He's worth an estimated $150 million, but 50 Cent says he doesn’t have two pennies to rub together.
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A bankruptcy filing says 50 Cent has$10 million to $50 million in assets, and $10 million to $50 million in debt. |
Lawyers for the “Get Rich or Die Tryin" star filed for personal
bankruptcy Monday — the same day he was called to testify about his
finances in a lawsuit brought by a woman whose sex tape he posted online.
The filing in Bankruptcy Court in Connecticut says he has $10 million
to $50 million in assets, and $10 million to $50 million in debt — a
figure that’s likely to grow quickly.
A jury awarded Lastonia Leviston $5 million in damages for emotional
distress and violation of her civil rights last week, and was set to
weigh punitive damages against the superstar this week.
The “Candy Shop” rapper’s legal gambit paid off — at least temporarily —
Monday, when the judge presiding over the sex tape case delayed it for a
week while Leviston’s lawyers challenge the bankruptcy proceeding.
“We will not give up,” said one of the single mom’s attorneys, Philip Freidin.
Fitty portrayed himself as the victim in an interview with E! News.
“You know when you’re successful and stuff, you become a target. I
don’t wanna be a bull’s-eye. I don’t want anybody to pick me as the guy
that they just come to with astronomical claims and go through all
that,” he said.
“I’m taking the precautions that any other good businessperson would take in this situation.”
The “Power” star’s lawyer, William Brewer, said his client’s “business
interests will continue unaffected in the ordinary course during the
pendency of the Chapter 11 case.”
Fitty, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, has said he was told that
Leviston was “cool” with him posting the explicit video, but
acknowledged he didn’t seek her permission to do so.
He used the video to mock rival rapper Rick Ross, who fathered a child
with Leviston. Leviston’s lawyer said he also used the tape to drive up
traffic on his website.
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 VitaminWater 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 attorneys around 10 a.m. with news of the bankruptcy petition.
Fitty’s lawyer, James Renard, told the judge that the filing in
Connecticut, where 50 Cent 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.
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