By: Ajalee Pulley, N.W.A. Contributor
Mo’ money, mo’ problems!
It seems Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent, just cannot seem to escape the news or the courtroom lately. He has just been slapped with another lawsuit seeking millions, not to mention he was just ordered in July to pay a $7 million settlement to Lastonia Leviston for putting her private sex tape on the Internet without permission.
50 Cent released the tape to ridicule his rap rival, Rick Ross, who is Leviston’s ex-boyfriend and father of her child. A Manhattan jury awarded Leviston $5 million in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages.
Soon after the ruling, the rapper filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Jackson claimed he took the necessary precaution that any “good businessperson” would make in his situation, but yet showed off his new home in Africa on Instagram saying, “I’m gonna have the craziest housewarming party ever. I’ll explain later. I got a good life, man.”
What’s that all about?!
Leviston is not the only person or business trying to collect from Jackson. Sleek Audio is the largest creditor seeking payment, more than $17 million to be exact, after the company claimed that Jackson stole their idea for headphones. This ranking could only be temporary if the ruling for another recent lawsuit filed against Jackson for $200 million doesn’t go in his favor. Yes, 200 million dollars! Larry Johnson is after the rapper too, claiming the plot behind the Starz drama Power was something he’d written in the past called Tribulations of a Ghetto Kid.
In 2005, Johnson sent a finished manuscript for Tribulations to Nikki Turner, an employer at G-Unit Book, and a decade later Jackson allegedly pitched it to Starz. Johnson listed the similarities between the two. Power’s main character, James “Ghost” St. Patrick, has a goatee, and the character in his book also has a goatee. Johnson says that his book’s main character has a best friend with a heated temper, and Ghost’s best friend, Tommy, just so happens to have one too. The book’s main character owns the busiest nightclub in Atlanta, while Ghost is the head of the hottest club in New York City. And last but not least, he points out that he uses the nickname “Ghost” as his own pen name. It’s up in the air how Johnson’s case will move forward. Season 2 of Power ended Aug. 15 and the drama already secured another season before the lawsuit was filed. I guess we have to wait to see what happens.
