jinx says he's produced upward of 28 tracks for Cube ... and that it wasn't until 2019 that he realized he wasn't getting his fair share of the profits.

So, to make things right, Jinx says he reached out to Cube's team to let them know there was some back pay that needed to come his way ... but in the end, Jinx claims Cube never forked over the dough.

Jinx claims he's incurred damages north of $100k ... and he's asking a judge to get a proper accounting in place, and to award him whatever he deserves according to his contracts.

Sir Jinx has a list of what songs he believes he got stiffed on -- and they include some of Cube's best-known songs, including ... "No Vaseline," "True to the Game," "The Bomb," "It's a Man's World," "The Funeral," "Who Got the Camera?" and several more.

As time went on and Cube continued to make albums into the 2000s and beyond, Jinx was featured less and less. It looks like he was mostly influential in Cube's early sound after leaving N.W.A.

There's a diehard Disney fan out there who's sleeping easy underneath the mosaic from the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle -- a rare piece of memorabilia that did not come cheap.

The folks over at the Van Eaton Galleries auctioned off the handcrafted mosaic for a whopping $363k!!! That's an astonishing number to begin with, but especially since Van Eaton estimated the piece going for around $30,000 to $50,000.

The mosaic was part of the original Sleeping Beauty Castle before it was renovated in 1983. It had been prominently featured in the early years of Fantasyland but later removed during renovations. The stunning piece features hundreds of individual tiles with the image of Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip.

The anonymous collector nabbed it during the 2-day "Rediscovering Disneyland" auction that took place over the weekend ... with well over 1,200 other items and collections from early Disney Theme Park artifacts up for grabs.

Some of the other items included a loan agreement signed by Walt Disney and his wife, Lillian, in 1954 ... when Walt borrowed $60k against his own life insurance policy in order to build the "Happiest Place on Earth." Holy return on investment, Batman!

Lisa Vanderpump's barking up the RIGHT tree when it comes to raising money for her dog foundation ... 'cause she's using Cameo vids to raise big bank for the pups!!!

So, get this ... Lisa usually hosts a huge in-person gala for her Vanderpump Dogs Foundation but when the pandemic hit last year, those plans went kaput -- and that's when Lisa made a brilliant pivot.

The ex-'Real Housewives' star turned to Cameo to raise the money, and so far, after recording more than 1,100 Cameo shout-outs, we're told she's hauled in $215k ... with more to come.

All proceeds from her $275-per-video fee go straight to her non-profit dog rescue org to fund all kinds of necessities -- housing hundreds of dogs and getting them medical treatments.

We're told the foundation's executive director, Dr. John Sessa, and Lisa's daughter, Pandora, have also been instrumental in raising funds for the org outside of Lisa's Cameo gig.

Just to give you an idea of how much time LV's putting into this ... we're told, at one point, she recorded roughly 50 videos in one sitting. #GoodHooman.

And, those who are still new to her work with dogs will soon get a closer look.

Peacock, NBC's streaming service, just announced Lisa's new show, "Vanderpump Dogs" ... which will follow the stories and adoptions that go down at her foundation in WeHo.

A handwritten letter featuring Albert Einstein's famous theory of special relativity has sold for a bundle at auction -- fetching a 7-figure amount!!!

The one-page note was written by Einstein in 1946, and sent to fellow physicist Ludwik Silberstein ... who's said to have doubted AE's theories. Translated from German, the part about kinetic energy reads, "Your question can be answered from the E = mc2 formula, without any erudition." Reports say this is the 4th time Albert had mentioned the theory on paper, and it's supposedly the only one made available through a private collection.

It was put up for grabs last week by Boston-based auction house, RR Auction, which says it eventually sold for a cool $1.2 million ... this after an all-out bidding war between five parties that eventually became a two-horse race once it started creeping past the $700k mark.

On Thursday, the sale closed -- with one bidder prevailing ... but they're staying anonymous, only being ID'd as a document collector. A rich one at that, too.

Kendall Jenner had a splashy launch party for her 818 tequila, and she brought her family along for the celebration.

The Kardashians were out in force Friday night at The Nice Guy in WeHo ... Kim, Kylie, Kris, along with Katy Perry, Kate Hudson, Hailey Bieber and Stassie Karanikolaou.

818 was stacked almost from floor to ceiling as the fam celebrated in mostly skintight duds.

Before hitting up the party, Kim, Khloe and Kylie chowed down at Craig's in WeHo.

Kendall has been a master at pitching her booze ... driving a truck with 818 emblazoned on it to hawk her product. She took heat -- we say unfairly -- for an ad showing her at a farm in Mexico where the tequila is made.  Some folks called it exploitive, but that's ridiculous. This is where the tequila is made and men -- like Clooney, Gerber and The Rock -- who did exactly what Kendall did to promote their brand never got criticized. In other words, the criticism is BS.

Khloe, who had COVID earlier last year, was wearing a mask as she showed up to the party. The other Kardashians were mask-free.

"Rich Kids of Beverly Hills" star Dorothy Wang's in talks to jump from one rich show to another -- the incredibly wealthy squad over at "Bling Empire."

Sources close to the Netflix series tell TMZ ... Dorothy's been in communication with producers, who reached out to her because she's a close friend of 'Bling' star Christine Chiu.

We're told even though nothing's in writing yet ... Dorothy shot a couple scenes this week for Season 2 at Yamashiro Hollywood with Christine and co-star Kevin Kreider.

It's unclear if Dorothy will just appear in a guest role, or if she'll sign on to be a full cast member ... but it looks like the 'Rich Kid' is on her way to becoming a 'Bling' adult.

We actually got Dorothy out at Delilah in WeHo last week, and asked her about potentially joining the show. She played coy, but did admit it would be a lot of fun -- and expressed the importance of more shows giving exposure to Asian culture.

YG's giving away a new sneaker he says caters to the streets ... hooking up a group of former inmates who just got back to the streets.

The rapper hit up Amity Foundation House Friday in downtown L.A. to give away pairs of his Block Runner sneakers to men who have just been released on parole after serving their sentences. They're staying at the foundation while getting back on their feet.

YG tells TMZ ... it's important for these men to have the things they need to become contributing members of society again, and it starts with something folks use every day ... shoes.

It's a pretty grand gesture from YG ... his 4Hunnids footwear brand, The Flame, is selling the kicks for a cool $200 and he gave away hundreds of pairs ... worth more than $20,000 total.

A piece of movie history is going up for sale ... the iconic house from "Training Day" just hit the market.

The 3-bedroom home, tucked away on a cul-de-sac near Dodger Stadium, is up for sale at a cool $1,149,000 ... and it's where memorable scenes for the movie starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke were filmed.

If you've seen "Training Day" you'll remember Roger's home ... there are a few scenes inside, most notably the ones where Denzel's character, Alonzo, shoots Roger in his own living room and tries to frame Ethan's character for the murder.

The kitchen's the setting for another scene, where the dirty cops dig up the floor and steal a ton of cash. Dr. Dre's character is involved in both iconic scenes, which we're told were shot on location inside the home.

The home is 1,700 square feet and it has great views of the downtown L.A. skyline ... along with exposed beam ceilings and oak floors. There's also a separate studio guest house with its own deck, and a big yard.

Dana White says he won't hold up the UFC's heavyweight division to wait around for Jon Jones -- telling TMZ Sports the company is "moving on."

Jones -- arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever -- had expressed interest in fighting Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title ... but hasn't been able to make a deal with the UFC.

It's obviously a huge fight that fans would love to see ... but Dana tells us the two sides are at loggerheads and he's gotta keep the business moving.

"Yeah, I've absolutely moved on," White says ... "Listen, I put on fights every Saturday. We have a window where we try to build some fights and make some things happen. If the fights don't happen within that window, we move on, and realistically, I mean I've been saying it since the beginning, Derrick Lewis is the guy who should be getting the title shots. He beat Francis Ngannou. He's next in line, he's coming off of great performances and that's a wrap. We're moving on."

So, is Jon Jones' run in the UFC done for good?

"That's up to Jon," White said ... "He could absolutely fight again at 205 lbs. He said he wouldn't fight [Stipe Miocic] and now Derrick and Francis are fighting so we'll see how that fight plays out."

"There's nothing wrong with going out on top either -- Jon Jones is undefeated, he's never been beat."

"For those people that don't know, you see that 1 loss on his record, he didn't lose that fight he won that fight in dominant fashion like most of his fights. It was a time when the Nevada Athletic Commission was at its weakest and there was a referee that shouldn't have been in there and he stole that fight from Jon Jones. So, it wouldn't be a bad thing for him to go out on top."

Meanwhile, White is also focusing his energy on "The Return of the Ultimate Fighter" -- the 29th season of the UFC's iconic reality competition show.

The new season, which airs every Tuesday at 9 PM on ESPN+, features Brian Ortega and Alexander Volkanovski as coaches -- working with 16 up-and-coming fighters, all of whom are battling to make the UFC roster.

The series has been a springboard for superstars like Kamaru Usman, Forrest Griffin, Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson and more ... and Dana clearly feels there's serious talent in this class as well.

Jake Paul is following in the footsteps of boxing legends like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao ... he just signed a multi-fight deal with Showtime Sports.

Both Jake and the network have confirmed the deal -- which also means Paul's run with Triller is over for now.

No word on how much money Paul will pocket from his new contract with Showtime -- or when he's expected to get in the ring.

But, ESPN's Marc Raimondi reports the two sides are in "advanced talks" about locking in Paul's next opponent -- as well as a date and location.

Also, no word on how much cash Paul will make from the contract.

But, it's huge news for the 24-year-old YouTube sensation who's been destroying opponents like Nate Robinson and Ben Askren since turning his focus to the sweet science a few years back.

Paul -- who's now 3-0 as a pro -- was the main event for the Triller Fight Club PPV event on April 17, when he knocked out Askren in the 1st round.

Paul bragged the event pulled in more than 1 million PPV buys -- which is massive ... begging the question, why would Triller let him walk?

Triller honcho Ryan Kavanaugh told The Athletic's Mike Coppinger there were NO plans for Paul to headline a card moving forward and the April event was simply a novelty.

"Paul being anything other than an undercard for us would change it from novelty to unacceptable,” Kavanaugh told Coppinger.

He also commented on Showtime signing Paul -- "Imitation is the ultimate form of flattery."

As for Jake, he's fired up about the move -- saying, "BOUTTA PUT ON ANOTHER SHOW."

Heather McDonald thinks Melinda Gates will be gettin' it now that she's divorcing Bill, but she can't understand why she gave him that hall pass in the first place.

The former "Chelsea Lately" star hit up Craig's in WeHo Wednesday night and she actually laid some of the blame at Melinda's doorstep, saying, "You don't allow this weird s*** to happen on day 1." Heather's referring to Melinda giving Bill a pass to spend a weekend once a year with his ex-GF. As Heather says, if Melinda thinks they were reading science books, she's fooling herself.

Heather's awesome ... funny but really thoughtful. She thinks Melinda hatched her divorce plan long ago ... possibly around the time Bill had an affair around 2000 with a Microsoft engineer.