Real Housewives

Lisa Vanderpump telegraphed her disdain for a bizarre jury verdict against her famous restaurant through her famous dog, Giggy.

Our photog asked Lisa Tuesday night about the sexual harassment trial in which the jury just socked Villa Blanca with a $100,000 punitive damages award. A former waitress sued the restaurant and a manager, claiming the manager did all sorts of awful things to her.

Here's what's crazy ... the jury ruled in favor of the manager but nailed the restaurant.

2:27 PM PT -- Vanderpump's attorney tells TMZ ... “We are in absolute shock at the amount of punitive damages that were awarded. Especially in light of nominal compensatory damages awarded and the lack of sufficient evidence. We plan to immediately file an appeal and are confident that we will prevail.”

Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant just got nailed by an L.A. jury, which awarded a former waitress $100,000 in punitive damages in her sexual harassment lawsuit.

The whole jury verdict is bizarre ... jurors awarded Karina Bustillos over $6,000 last week after hearing testimony that a manager manhandled her, called her foul names and made sexual advances. But what's weird ... the jury did not place any liability on the manager, making it seem like they didn't believe her. So it's puzzling why Villa Blanca got nailed.

And now it's double-puzzling why the jury gave Karina punitives.

Both sides declared victory last week, but now it seems the jury wanted to teach Villa Blanca a lesson.

Sonja Morgan better learn how to say "broke as a joke" in French -- she just lost her fabulous St. Tropez villa in her bankruptcy case ... and a bunch of pigs nearly screwed the deal.

The trustee in her longstanding bankruptcy sold off the Riviera vacay spot for $5.7 million, according to court docs obtained by TMZ.

The "Real Housewives of New York" star has been telling people SHE was selling to be financially responsible, but truth is the court-appointed trustee sold it ... and Sonja had no say in the deal.

Sonja had said she was listing it for $8 million -- but the trustee sold it for much less, partly because the place wasn't easy to unload. According to the docs, the trustee ran into several issues ... including wild boars destroying the landscaping back in January.

French wild pigs, dude. Zut alors!

A fool and his money are soon parted ... just ask Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Paul Nassif who says a con artist bilked him out of nearly $400K in a real estate scam.

Nassif claims Anthony Zogaib came to him last year with a plan to buy fixer-uppers online, spend $10-15K to repair each of them, then flip them for big fat profit.

Nassif -- ex hubby of "Housewives" star Adrienne Maloof -- claims in a lawsuit, he paid 50% of the downpayment and 50% of the remodel costs. The plan was for them to split the profits.

Nassif says he shelled out a total of $367,000 to Zogaib -- but the dude never bought a single home. He says Zogaib refused to return his money.

We've reached out to Zogaib ... so far no word back.

11:00 AM PT -- Camille's lawyer tells TMZ, "We are delighted that he filed a lawsuit because we are already in the process of filing a civil lawsuit against him to pay for the damage he has caused. We look forward to court, where we will introduce forensic evidence clearly establishing his liability. It is surprising that someone who committed an assault would actually sue the victim."

Camille Grammer's ex-boyfriend thinks she should write reality TV -- because the "assault" she concocted and then accused him of last year was worthy of an episode of "Real Housewives."

Dimitri Charalambopoulos has filed a lawsuit against Camille, accusing her of bold-faced lying over a blowout fight they allegedly had last year.

You'll recall, Camille claimed Dimitri beat her to a pulp in a Houston hotel room and even ripped out her hair.

But according to Dimitri's lawsuit -- filed by his attorney, Guy Fisher -- there was no fight. He claims she baselessly accused him of cheating and he immediately left the hotel room ... at which point Camille faked the entire melee, smudging her make-up and even pulling hair from her hairbrush to scatter around the room.

And under the category "salt in the wound" ... Dimitri claims she made her bogus claims after he cared for her post cancer surgery, doing everything from helping her shower to "draining her catheter bag."

Sources tell us ... Dimitri thinks it's the most fantasy filled novelesque manner that the screenwriters for 'Housewives of Beverly Hills' would envy.

As we reported, the felony assault charges that followed were dismissed this week due to lack of evidence. Dimitri insists the damage is done ... his life has been devastated by Camille's lies.

More like 'Real GROUSEwives of Beverly Hills' -- Kyle Richards and co. are refusing to sign contracts to film the next season of the show ... effectively staging a holdout until they ALL get more money.

According to sources, 5 cast members have been asked to return for the fifth season -- Lisa Vanderpump, Kyle Richards, Kim Richards, Brandi Glanville, and Yolanda Foster -- but so far, zero have agreed to come back.

As we reported, Lisa has made it very clear she's on the fence about renewing her contract for personal reasons -- but we're told the other women are, more predictably, holding out for fatter paychecks.

Sources tell us negotiations have been intense, but Bravo is close to finalizing deals for everyone except Lisa, who remains a question mark.

Camille Grammer's ex-boyfriend will not be charged in the alleged altercation that went down between them last year ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Grammer accused Dimitri Charalambopoulos of attacking her in a Houston hotel room last October. Grammer was left badly bruised and battered (see below) and got a restraining order against Charalambopoulos for three years.

But Charalambopoulos appeared before a grand jury today ... which decided there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case ... meaning he was free to go.

We're told Camille's team is baffled by the decision not to move forward ... especially because they felt there was plenty of evidence -- including pics of injuries -- and because a judge had already seen enough to grant the restraining order.

Lisa Vanderpump has had it with "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" -- but executive producer Andy Cohen is fighting tooth and nail to keep her ... using Lance Bass as his secret weapon.

Sources close to production tell TMZ, Andy and Lance double teamed Lisa at her Beverly Hills restaurant PUMP over the weekend in a last ditch effort to get her to come back for the next season of RHOBH ... disguising their attack as a casual dinner date.

We're told Lisa -- who's already killing it on Bravo with her other show "Vanderpump Rules" -- has not re-upped her RHOBH contract and has told Andy she's fed up with the show ... specifically because she felt extremely bullied by the other women last season. See below.

According to sources, Cohen is extremely nervous about losing Vanderpump -- a big player on RHOBH -- and spent most of their dinner trying to convince her to stay ... it's unclear if Lisa has changed her mind. We're told Andy used Lance because he knows Lisa and Lance are good friends.

Apollo Nida won't be comparing himself to T.I. anymore -- especially when it comes to snitching -- because the rapper and his boy Killer Mike put the fear of God into Apollo in Atlanta yesterday ... and the whole confrontation was recorded.

TMZ broke the story ... "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Nida copped a plea with the Feds in his wire and bank fraud case -- and part of the terms included Nida agreeing to become an informant to help catch other crooks. Aka snitching.

Nida tried to downplay our story with a tweet ... claiming T.I. and Michael Vick signed similar "snitching" deals in their cases. Big mistake, Apollo.

T.I. and Mike caught up with Nida in a parking lot yesterday ... and made it extremely clear -- he better keep T.I.'s name out of his mouth.

In the vid ... T.I. tells Nida their cases were not similar at all.

T.I.'s right ... we've seen the documents and his plea agreement with the Feds does NOT include a so-called snitching clause.

Bethenny Frankel and estranged hubby Jason Hoppy buried the hatchet -- temporarily -- to celebrate their daughter Bryn's birthday.

They were strolling the street in NYC, looking happy, but snapshots can be deceiving.

As TMZ first reported, Frankel filed for divorce in January 2013, but they have been in a mega- fight over money and custody issues ever since. Just last month, Bethenny was ordered to fork over $100k to Hoppy's attorneys ... and still there is no deal done.

Porsha Williams' anti-gay sermon does NOT mean she's getting axed from "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" next season, but she still might be 86'd over that reunion show brawl ... TMZ has learned.

As TMZ previously reported, video from about 3 years ago recently surfaced showing Porsha preaching and rambling about praying for gays, lesbians, and hookers to be saved.

But sources close to Porsha tell TMZ she has not heard one word from Bravo. We're told Bravo is more concerned about the fallout from Porsha's fight with Kenya Moore and the resulting battery charge.

Apollo Nida made a deal with the feds that has landed many an informant in concrete shoes.

Nida copped a plea Tuesday to wire and bank fraud, and TMZ has learned under the terms of the deal he agreed to act in an "undercover investigative capacity" for the feds.

Here's what we don't understand ... the plea deal is now available to the public, so what idiot is going to spill his guts to Nida now?

It gets even weirder. Nida has agreed to allow the feds to record conversations he may have with other criminal suspects. Again, it's like screaming through a bullhorn, "Don't talk to that dude!"

Nida stole the identities of more than 50 people and laundered more than $2.3 million ... so the government claims.

Nida could be sentenced to 30 years in prison, but that's worst case scenario. The judge will formally sentence him in July.

Hopefully, real life snitching will work out better for Nida than it did on "The Sopranos."

Apollo Nida -- husband of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Phaedra Parks -- has pleaded guilty in a massive money fraud scheme ... after allegedly stealing the identities of more than 50 people and laundering more than $2.3 million.

According to the US Attorneys' office, Feds pounced on Nida last year after he and a group of co-conspirators cashed tons of stolen U.S. Treasury checks, and checks from the Delta Airlines pension fund ... then laundered the money through bank accounts in the names of people whose IDs he also stole.

Feds claim Nida bilked even more cash by filing fake tax returns and obtaining bank loans against cars he didn't own.

If you thought the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" fight between Porsha Williams and Kenya Moore was brutal on TV ... Kandi Burruss says it was worse in person ... because Bravo didn't show everything.

Burruss was at LAX on Thursday where she told our photog she did watch the fight on TV when it aired on Sunday night ... just like her fellow Housewife Kenya did.

Kandi says she has every intention of coming back to the show next season and says she wants the WHOLE cast to return ... even Porsha, violence and all.

Kenya Moore told our photog ... the epic "Real Housewives of Atlanta" brawl between Porsha Williams and herself was "disgusting" to watch on TV.

Kenya was tight-lipped on Porsha's glamorous mug shot -- taken after she was criminally charged with battery, but she did say she'd love to see her nemesis replaced with someone less violent.

It's also interesting how she responds to the $64K question ... whether she'll return to the show next season.

This is one for the books. The woman who was suing Lisa Vanderpump for $5 million alleging sexual harassment at her Villa Blanca restaurant -- among other things, is now willing to settle for $40K if the restaurant acknowledges some ridiculous things.

Karina Bustillos -- who claimed a Villa Blanca manager sexually harassed her in all sorts of ways -- says she'll drop the suit if she gets $40K and the following promises from Villa Blanca:

-- not to serve catfish and claim it's the more expensive tilapia
-- not to serve canned fruits and veggies and call them fresh
-- teach employees not to eat food off customers' plates
-- order kitchen staff to wash their hands frequently

And there's other stuff too, which seems like it's designed to embarrass.