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One of Hollywood's biggest nightlife empires is now facing a major legal showdown ... and it's coming from someone who says she helped build the brand that celebrities made famous.

According to court documents, obtained by TMZ ... Marsha Molinari, a longtime business partner of The h.wood Group -- the hospitality company behind celebrity hotspots Bootsy Bellows, Delilah, The Nice Guy, and The Peppermint Club -- is suing the company and its founders, claiming she was denied her share of a massive deal after more than 16 years helping grow the brand.

Molinari, a marketing and branding executive, says she was a co-founder and equal-thirds partner in The h.wood Group along with the two other founders, John Terzian and Brian Toll ... and she says she was treated publicly and privately as a co-equal partner for years.

Ryan Routh has been sentenced to life in prison ... months after he was found guilty of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down Routh's sentence, which includes an additional seven years for a firearm offense, at a Fort Pierce, Florida courtroom on Wednesday, NBC News reports.

Prosecutors called Routh "totally unrepentant" for his crimes in a sentencing memorandum, adding ... "the heinous nature of this assassination attempt -- his selfish, violent decision to prevent the American voters from electing President Trump by killing him first -- that warrants severe criminal punishment."

FYI ... Routh was arrested after he tried to kill Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach in September 2024, two months after a previous attempt on the presidential candidate's life in Butler, Pennsylvania. Authorities said Routh brought a weapon --  identified as an SKS-style rifle -- as well as two backpacks and a GoPro camera to the golf course.

The attempt was foiled after a Secret Service agent noticed the barrel of the gun poking through a fence and shrubbery and fired a shot at Routh. Trump was reportedly about 400 yards from the scene on the course.

Routh fled in an SUV parked nearby ... he was apprehended by authorities later in the day about 50 miles from the club.

Routh left a letter with an admission of guilt at a residence near Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort, which partially read ... "This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job."

Routh represented himself during his trial, and he was found guilty on several felony counts, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer, in September 2025. Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen in court when his verdict was read.

Quinton Aaron's recovering in the hospital from a spinal stroke, but his family says the woman who is by his side and making medical decisions for him is fibbing about being his wife ... though she begs to differ.

The actor's brother, Jarred Aaron, tells TMZ ... the woman claiming to be his wife, Margarita Aaron, is actually married to another man. His immediate worry is she's misrepresenting herself as his legal wife to the medical staff at the hospital and is helping to make "crucial and life-saving medical decisions."

Margarita tells us ... she and Aaron "got spiritually married."

Tragedy struck Dog the Bounty Hunter's family last year when his 13-year-old step-grandson Anthony was shot and killed ... and now we've learned Dog's stepson Gregory Zecca has been arrested for the fatal accident.

According to Florida's Collier County Sheriff's Office ... Zecca was determined to have been under the influence of alcohol while he was handling the firearm last July. Law enforcement obtained an arrest warrant charging Zecca with aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm and using a firearm while under the influence.

Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement ... "This was a heartbreaking and preventable tragedy. Our detectives conducted an exhaustive and thorough investigation, examining every element of what happened through witness statements, forensic testing, subpoenas, search warrants, and more. I commend their hard work and professionalism in uncovering the facts in an incredibly difficult case."

According to the investigation, Gregory was drinking for several hours before sitting down to watch a UFC fight on TV with his son at a friend's house. At the friend's house, Gregory continued to drink and got high on marijuana, authorities say.

Julia Roberts' sister-in-law Eliza Roberts accused Timothy Busfield of sexually harassing her over 30 years ago ... and now she says the alleged victims in the actor/director's recent child sex abuse charges should not be "vilified."

Photogs caught up with Eliza on Monday as she was headed to the movies in Los Angeles, where she tells us we should all believe the 2 brothers who claimed Busfield touched their private parts while on the set of the TV show, "The Cleaning Lady," in 2022, according to court documents. Prosecutors say the 7-year-old twins were actors and Busfield was the director.

Despite their accusations against the director, the boys originally told investigators Busfield never acted inappropriately toward them.

Usher's ex-wife Tameka Foster had maybe the most friendly arrest in history ... newly released police body cam footage shows her exchanging casual banter and even getting a few laughs out of her arresting officer.

So here's what happened ... According to Hot97, Foster shared in an Instagram Live that she had gotten a ticket last year for driving a car without current insurance. After immediately updating the insurance on the vehicle, she thought the issue had been resolved ... the only problem was she needed to show up to court in person to show proof before a judge.

Her failure to appear reportedly resulted in a warrant being issued for her arrest, and Brookhaven Police nabbed her just after her plane landed in Georgia after a tropical vacation last month.

Erika Kirk wants the cards on the table when the guy charged with killing Charlie Kirk stands trial.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Erika says any request to close court proceedings from the public eye should be denied.

In other words, Erika is calling for transparency when Tyler Robinson is put on trial for murder ... and she wants the public to have access to the evidence as it is presented in court.

With everything that’s gone down in the Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively legal saga, it’s wild to think these two were once on very friendly terms ... and this audio clip obtained by TMZ proves it.

Take a listen -- in a voice note Justin sent Blake back in the early, pre-filming days of "It Ends With Us," he thanks her for sharing pics from her costume fittings, admitting he "legit got the chills" when he saw them and telling her she "looked beautiful."

The timing is key ... this was way before cameras rolled and before they’d even cast the younger version of Blake’s character, Lily Bloom, which they also chatted about in the message.

Brett Ratner makes an appearance in the latest dump of the infamous Epstein Files ... sitting next to Jeffrey Epstein and two redacted women in newly released photos.

The director -- who helmed the new documentary "Melania" about First Lady Melania Trump -- wears a white shirt in the photo and leans in close to a woman sitting next to him.

His arms are wrapped around the youthful woman's waist from behind ... and she's leaning into Epstein, who has another woman to his right.

Jeffrey Epstein says one of Donald Trump and Marla Maples' friends had a serious foot fetish ... once stealing her high heels and going to town on it!

The disgraced financier made the allegation in an email to Deepak Chopra from 2016 -- released as part of the Department of Justice's massive file dump Friday -- in which Epstein says Marla can tell Deepak "the story of her friend who was caught having sex with her shoes."

Chopra asks if Epstein means having sex with Marla's shoes on ... but, Epstein says he doesn't -- he means her friend was caught cutting holes in the back of Marla's shoes and doing the deed.

Twitch streamer and rapper Aspen Kartier was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after a video of her seemingly roughing up an innocent pup on the platform went viral.

The 19-year-old streamer -- whose real name is Aspen Easterling -- was cuffed and booked into the DeKalb County Jail Friday night after authorities received numerous complaints over the alleged abuse in the circulating video ... the Brookhaven Police Department tells TMZ.

Brookhaven police officers gathered enough evidence against Aspen to secure a search warrant for her residence as well as an arrest warrant, and she was taken in around 9:30 PM.

President Trump sicking federal prosecutors on Don Lemon for reporting live from an ICE protest could have massive implications for our democracy ... and the decision to charge the former CNN host with federal crimes is sparking a spirited debate between attorneys Mark Geragos and Harvey Levin.

Mark and Harvey -- hosts of the "2 Angry Men" podcast -- have vastly different views on what played out in Minnesota this month ... when Don reported on an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service.

The feds arrested Don and charged him with a couple crimes, alleging he was part of the protest and not just an independent observer reporting on a newsworthy event. Harvey says the charges are bogus and based on lies, and he's taking it as an attack on the free press, which he says is a bad sign for the future of democracy in the United States.

Don Lemon has been released from custody after being criminally charged for covering a church protest in Minneapolis, and he made it clear ... this will not silence him.

Lemon told the crowd ... he has been a reporter for 30 years, and he will not stop doing what he has always done -- covering the news.

As we reported, Lemon was arrested Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles, for allegedly co-conspiring with protesters to disrupt a church service in Minneapolis.

Federal prosecutors are explaining why they have the gall to arrest and charge Don Lemon in connection with his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service ... they claim he wasn't reporting from the sidelines, and was part of the plot to raid the church.

According to the federal indictment, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors allege Don conspired with protestors to "injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate" clergy, staff, and congregants at Cities Church in Minneapolis.

The feds say Don met up with the protestors before the demonstration and got instructions on where they would be protesting and how the "operation" would go down once at the church.

Prosecutors say Don started livestreaming the morning of the Jan. 18 protest, telling his audience he was in Minnesota with an organization that was gearing up for a "resistance" operation against the federal government's immigration policies.

The feds say Don took steps to "maintain operational secrecy" by not revealing the location of the planned protest to his audience ... and prosecutors say he stepped away from a live mic so he "would not accidentally divulge certain portions of the planning session."

Elon Musk has been swept up in the new batch of Epstein files — with the Tesla CEO firing off a 2013 email to Jeffrey Epstein to make plans to hang out on Epstein island.

In December 2013, Musk sent the email to Epstein telling the late convicted pedophile that he would be in the British Virgin Islands over the holidays and wanted to know if it was a good time to visit the island. Previously, Elon claimed that he refused invitations from Epstein to visit the island, where alleged acts of pedophilia went down.

Two days later, Epstein wrote back to Musk that he could swing by at the start of the new year, adding that there's “always space for you.” Epstein sent a follow-up email Christmas Day, stating he would pick up Musk on January 2 or 3.

8:17 AM PT -- Don Lemon is being charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, and violation of the FACE Act -- interfering by force of someone’s First Amendment rights -- according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.

Don Lemon was arrested Thursday night by federal agents in Los Angeles in connection with his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.

Lemon was charged with violating a federal law by impeding people's right to worship during an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in Minneapolis on January 18, according to The New York Times.

In a statement Friday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says ... "At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota."