Money

A Patrick Mahomes rookie card just sold for over $4 MILLION ... and the price tag was so staggering, even the NFL star himself couldn't believe it!!!

PWCC Marketplace announced the sale Wednesday ... saying the deal officially makes the piece the most expensive football card ever.

And, Mahomes was blown away by it all ... tweeting of the item, "My goodness."

As for why the card is so coveted ... it's an ULTRA rare 2017 Panini National Treasures piece that features Mahomes' signature and a cutout of an NFL shield patch from one of his Chiefs jerseys.

It's the only card of its kind to ever be created (AKA a 1-of-1) ... and it was also given an 8.5 grade, which means it's in damn-near perfect condition.

The $4.3 million price tag easily topped the previous football card record of $3.1 million that an autographed Tom Brady rookie card fetched in the spring.

As for the buyer of the Mahomes piece, it's been revealed LJ's Card Shop in Ohio scored the card ... and a store spokesperson said they're fired up over the purchase.

“We are continually hunting for unique cards that add to our collection in a meaningful way," the spokesperson said. "The 2017 National Treasures NFL Shield Patrick Mahomes Rookie is truly a piece of art."

A rare Wu-Tang Clan album once owned by convicted felon Martin Shkreli has been sold by the feds ... wiping his slate clean with the U.S. of A., financially speaking.

The feds said Tuesday it sold "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" ... Wu-Tang's only known physical copy that exists. You'll recall Shkreli, the guy who jacked the price of the AIDS/cancer medicine from $13.50 to $750 a pop, dropped $2 million for it back in 2015 at auction.

The sale of the album will cover the balance remaining on the $7,360,450 in forfeiture the judge ordered Shkreli to pay at his 2018 sentencing. According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds have already collected $5,121,967.70 ... leaving an outstanding balance of $2,238,482.

As for what the album sold for and to whom ... the feds aren't telling. According to prosecutors ... the sale's contract includes a confidentiality provision that protects information about the price and the buyer.

BTW ... the album includes a hand-carved, nickel-silver box as well as a leather-bound manuscript with lyrics and a certificate of authenticity.

It's finally over -- Aaron Rodgers has officially made his return to Green Bay ... ending his dramatic offseason feud with the Packers!!!

Of course, no one knew if this day would ever come -- AR12 made it explicitly clear he was unhappy with the franchise over his contract and other front office moves ... and was non-committal on ever suiting up for the Pack again.

But, Rodgers and GB were able to restructure his current deal on Monday, which opened the door to his departure in 2022.

The new conditions pleased the guy so much, he hopped on a private jet and made his way to Wisconsin on Tuesday morning ... before getting in his SUV and driving off to the team facility.

Rodgers made the most of his time away from the team -- he traveled all over the globe with his fiancee, Shailene Woodley ... and even got in some golf with his pals Tom Brady, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson.

Austin McBroom admits Bryce Hall was NOT paid for their "YouTubers vs. TikTokers" fight, but the social media star claims it ain't his fault ... 'cause another company is holding the money hostage!!

TMZ Sports recently ran into McBroom -- who KO'd Hall in the 3rd round of their June 12 fight -- in L.A. ... and the man behind the event made it clear neither he nor his company, Social Gloves, are to blame for the delayed paychecks.

"Fighters have not gotten paid yet, including myself, but that is because Live X Live," Austin said.

McBroom later explained it like this ... "Everyone thinks that Social Gloves just did everything. No, Social Gloves partnered with Live X Live who live streamed it and collected everybody’s money. Right? So, the reason why the fighters haven’t gotten paid yet is because Live X Live has been holding on to all the funds."

However, in a lawsuit recently filed by Live X Live in L.A., the company tells a very different story.

According to the suit, LXL claims McBroom refused to promote the event ... insisting his popularity alone would translate into millions buying the fight for $49.99.

Not even close, per Live X Live ... who says they ultimately sold only 136,000 PPV's for the fight -- significantly less than they say Austin expected.

There's more, Live X Live says McBroom badmouthed their company after the event ... resulting in a 20% loss in their stock price -- "causing nearly $100 million in damages."

Money Live X Live wants back ASAP ... hence the lawsuit.

But, McBroom isn't giving in without a fight. He says he has also filed a lawsuit (we haven't seen that one) ... against, you guessed it, Live X Live.

Britney Spears' mother is staying pretty tight-lipped about her daughter, which is interesting ... because she said a lot in new legal docs about removing Britney's dad from her conservatorship.

Lynne Spears was at LAX Sunday with Britney's brother, Bryan, but neither had much to say about the ongoing "Free Britney" saga.

Other than Lynne muttering that her daughter is doing fine, she seemed to want to keep her thoughts to herself ... but we know precisely where she stands on Jamie.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ ... Lynne says she supports Britney's petition to remove her father as conservator of her estate.

Lynne says she became involved in the conservatorship in May 2019 during a "time of crisis" for which she clearly blames Jamie, saying he had "absolute control" over Britney's money and health decisions.

Lynne claims Jamie hired a doctor to treat Britney, but she and many others believe the doc was prescribing her "inappropriate medicine" she didn't want to take and forced her to enter a health facility after threatening punishment if she resisted.

According to the docs ... Lynne says with the conservatorship in place, the relationship between Britney and her father has "dwindled to nothing but fear and hatred" of Jamie.

Worth noting -- our sources say Britney can't stand her mom as well and they've been estranged for years. Britney also blames Lynne for her current circumstances.

Britney Spears and her new lawyer say Jamie Spears has stripped Britney of her dignity, autonomy and fundamental liberties ... and they lay out their case in new legal docs as to why he must be removed as conservator of her estate.

In the new docs, Britney and her attorney, former federal prosecutor Matt Rosengart, claim Jamie has essentially terrorized his daughter, forcing her to get certain treatments and signing off on drug regimens that were allegedly harmful to her.

The docs also challenge Jamie's management of the conservatorship, claiming he's made a king's ransom over the last 13 years. He gets $16,000 a month plus $2k a month for office expenses. He also got 1.5% of the gross revenues from her Vegas residency ... which brought in $137.7 million. The docs say Jamie's cut alone was at least $2.1 mil. The docs go on to say Jamie got $2.95% from Britney's 2011 Femme Fatale tour ... an estimated $500k.

Britney and Rosengart say Jamie is ill-equipped to manage Britney's business affairs, saying his family "struggled financially under his leadership and filed for bankruptcy in 1998."

The docs claim Britney's life has been upended by the conflict she has with her dad. The docs say they don't speak and the current situation is "traumatizing, insane and depressing."

The docs call the relationship "venomous" and "it impairs Ms. Spears's mental health, her well-being, and her ability to pursue and continue with her extraordinary career."

One of the more interesting parts of the document is the intimation Britney may have possibly needed some sort of conservatorship 13 years ago but things have drastically changed ... "Since receiving professional medical care at the outset of this conservatorship over thirteen years ago, Ms. Spears is clearly in a different place now, and she has been for many years. The entire world has witnessed Ms. Spears working tirelessly -- with astonishing dedication, precision, and excellence -- as a musical artist and performer, an exceptional earner for Mr. Spears (and others) who had a financial interest in making sure she would continue to work and perform."

If you needed further proof Brian Shaw is an absolute monster ... here's the four-time World's Strongest Man deadlifting a Camaro -- TEN TIMES!!!!

The 6-foot-8, 400ish-pound strongman threw down the heavy-lift as part of a challenge video ... and it's seriously the most impressive thing you'll see all week.

Shaw was dared to lift the ride by YouTube personality Mr. Beast -- who told him if he could do it, he'd get to keep the set of $34,000 wheels!

And, Brian lifted the thing -- which weighs in the area of 4,000 pounds -- so easily ... he decided to make it all a little harder, loading three people into the whip and then lifting it 10 consecutive times!

Check out the video ... Shaw puts the ride up and down with ease, hardly cracking a sweat!!

Of course, superhuman feats are nothing new for the 39-year-old powerlifter ... he's deadlifted over 1,000 pounds in competition plenty of times before.

Still -- a whole car ... for reps?!?

Kanye West packed the house for his 'DONDA' listening party -- but he packed in a whole lot more than just that ... dude set a record on Apple that no artist has ever come near.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Ye's album event this past week at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta broke the Apple Music Global Livestream record ... with 3.3 million viewers who tuned in on their screens.

That's a heck of a lot more than the previous record, we're told, which was set by Gucci Mane and Jeezy in their highly-anticipated Verzuz battle earlier last year -- at a reported 1.8 million viewers. Kanye practically doubled the number as a solo act!

BTW, the 'DONDA' moment was a one-time deal -- meaning it aired live for people to stream, but hasn't gone back up on Apple for folks to watch again. So, that figure -- 3.3M unique sets of eyeballs -- is a one and done. It'd be a little harder to calculate if the thing was in circulation.

Our sources tell us once Kanye releases Donda -- it's projected to drop August 6 -- the Atlanta performance will be posted to Apple for fans to watch again.

Like we first told you ... even though the event is over, the party's still going for Kanye himself ... who's moved into MB Stadium (temporarily) to finish the album. Apparently, he was so inspired by the energy around him Thursday -- he just nestled in and got back to work.

P!nk says she's proud of the Norwegian women's beach handball team for standing up against the "very sexist rules" about their uniforms ... and she's offering to pay their fines for the protest.

The singer-songwriter went even further with her support too ... by calling on the European Handball Federation to instead be "fined for sexism" for levying financial penalties last week against the women.

ICYMI ... the ladies from Norway made a statement on their sport's uniform double standards last week by wearing shorts during a game instead of the required bikini bottoms.

The team had reportedly been planning the protest for weeks -- as you can see, the men are not required to wear uniforms nearly as revealing as the women -- and it resulted in each player getting fined around $177 each.

Joe Exotic has dubbed himself "The New King of Cannabis" ... it's front-and-center in the packaging of his new weed line and TMZ's obtained the first pics.

The colorful packet for his new cannabis line, Joe Exotic Cannabis, will be unveiled next week at the cannabis CHAMPS Trade Show in Las Vegas ... and TMZ has a first look at what Joe and his partners have been up to since announcing their new venture last month.

The packaging's got Joe's touches all over it ... from paying homage to his moniker as the so-called "Tiger King" ... to celebrating his sexual orientation with a display of the Pride flag at the bottom of the package.

There are tigers, lions and cubs drawings on the front of the package ... and Joe's smoking a blunt while sitting on his new throne. As we first reported ... Joe's team struck up a deal with Tango Hotel Charlie Group, LLC and Cannaxxs LTD to launch the line.

Even though Joe's behind bars, he's been pretty hands-on through calls and emails with his attorney, Brad Small.

Joe is working with Joshua Anderson, the founder of Tango Hotel Charlie Group. Joshua will be handling the distribution and brand development. They've partnered with Xotic Flavorz farm in Honeydew, CA to produce the cannabis.

And, get this ... Joe's line will also debut a cannabis seltzer at next week's trade show. The seltzer's name is aptly dubbed "Tiger Piss." Some of the flavors include tiger's blood orange and peach-mango.

Chris Brown's a magnetic kinda guy ... or at least his mouth is, after he dropped a fortune to get some unique dental work done.

The singer's got some shiny new gold grills -- 24 karat gold covering all 28 teeth according to his celeb dentist Thomas Connelly -- but that's not what makes 'em special.

Connelly says it's the magnetic retention design, where Breezy's back molars have magnetic gold crowns embedded on them so the grills fit and lock in the magnets with precision on the fronts of all his teeth.

This means CB's grills have no metal covering the inside of his teeth -- like conventional grills -- so he can basically speak and sing normally while wearing them.

Obviously, dental work this revolutionary doesn't come cheap, and we're told the cost for Brown's job was just under $100,000.

Turns out, Morgan Wallen is looking for a fresh start in more ways than one ... he's leaving the neighbors who called him a menace to the hood and heard him hurl the n-word after a late night out with friends.

According to real estate docs, Wallen sold his 4-bed 3-bath home in Nashville earlier this month for $835,000. The home is part of a duplex with updated features, a rooftop patio and a backyard perfect for privacy.

It was on the driveway where Wallen was captured on a video calling a friend the n-word. When TMZ obtained the video of the incident, neighbors told us Wallen's late-night, rowdy antics were a problem ... and he routinely arrived home in the wee hours, making a whole lot of noise which pissed off everyone who was trying to sleep.

While it doesn't appear Morgan spent much time at the home since February -- he recently revealed to GMA he spent 30 days in rehab -- the neighbors won't have to worry about him anymore ... and vice-versa.

Morgan hasn't hit any big stages since the incident, but he did recently perform at a Nashville bar where the crowd went nuts ... you gotta imagine he'll have a massively successful tour when he makes a full return.

Jen Shah's fraud case just went from bad to worse, because the feds have lumped her into a group of suspects with "greater culpability" in the telemarketing scheme that allegedly targeted elderly people ... and accuse her of being one of the leaders of it.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star is one of 6 people in the U.S. Attorney's "Tier A" category for the alleged crimes.

The prosecutor claims these people -- 2 of which have already been sentenced to 78 months and 60 months in prison in the case -- were more "senior participants" in the scheme and continued to participate in it even when they knew criminal charges could be coming.

The U.S Attorney says the Tier A suspects were "responsible for orchestrating the broader scheme" and that Shah specifically "obtained leads directly from lead sources and provided them to, among others, coaching sales floors operated in Utah and Nevada."

Shah and her assistant, Stuart Smith, are also accused of owning and operating a sales floor in Manhattan that was a major part of the alleged telemarketing scheme ... and Smith is in Tier A as well.

As we reported ... Shah was arrested in late March for allegedly targeting and scamming people -- "vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people" -- out of their money.

She pled not guilty and was released on strict conditions.

We reached out to Jen's attorney ... no word back.

Julie Bowen's unloaded her mid-century modern home just weeks after listing it, and it seems she benefitted from the housing surge ... because she got way above asking price.

The "Modern Family" star sold her pad in the Hollywood Hills -- a stylish 4-bed, 4-bath designed by Thornton Abell -- for $4.2 million ... after putting it on the market in June for $3.85 mil.

Add that to the fact Julie purchased the glass-walled house in late 2018 for just over $3 million ... so she clearly made a pretty penny.

The buyer is movie producer Wicks Walker -- best known for "Spring Breakers" ... he was repped by Carl Gambino at Compass, while Julie was repped by Beth Styne at Coldwell Banker.

Bowen's been busy in the real estate world ... just last week she just scooped up Meghan Trainor's 7,100-square-foot, 5-bedroom house in Toluca Lake for a cool $6 mil.

Space tourism shouldn't be a tax-free joyride for Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and other billionaires ... so says Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who's ready to do something about it.

We got the Oregon Congressman on Capitol Hill Thursday and wanted to get more deets about the House bill he said he plans to soon introduce. In fact ... Blumenauer announced his plans on the same day Bezos and Blue Origin launched into space.

Blumenauer's bill is pretty simple ... he wants the wealthy going to space for the sole purpose of tourism to pay a luxury tax. He says anyone on a commercial flight on a trip NOT focused on scientific research should pay the price.

The Congressman says it's just like when a family goes to Legoland ... the theory being the ticket price includes taxes.  To be accurate, Legoland charges what it wants and is responsible for paying taxes on profits. Maybe it's more like an airline or cigarette tax.

The congressman says he's not opposed to space innovation. He just has strong feelings about the wealthy galavanting in space for their own entertainment without, as he says, supporting the public good.

Ex-Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Mychal Kendricks is cleared to resume his football career -- the NFLer was just sentenced to one day behind bars in his insider trading case on Thursday.

The 30-year-old pled guilty in 2018 for handing over cash and NFL tickets to a Goldman Sachs analyst for private info that made him $1.2 million in profit ... and was facing up to 25 years in prison.

After sentencing was pushed back multiple times in 2019 and 2020, Kendricks finally learned his fate -- according to FOX NFL's Jay Glazer, he was handed one day in jail, 3 years supervised release, a $100k fine and 300 community service hours.

The sentence means Kendricks is able to resume his NFL career as early as tomorrow.

The former linebacker has been in the league since 2012 -- logging in 19 sacks, 7 forced fumbles and 4 interceptions ... plus winning the Super Bowl in 2018 with the Eagles.