Money

The chef who told the NFL that Antonio Brown faked his COVID vaccine card is now planning to sue the Buccaneers star ... saying the wide receiver still owes him $10,000.

Steven Ruiz spelled it all out to TMZ Sports this week ... saying after the NFL ruled he wasn't lying about Brown's bogus vaccine card --- he's planning to move forward with a lawsuit against AB.

"The game plan now is to file a lawsuit and take it from there," Ruiz said. "People provide a service and you've got to pay for it. That's it."

As we previously reported, Ruiz said he cooked for Brown regularly this past year ... but when it came time to pay a bill for it all, AB balked.

Ruiz said Brown owed him $10K, but he couldn't get the cash from the football player -- even after talking with Brown's attorney.

So, Ruiz ended up going public with his claims that Brown had sought and obtained a fake vaccine card and then later submitted it to the NFL.

The league investigated the claims ... and said it found Brown did misrepresent his vaccine status, and then suspended him three games without pay, costing him over $100K in lost salary.

Ruiz tells us if Brown had just paid up, he probably would've stayed quiet.

"If he had just probably paid me, you know what? He probably would still be getting paid in the NFL right now," Ruiz said. "He'd probably be playing the games that he could be playing and none of this would have even happened."

Jordan Belfort is the proud new owner of a piece of art history, because he bought it from the youngest person ever to have a booth at "Art Miami."

The "Wolf of Wall Street" dropped a fat stack on some artwork from rising artist Andres Valencia -- the 10-year-old responsible for a 29" x 11" work he's entitled, "King and Queen."

Jordan tells TMZ ... he paid $8,500 for the piece after being blown away by Andres' talent. He also says Andres sketched him something on the spot, a work Belfort describes as "shockingly interesting."

It's no wonder Andres is the youngest artist ever to have his work on display at the famous "Art Miami" gallery. Jordan says when looking at Andres' work he asked himself, "What on God's Earth is this kid seeing when he picks up his instrument to draw and paint?"

Art pieces are some of the hottest investments right now ... and Jordan says Andres' eye is "obviously something very different than the rest of us."

Channing Tatum also stopped by Andres' booth this week during Art Basel ... posing in front of his works the night before the Wolf swooped in to scoop some up.

Meagan Good wants to become a gun owner ... and while she says she didn't always feel that way, the recent rise of home invasions in Los Angeles changed her mind.

Meagan explained her change of heart in tonight's interview with Charlamagne Tha God on his Comedy Central show "Tha God's Honest Truth" ... saying she would feel more comfortable with a gun after seeing home invasions on the rise in Hollywood.

The actress says she used to think she didn't need a gun at home because there wouldn't be time to grab the weapon if a situation arose ... but now she says she wants to be able to at least have the option.

While Meagan says she doesn't want to shoot or kill any potential home invaders ... she says she is willing to defend herself with a gun.

Meagan's fears are real.

TMZ broke the story ... Clarence Avant's wife, Jackie, was shot and killed inside the couple's Beverly Hills home Wednesday morning after at least one suspect made it inside during a home invasion robbery.

These cases are part of an alarming trend ... in the days before Halloween, Dorit Kemsley had 3 men (shown above) storm into her bedroom to threaten her life before fleeing with six-figures worth of valuables.

It's evening happening outside of homes ... Terrence J told cops last month he was pulling into his driveway when another car pulled up and the men inside ordered him out of his car, firing shots and giving chase when he refused their commands and drove off.

Bottom line for Meagan ... she's embracing the 2nd Amendment.

Daymond John says Playboy is making its best move in years by joining forces with Cardi B ... because she'll bring her legion of young fans to the iconic brand, while also making much-needed changes to it.

The "Shark Tank" star joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" and we got his reaction to Cardi coming onboard with Playboy as its first-ever creative director in residence.

Daymond says the move makes sense for Playboy on several levels as they move away from traditional print magazine and focus in on a digital rebirth -- he envisions Cardi breathing life back into a brand with a following that skews much older.

Cardi says her new role with Playboy is a "dream come true" ... and Daymond tells us why he wants to see more of those dreams becoming a reality before deciding if Playboy is a worthy investment.

George Clooney says he's so flush with cash that even a $35 million offer to do "one day's work" just wasn't worth it.

Clooney recently spoke with The Guardian and said at this point in his life, he's got all the money he needs and therefore has become more selective in the projects he chooses to do. Clooney says, "I was offered $35 million for one day's work for an airline commercial, but I talked to Amal about it and we decided it's not worth it."

However, Clooney went on to explain his reasoning, saying of the airline, "It was [associated with] a country that, although it's an ally, is questionable at times, and so I thought: 'Well, if it takes a minute's sleep away from me, it's not worth it."

60-year-old Clooney says he's chosen to act less over the last few years, not just because he's not into the parts, but he also wants to spend more time with his wife and twins.

Clooney is, however, still working, as The Guardian interview was to promote the new film he's directing called "The Tender Bar."

Phil Collins could probably feel this coming in the air too ... his ex-wife, Orianne Cevey, is heading back to divorce court, already splitting from the guy she married just last year.

Orianne says it's over with her new husband, Tom Bates, with whom she eloped in August 2020. They'd tied the knot at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas ... even as the dust was still settling from her ultra bitter divorce from Phil.

As for why she's filing for divorce this time? Orianne's blaming the worldwide pandemic. Sure. Why not?

She says, "I believe the emotional stress of the COVID quarantine caused me to act in ways and do things that were out of character."

She also not-so-subtly references her Phil drama by saying, "Fortunately, I have faced challenging situations before and like I always have, I will muster all the strength I can, the best team I can find and the courage to do the right thing."

When Orianne, a jewelry designer, says "best team" she's shouting out her attorneys ... the ones who helped her secure a $43 million divorce settlement from the Genesis drummer in 2008.

She and Phil tried to make things work a second time when they got back together from 2016 to 2019, but their second breakup got downright vicious.

You'll recall, she accused Phil of drinking too much and showering too little. She claimed his "stench became so pervasive that he became a hermit." Collins denied the dirty allegations.

Adding injury to those insults ... Orianne auctioned off several of Phil's prized possessions, scoring as much as $22k for one of his gold records. For his part, Phil booted her from their waterfront Miami mansion.

The prosecution's star witnesses in the Jussie Smollett trial may have a credibility problem with one of the Osundairo brothers ... over supplying Jussie with drugs.

Abimbola 'Bola' Osundairo testified he obtained drugs for Smollett, but didn't sell them to him.

The reason this came up during the trial ... back in 2019, texts surfaced between Jussie and one of the brothers about scoring marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy. Documents in the case refer to the transaction this way ... "Smollett would request ... weed, molly, or Whitney [slang for cannabis and controlled substances]." The document goes on to say Jussie used PayPal and Venmo to pay for the drug transactions. And, the document suggests Jussie tried to cover the drug deal by saying payment was for personal training.

Well, Bola testified that yes, he did supply Jussie with drugs, but added, "I'm not a drug dealer. I don't sell."

It's too early to know how this develops ... but jurors may find it hard to swallow Bola's testimony ... that a couple of trainers who have bit parts in a TV show would dig deep into their pockets to pay for the drugs of a wealthy actor. If the jury has issues with this, it could impact the brothers' credibility, which could create the reasonable doubt necessary to acquit Jussie.

The brothers were in court Thursday ... before entering the building they were seen praying together.

Sylvester Stallone and "Rocky" fans are gonna love this ... a bunch of memorabilia from his acting career and the movie franchise is hitting the auction block, including boxing gloves he wore in the franchise.

Julien's Auctions just announced the massive collection, and the highlights include Sly's boxing gloves used on camera in "Rocky III," and his training gloves from "Rocky Balboa."

The haul also includes the boxing mouth guard SS wore as Rocky in the iconic 1976 film ... and his original handwritten notebooks filled with story development ideas for the first four installments of the film franchise.

Hulk Hogan famously fought Sly in 'Rocky III' ... and the original artwork from their on-set fight is open for bidding.

The OG 'Rocky' won the Golden Globe for Best Picture in 1977, and the announcement card from the award show is up for sale ... along with original concept art for the film poster, and a shadowbox display with 'Rocky' themed boxing shorts produced for Planet Hollywood.

Sly's signed boxing training pad from "Creed" can be yours ... as well as his Air Jodan boxing boots from the movie.

The Stallone auction isn't just about 'Rocky' ... there's also memorabilia from his work on the 'Rambo' franchise.

The 'Rambo' gear includes ... knives, arrow quivers, headbands, scripts, watches, duffel bags, combat boots, prop guns and a machete.

Diddy is swooping in to try to save his namesake brand ... and he's got grand plans to breathe life back into Sean John.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the music and fashion mogul's company recently bid $3.3 million to buy the clothing line's assets out of bankruptcy.

Diddy founded the fashion and lifestyle brand way back in 1998, but as it stands now, the brand management firm, GBG USA Inc., which owns 90% of Sean John, is currently in bankruptcy.

The company has reportedly been looking for someone to come in and buy the brand since May ... and now Diddy is stepping up and looking to be the winning bidder.

Sources close to Diddy tell TMZ ... he is very excited about the prospect of reacquiring Sean John and if successful, he plans to reinvigorate the brand.

Conor McGregor is helping a fellow Irishman and MMA fighter ... by donating $11k to a man who needs money for stem cell treatment after being paralyzed from a horrific injury during training.

The terrible incident happened in July ... when the 1-1 welterweight Ian Coughlan had a freak accident while training for an upcoming fight.

The 29-year-old fighter spent months in Ireland hospitals and rehabilitation in an effort to get back on his feet ... but was told by doctors he may never walk again.

However, another hospital in Germany -- which specializes in spinal cord injuries -- says they can help him out with their Stem Cell and HAL treatment ... but Coughlan needs $73,000 euros ($82,779 in USD) to cover it.

McGregor wasted no time stepping up to help -- sending the Irish fighter 10,000 euros ($11,339 in USD) to his GoFundMe on Thursday.

McGregor is also planning to attend a fundraiser for Coughlan with his coach John Kavanagh -- a super seminar called "Unstoppable" on Dec. 18 in Dublin.

"Guys let’s get together and support this young Irish fighter who suffered a terrible injury at a gym in Ireland," McGregor said via Twitter.

"Coach John and the team at SBG are hosting a training day and my own recovery permitting, I hope to be in attendance. There will be signed fight wear also!"

Other stars like UFC's Johnny Walker and Ultimate Fighter's Brad Katona will also be there in support.

"We’re looking forward to this," coach Kavanagh said, "The 'Unstoppable Seminar’ raising some much needed funds for the unstoppable Ian Coughlan."

"Let’s do this for him. Let’s do this for his family. Let’s show the strength of the MMA and martial arts community."

Mac Jones is following in Tom Brady's footsteps in more ways than one ... 'cause the New England Patriots quarterback just filed to trademark his own version of "TB12's" nickname -- "MJ10."

Records show Jones' "Mac 10 Enterprises" officially filed for the phrase on November 26 ... with the intent to use it for all things clothes -- from beanies to hats to pants to athletic jackets/shorts/shirts/sweaters and more, as reported by Darren Rovell.

We get it -- Brady didn't have the most original nickname to begin with, but the similarity is hard to ignore when the guy who held Mac's job for 20 years built a whole brand around his initials and number.

Now, if Jones ends up making avocado ice cream recipes and raving about "pliability," then we'd call the guy a copycat ... but for now, it's most likely a coincidence.

The filing is probably bad news for Cam Newton's nickname for Jones -- "Mac and Cheese" -- but let's be honest, that moniker didn't really have legs, anyway.

The NHL has suspended Los Angeles Kings winger Brendan Lemieux for 5 games ... after the league ruled he did, in fact, bite his opponent last weekend.

Lemieux was involved in a scrum with Senators star Brady Tkachuk last Saturday at Staples Center ... when, at one point, Tkhachuk accused the L.A. player of ripping into his hand with his teeth.

Video from the play shows Tkachuk was pissed over the incident -- showing his bloody hand to refs and screaming, "He f***ing bit me!"

After several days of investigating, the NHL announced Tuesday night Lemieux did take a chunk of skin out of Tkachuk -- and now, he'll have to pay for it.

The league revealed Lemieux will be forced to sit out 5 games, and he'll also have to cough up around $40k of his salary.

Lemieux -- the son of ex-NHLer Claude Lemieux -- had been having a solid season for the Kings, scoring 4 goals in 14 games.

Travis Scott offered to pay for burial costs for the deceased of Astroworld Fest -- but more families of those who died are giving him the cold shoulder ... turning down his cash.

TMZ has spoken to attorneys repping the families of 14-year-old John Hilgert and 27-year-old Danish Baig -- both of whom perished during the event. In each of their cases ... the families have opted to snub TS, with one family suggesting it's a slap in the face.

Attorney Michael Lyons -- who's representing Baig's family in a civil lawsuit against Travis and others -- tells us ... "We received a written offer from Travis Scott's attorney Dan Petrocelli indicating that he would pay $7,500 in funeral burial costs and my clients are rejecting that."

As for why ... Lyons says the Baig family wants Travis nowhere near their son's burial, adding ... "[Y]ou can infer that when a parent has to bury their child that they're not really interested in people who may have contributed to that being involved."

Ditto for the Mithoff law firm, which is representing Hilgert's family in a similar lawsuit against Travis -- although, they didn't explain why they're rejecting the offer -- only saying they turned it down. No word on whether it was also in the amount of $7,500.

Speaking of these lawsuits, we asked Lyons what he and the family hope to gain going forward (besides damages) -- and he tells us his clients are hopeful for legislative reform so that this can never happen again.

As we reported ... the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount also rejected Travis' offer for burial costs. While it's unclear if any family has taken him up on the offer -- we wouldn't be surprised if all of them forgo his dough.

Tupac Shakur's right-hand man/bodyguard has a treasure trove of Pac-related gems that are seeing the light of day for the first time ... and are expected to fetch a pretty penny.

The late rapper's ex-bodyguard, Frank Alexander -- who has also since died -- once had a computer hard drive in his possession that's said to contain an unspoken amount of content covering all things Tupac ... including unseen photos, unheard music and legal docs giving new insight into his life.

The 83 GB drive -- which is being auctioned off by GottaHaveRockandRoll.com starting Wednesday -- will have an opening bid of $10,000 ... but we're told by people in the know that auction heads think someone will throw down way more for it -- about $600k or beyond.

Why's this thing so dang valuable, you may ask??? It's pretty simple actually ... especially when you get a gander at what's inside.

Among the digital files ... a sea of pics showing Pac and his pals behind the scenes, either hanging out and/or working on music and other projects.

Not just that, but we're told there's also a plethora of legal docs that pertained to Tupac that Frank owned ... such as depositions he gave, lawsuits he was named in, among other paperwork. Bottom line ... it's a very valuable collector's item for any hardcore fan.

Aaron Carter thinks his family is actively working to place him under a conservatorship ... and he claims they've been going behind his back and talking to his now-ex to do so.

Aaron tells TMZ ... he was FaceTiming with his friend Monday and was told his fiancee Melanie Martin regularly communicates with his twin sister, Angel Conrad, a revelation that felt like betrayal.

Remember, Aaron is estranged from his family -- in 2019 Angel got a restraining order against him after claiming he threatened to send hitmen to her door -- and he tells us Melanie knew he did not want her talking to his fam.

Aaron and Melanie have an on-again-off-again relationship, and every time they broke up he claims his family would reach out to her and see if she was OK ... but he thinks they weren't being nice, there were ulterior motives.

The way Aaron sees it ... his family is trying to gain an ally in Melanie as part of a plan to get a conservatorship over him, using her to gather information for the case.

However, Melanie tells TMZ .. she doesn’t believe his family is trying to get a conservatorship and they never grilled her on info.

Aaron says he confronted Melanie after Monday's FaceTime and claims she denied talking to his family initially, but then admitted it was true and copped to communicating with them.

Sources close to Aaron's brother, Nick Carter, tell TMZ … Nick and his wife, Lauren, have no part in wanting to put Aaron under a conservatorship, and they haven't talked to Melanie because they have no relationship with Aaron or Melanie.

We're told people close to Nick see this as another way of Aaron trying to bring Nick and his family down.

As we reported ... Aaron and Melanie split early Tuesday morning, only one week after the birth of their son.

Aaron says Melanie wouldn't tell him what she's been talking to his family about ... and that's why he decided to end their relationship. With a newborn baby, Aaron says the timing of the split is unfortunate ... but he says it's his life and he feels like he's being taken advantage of.

The recent string of mass shopliftings in retail, high-end and jewelry stores has corporations desperate for a way to stop thieves, and one new strategy seems to have done just that ... resulting in several arrests.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Lululemon Athletica has been putting tracking devices on store merchandise -- not necessarily to stop the theft from happening, but to recover lost goods after the crime takes place.

We're told as a result of the trackers, police were recently able to track down several women in a vehicle in Orange County, shortly after they'd hit a Lululemon store in Los Angeles.

Cops recovered around $15,000 worth of stolen Lulu gear when they pulled over the vehicle ... along with another $5,000 in goods stolen from other stores in the area.

As we've reported, it was just last week when a Louis Vuitton store was ransacked in a San Francisco smash-and-grab that looked like it was out of a movie ... with the alleged thieves scrambling to waiting vehicles.

Another flash-rob happened at an L.A. area LV store recently as well.