Money

Joe Francis is dropping more than a million bucks to repair his beachfront estate in Mexico after a fire destroyed a large portion of it ... and it looks like it's going to be better than ever.

Sources familiar tell TMZ ... Joe's been rebuilding his famed Casa Aramara since the June blaze, and hopes to have it completed in around 7 weeks.

Twenty percent of the "Girls Gone Wild" founder's property was destroyed in the fire -- including the living and dining room in the main house, along with 3 bedrooms out of 15 -- so the cost for repairs has added up.

Our sources say the Casa's rebuild will include a new fire protection system that includes fire retardant chemicals, 30 concealed sprinklers in every room and a backup system. Joe feels fire officials in Mexico can't be relied upon, so he's becoming self-reliant.

We broke the story ... Joe's oceanside estate in Punta Mita partially burned down in mid-June. Our sources say the official report found the fire was caused by an electrical issue with the air conditioning.

If Daymond John sounds pissed off about people refusing to get vaccinated it's because the virus has already claimed the lives of 60 people he knows, and that includes an unvaccinated friend he just lost.

When the "Shark Tank" star joined us Friday for "TMZ Live" he said he'd just gotten word about that friend dying ... and his emotions about the vaccine certainly came through loud and clear as we discussed vaccine card mandates.

As you know, cities like NYC, San Fran and New Orleans are implementing mandates requiring patrons to show proof of vaccination in order to enter restaurants, gyms or any other indoor venues hosting sporting events or concerts.

Daymond firmly believes these measures should become the norm all across the country -- not just in a few cities -- because if it does, anti-vaxxers will eventually fold. Why? FOMO.

It's a similar sentiment to what Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told us about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis essentially blocking local officials from saving lives.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are getting the keys to a beloved Colorado restaurant featured in "South Park" ... the real Casa Bonita is theirs, and the deal happened fast.

The "South Park" creators announced Friday they struck a deal to become the new owners of the Mexican restaurant made famous by their show, breaking the news in an interview with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

Bob Wheaton, the president of Casa Bonita's parent company, Summit Family Restaurant Inc., tells TMZ ... the deal was put together VERY quickly, with talks heating up Wednesday during a conference call with reps for Trey and Matt.

We're told Trey and Matt's team laid out a detailed plan for how they wanted to evolve the business, including pouring resources in to expand the food offerings, gift shop and arcade at Casa Bonita.

As we first told you ... Casa Bonita's corporate ownership was not interested in selling as recently as 2 weeks ago, despite filing for bankruptcy ... but Wheaton tells us Trey and Matt ultimately got Casa Bonita for 2 main reasons.

First, we're told Trey and Matt offered a "fair" price for Casa Bonita ... the exact price was not disclosed, but we're told the amount was one Summit would have sought in the future.

Second, we're told Trey and Matt also struck a deal with the restaurant's landlord, something corporate had been unable to do since March and an issue that lead to the bankruptcy filing.

Ultimately, we're told Casa Bonita is in good hands with its new owners ... and it sounds like everyone's happy.

Vinny Guadagnino is a rolling stone ... we're told the "Jersey Shore" star has a deal in place to sell his new L.A. home less than a year after buying the place.

Sources tell TMZ ... Vinny's Hollywood Hills house is under contract for a cool $3,850,000 only 9 months after he dropped $3,510,000 for the slick pad above Sunset Plaza.

It's worth noting ... the sale is not final yet. It's in escrow with a potential buyer, and as long as that person comes through with the dough it'll be a done deal at $3.85 million.

Of course, if anything goes wrong, Vinny will be open for someone else to make him an offer he can't refuse.

As we first told you ... Vinny scooped up the 3 bedroom, 2,685-sq.-ft. home back in November, and the place is decked out with a pool, soaking tube in the master suite and panoramic views overlooking West Hollywood, Century City and the Pacific Ocean.

Jamie Spears has agreed it's time to step down as conservator of Britney's estate -- he just said so in new legal docs -- and he wants to work with the court on an orderly transition.

We've learned Jamie's lawyer is filing legal docs in which he says, "There are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as the Conservator of the Estate ... and it is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears' best interests."

And then, he lowers the boom ... "Nevertheless, even as Mr. Spears is the unremitting target of unjustified attacks, he does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests. So, even though he must contest this unjustified Petition for his removal, Mr. Spears intends to work with the Court and his daughter's new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator."

The docs go on to say, "Regardless of his formal title, Mr. Spears will always be Ms. Spears' father, he will always love her unconditionally, and he will always look out for her best interests."

He goes on to attack Lynne Spears, saying she has had little, if any, involvement in the conservatorship, let alone Britney's life for the last 13 years. He says her credibility is undermined because Britney herself refused to even see Lynne when she was at a mental health facility in 2019.

He does say he essentially saved Britney when she was "in crisis, desperately in need of help" 13 years ago, adding, "Not only was she suffering mentally and emotionally, she was also being manipulated by predators and in financial distress. Mr. Spears came to his daughter's rescue to protect her."

In the docs, Spears' lawyer says Jamie had been working on a plan to leave the conservatorship with her then-attorney Sam Ingham.

He says he has never forced her to do anything, including performing.

We contacted Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, and he was unmoved by Jamie's decision to step down, telling TMZ ... "We are pleased but not necessarily surprised that Mr. Spears and his lawyer finally recognize that he must be removed. We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others."

Trevor Bauer says his assault accuser appeared to have edited her injury photos to make them seem worse than what they were ... and claims the woman later had hopes of striking a "major cash" settlement with the MLB star.

It's all spelled out in fiery new court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which Bauer and his attorneys argue his accuser's request for a permanent domestic violence restraining order should be denied.

Of course, the woman claims Bauer gave her black eyes, bruises and other injuries during sex she did not consent to.

In the docs, Bauer's lawyers claim his accuser's text messages and emails to friends and legal team show the woman was not sexually assaulted by Bauer, but rather show she had simply wanted to end the Dodgers pitcher's career.

Bauer's attorneys also claim the woman had hoped to ultimately gain a monetary settlement from Bauer after she had filed for her initial temporary restraining order against him earlier this summer.

In the docs, Bauer's attorneys say the photos that the woman provided in her June TRO request "appear to be edited or filtered in a manner to give a misleading or false impression of her injuries."

They also say messages with her legal team show she had hoped Bauer would "offer me major cash then make me sign an nda" in a settlement.

Bauer's attorneys made it clear in the docs, though, that "no settlements or cash offers have or ever will be made."

Bauer's attorneys reiterated their stance that they believe the two sexual encounters between the baseball player and the woman in April and May were entirely consensual.

"[Bauer's accuser] has taken a proceeding designed to prevent future acts of 'domestic violence,' and turned it into a tool for attracting media attention and attempting to end [Bauer's] baseball career," Bauer's attorneys wrote.

As we previously reported, for weeks, Bauer and his legal team have said the 30-year-old committed no wrongdoing in his encounters with his accuser.

Klay Thompson's sweet tooth was working overtime late Wednesday night ... 'cause the Golden State Warriors star couldn't pass up on buying a bunch of candy from kids outside an L.A. hot spot!!

TMZ Sports caught up with the 3-time NBA champ as he was leaving the Highlight Room in Hollywood ... and while the guy seemed to be in great spirits, he was even happier when he saw a basket full of sugary sweets waiting for him.

Naturally, Klay whipped out his wallet and started passing out bills to the young businessmen ... sifting through bags of chocolates and gummies before settling on some Kit Kat bars and Snickers.

No word on the value of the bills Klay gave the kids ... but we're pretty sure the guy overpaid for the treats.

FYI -- Klay has made $182 million in his career so far and is in the middle of a 5-year, $190 million deal ... so yeah, some candy bars are def in the budget.

There's more for Dubs fans to enjoy -- Klay looks completely fine as he walks up to his SUV ... which is great to see as he comes off that devastating Achilles injury.

Charlotte Hornets player PJ Washington is breaking his silence on WILD rumors surrounding his split with Brittany Renner and alleged $200k child support payments ... saying, "Stop the cap."

For those who haven't been keeping up with the drama, here's a quick breakdown:

Washington -- the #12 pick in the 2019 Draft -- and Renner first made headlines when the hooper seemingly shot his shot at the Instagram model after she attended his game at Kentucky in 2019.

The couple went official in 2020 ... and in May 2021, Washington confirmed they welcomed a baby boy together.

But, things appeared to go sour just a few months later ... with Washington tweeting -- and later deleting -- a cryptic message about someone "faking it all along."

Fast forward to this week ... when an unconfirmed rumor went viral on social media claiming Washington would have to shell out $200k A MONTH in child support payments following the breakup.

FYI -- Washington is still on his rookie deal ... which means he's reportedly raked in $7.8 million so far as a pro and is slated to make about $14 million over the next two seasons.

Before anyone could actually confirm or deny the child support rumors, Twitter trolls had a field day with the reckless headline ... cracking jokes and sharing condolences to Washington's bank account.

But, Washington appears to finally be addressing all the talk on Wednesday ... tweeting "Stop the cap" ... which, for all you old heads, means QUIT LYING.

After a 5-year investigation, the NCAA says Baylor's actions were "unacceptable" when dealing with football players accused of sexual assault, but the program did NOT violate any rules ... and therefore will avoid any major punishment.

Remember, head coach Art Briles was fired by the university in 2016 after allegedly failing to report numerous allegations of domestic violence or sexual assault from students made against his football players.

Since the scandal blew up, the NCAA Infraction committee launched an in-depth investigation to determine if Baylor violated any NCAA rules with its conduct. On Wednesday, Baylor finally learned its fate.

"Make no mistake, the conduct that occurred on Baylor's campus between 2010 and 2015 was unacceptable. Young people were hurt. They were hurt because the campus leaders they trusted to provide a safe campus community failed," according to the report.

"At times, these failures heavily intersected with Baylor's football program and Baylor football student-athletes. At other times, they did not. And that is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this case—that a campus-wide culture of sexual violence went unaddressed due to ignorance and leadership failings across campus."

Bottom line ... the football program acted immorally and unethically -- but didn't necessarily violate major NCAA rules.

Baylor isn't escaping totally unscathed ... the Infractions Committee did find the university provided impermissible benefits for a football player and used a "predominantly female student-host program that did not align with NCAA recruiting rules."

For that violation, Baylor was hit with a $5,000 fine and recruiting restrictions ... such as a reduction in campus visits for recruits, as well as other recruiting-based limitations.

Dennis Schroder bet on himself ... and lost MILLIONS.

The free-agent guard just agreed to a 1-year, $5.9 million deal with the Celtics ... which sounds just fine -- that is, except when you take into account he REJECTED a 4-year, $84 MILLION extension from the Lakers just months ago!!!

BTW ... ESPN's Brian Windhorst said back in February the Lakers offered him the maximum amount they could ... but DS felt he could rake in more dough, which definitely didn't happen.

The 27-year-old announced the move via his Instagram page minutes ago ... and he's smiling through the pain ... saying he's excited to join his new team and honored to wear the green and white.

The news comes just one day after reports claimed Schroder was in "shock" about the lack of interest he was getting through several days of free agency.

Shroder was pretty solid for LeBron James' Lakers as a starter during the regular season ... averaging about 15 points and 6 assists per game.

But, the postseason was a bit of a different story -- he went 3 for 22 in Game 4 and 5 of the 1st round of the playoffs.

There were also rumblings of beef in the locker room with Kyle Kuzma ... but both guys are now out of L.A.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were on the hunt Tuesday for a house, and there are real signs they're looking to buy something together.

J Lo and Ben were all over the L.A. area, and one of the homes they looked at is eye-popping. It's a Beverly Hills estate listed for $85 million, and it's incredible.

The main house is 38,000 square feet and has 12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, an indoor sports complex complete with a basketball court and boxing ring, a massive pool, and on and on. There's also a "guest penthouse" and a caretaker's house. There's also a 2 bedroom guardhouse. It has parking for 80 guests.

Our sources say it looks like this is a house not just for Jen but for them.

The couple then went over the hill to the San Fernando Valley, where they looked at the former Bob Hope estate in Toluca Lake. The house is currently owned by tycoon Ron Burkle and is listed for $40 million. It sits on 5 acres and even has a 1-hole golf course.

The fact they're looking at massive homes -- especially the one in Beverly Hills -- is further evidence they are going to move in together. Jen has a home in Bel-Air which she loves, so the only reason for moving is more space. Ben has a home in Pacific Palisades.

One of the most rare LeBron James cards EVER has just been put up for sale -- a 1-of-1 autographed rookie card -- and it can be yours if you got an extra $1.2 MILLION lying around!!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the collectible SP Authentic Exquisite Endorsements autographed card is from King James' 2003-2004 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There literally isn't any other card like it in existence ... plus, it's in mint condition with a 9 PSA grade -- after all, it was packed and saved for nearly 2 decades!!

Gotta Love Rock and Roll Auctions tells us ... "This may very well be one of his finest rookie cards ever printed, and it is the first time it has surfaced in nearly 20 years."

The bidding starts August 11 ... and is expected to sell anywhere from $700k to $1.2 million!!!!

That's some serious coin ... but LBJ's rookie cards have been bankin' in big money for the past year!

In April, his rookie patch autographed card sold for $1.72 million and last June, a 9.5 graded card sold for $1.8 mil.

McKayla Maroney is selling an NFT featuring her "Not Impressed" meme -- one of the most memorable moments in Olympics history -- but it could run you 7 figures!!

Sure, it ain't cheap ... but what'd you expect from such an iconic moment?!

TMZ Sports caught up with the gold medalist at Enso Studio art gallery in Malibu ... where we asked Maroney about the release of the NFT.

"There really has been a gap in sports and capturing iconic moments like that. And to put my meme out, I'm just so excited to do that because its something that meant a lot to me and it really changed my life," Maroney says.

Of course, McKayla was photographed looking anything but impressed after winning the silver medal in the vault at the 2012 Olympics. The image went crazy viral.

The 2x Olympic medalist even met then-President Obama ... and they took a picture together doing the "not impressed" pose.

"I think it just stands for being imperfect is okay. And to be not impressed, even the President [Obama] said he is not impressed sometimes."

It wasn't just politicians ... a bunch of A-list stars like Miley Cyrus also hopped on the bandwagon.

Now, you can own the NFT.

But, you won't just get the iconic image ... Maroney says she's also throwing in a private gymnastics lesson AND a copy of her soon-to-be released book.

The auction is currently live at OpenSea ... and has a starting bid of 15 Ethereum (crypto) -- which converts to around $47k.

But, McKayla tells us she expects the NFT to bring in a whole lot more ... saying she could easily see it smashing the million dollar mark.

If you're doing the math at home ... that's about 318 Ether.

Auction ends Wednesday night ... so, fire up that coin base account and happy bidding!!

Elon Musk's a billionaire with modest taste ... just check out his tiny digs in Texas.

The Tesla chief is living it up in this pre-fabricated casita near his SpaceX headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas. The entire thing's a whopping 375 square feet ... with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom as well as a living room and kitchen.

Yup, there's a dishwasher and even a washing machine.

Las Vegas-based Boxabl is selling the houses for a cool $49,500. The company tried its best to be subtle about scoring Elon as a customer -- it announced back in November it installed one of its pre-fab cribs in Boca Chica for a "top secret customer."

The company's founder, Galiano Tiramani, had said it was "pretty exciting to have these guys as our initial customer." He didn't confirm the house was built for Elon himself but, just a couple of months ago, Elon confirmed in a tweet he was, in fact, living in the tiny home and renting it from SpaceX.

It should come as no surprise that one of the world's richest men can pull strings for this tiny house, which reportedly has a 47,000-person waitlist.

The L.A. penthouse once owned by the founders of Mattel -- and the makers of Barbie -- is hitting the market for someone else to live and play inside ... and it's going for a bundle.

The 3-bed, 3-bath condo in the luxurious Century Towers is about to list for just under $10 million after having been enjoyed by interior designer Nicole Sassaman for some years now -- this after she bought the place in 2012 for $2 mil ... according to The Post.

At the time, Sassaman took it off the hands of Barbara and Kenneth Handler -- the children of Mattel OGs Ruth and Elliot, who used to call the place home -- and made it her own sophisticated pad over the years, with echoes of doll vibes throughout ... albeit, nothing close to what you might consider classic "Barbie."

In other words, the place isn't covered in pink and a ton of tacky, plastic decor. But there is some cool Barbie art lying around ... making it way more chic than anything Barbie herself ever stepped foot in for children across America. Bottom line ... the home is a beaut.

It might just be an apartment at its core, but the penthouse is truly a taste of modern-day life -- there are mirrored surfaces in just about every room for great light and sense of space ... and don't even get us started with the views one gets from the balcony area overlooking L.A.

Seeing how it's in a super swanky building to begin with, it's got all the nice amenities one might expect ... a dog park, pool, tennis courts, valet parking, concierge, etc. The works, basically. The listing is held by Scott Segall, Carrie Berkman Lewis from Douglas Elliman.

Erica Mena is copping to ruining some of Safaree's property, but says she only went HAM after finding out he was sleeping around ... allegedly.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the 'Love & Hip Hop' star admits she damaged her now estranged husband's personal items toward the end of her pregnancy, but she blames her anger on "numerous acts of infidelity."

You'll recall, Safaree alleged she trashed some of his gear, including his expensive shoe collection.

Erica's already trying to clean up the mess she caused -- in the docs, she says she's already sent Safaree a cool $4,000 to cover at least some of the damage.

Something tells us he won't be satisfied with that dollar figure though. As we first reported ... Safaree claims Erica did $30,000 worth of damage by pouring bleach on his high-end sneakers, and cutting the laces. He said she went off while she was 8 months pregnant, and 2 days after she'd filed for divorce.

While Erica's now admitting to wreaking some havoc, they're clearly oceans apart on just how much damage was done ...  and therein lies the legal battle.