Days after a jury ordered 50 Cent to pay a woman $5 million for posting her sex tape online without her consent, the rapper has filed for bankruptcy. Lawyers for the 40-year-old rapper filed court papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, Connecticut under his real name, Curtis James Jackson III. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing (see, below) lists his liabilities as in the region of $10 million to $50 million and his estimated assets in the same range. In May, Forbes estimated 50 Cent's net worth at $155 million, largely from his business interests in clothing, beverages and music technology. This filing is a tactic to prevent him from paying the woman the $5 million.
The rapper has tried to cry poverty in the case before, saying his previous lawyers were too expensive and that he was going broke - despite his successful rap and movie careers, and numerous lucrative endorsement deals. He famously cleared over $100 million when his stake in Vitamin Water was bought out by Coca-Cola a few years ago. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Paul Wooten had directed Fitty to testify about his finances from the witness stand Monday. Instead, his lawyers surprised the judge and Leviston's lawyers around 10 a.m. with news of the bankruptcy petition. Jackson's lawyer James Renard told the judge that the filing in Connecticut, where Jackson has a 52-room mansion in Farmington, entitled him to a delay or automatic stay of Leviston's case in state court. Wooten told Renard that he was not sure the stay was automatic, given the circumstances. "This is the second such bankruptcy that your client has filed in the last 30 days," the judge said. Renard noted that the last bankruptcy filed in Manhattan federal court involved one of his client's corporations. "Which he was in 100% ownership of," Wooten snapped back. The Manhattan federal judge in the first bankruptcy case rejected Jackson's request for a delay in the state trial and said she would consider imposing sanctions on his lawyers for even asking. Leviston's lawyer Alex Alvarez said "this is the third attempt to stop this trial. My client deserves finality in the process." He told Wooten that Leviston's team is making an emergency application to federal court to get the stay lifted and he urged Wooten to ask the Manhattan jury to return next Monday until the legal maneuvers in Connecticut are settled. Renard noted that since the punitive damages still have to be determined, it is possible that a federal bankruptcy judge could set the amount due Leviston. Last week, Leviston's attorney, Philip Freidin, asked the jury for $10 million in punitive damages. Wooten retreated to his chambers to decide. The supposedly poor rapper, meanwhile, is continuing to live the high life — posting a flier on Instagram for yet another 40th birthday party Monday night, this time in California. He had one in New York last week while the trial was going on. The postings also make clear he apparently didn’t have any intention of testifying, because they show he was doing a signing for his vodka line in Glendale, Ca., on Sunday afternoon, and partying with models promoting the vodka that night.
source: NY Daily News
Will his scheme work? Only time will tell. But we don't see it happening.
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