BFW 07/13 16:00 *RAPPER 50 CENT FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION IN CONNECTICUT
Rapper 50 Cent Files for Bankruptcy After Sex-Tape Lawsuit (2)
2015-07-13 19:39:27.627 GMT
(Updates with judge’s ruling in seventh paragraph.)
By Tiffany Kary and Dawn McCarty
(Bloomberg) -- The Grammy-winning rapper known as 50 Cent
filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut after losing a lawsuit in a
New York court over a 2008 sex tape.
Curtis James Jackson III, whose 2003 debut album “Get Rich
or Die Tryin’” was made into an autobiographical film, listed
assets and debt of less than $50 million each in a court filing
Monday in Hartford.
His personal bankruptcy follows a series of legal maneuvers
that one federal judge called efforts to avoid trial in a five-
year-old lawsuit involving the online posting of a sex tape.
Lastonia Leviston sued Jackson in 2010 in New York state
court, accusing him of posting the sexually explicit videotape
and seeking payment for the unauthorized use of her image and
damages for emotional distress.
Leviston said the recording, which she made with a
boyfriend in 2008, was meant to be private. The boyfriend
transferred or sold the video to 50 Cent, according to the
complaint. 50 Cent edited the video, adding narration and
footage of himself dressed in a wig and robe, Leviston said.
Jackson has twice tried to have the case moved out of state
court as trial was set to begin. In one instance, he cited the
bankruptcy of SMS Promotions, his boxing promotion company,
which filed for creditor protection the day before the sex-tape
trial was to start.
A jury awarded Leviston $5 million in damages last week and
was to consider further, punitive, damages, according to a clerk
for Justice Paul Wooten in New York State Supreme Court.
‘Improper Purpose’
In sending the case back to state court last month, U.S.
District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan said some of
50 Cent’s arguments for removing the case to federal court
beggared belief and accused him of using dilatory tactics “for
the improper purpose of delaying the trial.”
In a related move, 50 Cent sued another man, seeking to
make him liable for any damages he may be forced to pay in
Leviston’s suit. The defendant in that case originally published
the sex tape, 50 Cent said in court papers, adding that he just
put an embedded link to the video on a website.
After the success of “Get Rich,” 50 Cent was given his
own record label, G-Unit Records, by Interscope, which had done
the same for rappers Dr. Dre and Eminem.
He topped the charts again with his second album, “The
Massacre,” but found even more success in the drinks industry
after partnering with Glaceau, the maker of Vitamin Water. He
was given a stake in the company, which Coca-Cola Co. bought in
2007 for more than $4 billion.
“This filing for personal bankruptcy protection permits
Mr. Jackson to continue his involvement with various business
interests and continue his work as an entertainer, while he
pursues an orderly reorganization of his financial affairs,” 50
Cent’s lawyer, William A. Brewer III, said in an e-mailed
statement.
The bankruptcy is In re Curtis James Jackson III, 15-21233,
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Connecticut (Hartford).
For Related News and Information:
Taco Bell Sued by ‘50 Cent’ Over Persona in Promotion
Legal headlines: TLAW <GO>
Bloomberg legal resources: BLAW <GO>
--With assistance from Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles and Patrick G.
Lee in Manhattan state court.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Tiffany Kary in New York at +1-718-875-1459 or
tkary@bloomberg.net;
Dawn McCarty in Wilmington, Delaware at +1-302-661-7618 or
dmccarty@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Andrew Dunn at +1-212-617-2529 or
adunn8@bloomberg.net
Charles Carter
2015-07-13 19:39:27.627 GMT
(Updates with judge’s ruling in seventh paragraph.)
By Tiffany Kary and Dawn McCarty
(Bloomberg) -- The Grammy-winning rapper known as 50 Cent
filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut after losing a lawsuit in a
New York court over a 2008 sex tape.
Curtis James Jackson III, whose 2003 debut album “Get Rich
or Die Tryin’” was made into an autobiographical film, listed
assets and debt of less than $50 million each in a court filing
Monday in Hartford.
His personal bankruptcy follows a series of legal maneuvers
that one federal judge called efforts to avoid trial in a five-
year-old lawsuit involving the online posting of a sex tape.
Lastonia Leviston sued Jackson in 2010 in New York state
court, accusing him of posting the sexually explicit videotape
and seeking payment for the unauthorized use of her image and
damages for emotional distress.
Leviston said the recording, which she made with a
boyfriend in 2008, was meant to be private. The boyfriend
transferred or sold the video to 50 Cent, according to the
complaint. 50 Cent edited the video, adding narration and
footage of himself dressed in a wig and robe, Leviston said.
Jackson has twice tried to have the case moved out of state
court as trial was set to begin. In one instance, he cited the
bankruptcy of SMS Promotions, his boxing promotion company,
which filed for creditor protection the day before the sex-tape
trial was to start.
A jury awarded Leviston $5 million in damages last week and
was to consider further, punitive, damages, according to a clerk
for Justice Paul Wooten in New York State Supreme Court.
‘Improper Purpose’
In sending the case back to state court last month, U.S.
District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan said some of
50 Cent’s arguments for removing the case to federal court
beggared belief and accused him of using dilatory tactics “for
the improper purpose of delaying the trial.”
In a related move, 50 Cent sued another man, seeking to
make him liable for any damages he may be forced to pay in
Leviston’s suit. The defendant in that case originally published
the sex tape, 50 Cent said in court papers, adding that he just
put an embedded link to the video on a website.
After the success of “Get Rich,” 50 Cent was given his
own record label, G-Unit Records, by Interscope, which had done
the same for rappers Dr. Dre and Eminem.
He topped the charts again with his second album, “The
Massacre,” but found even more success in the drinks industry
after partnering with Glaceau, the maker of Vitamin Water. He
was given a stake in the company, which Coca-Cola Co. bought in
2007 for more than $4 billion.
“This filing for personal bankruptcy protection permits
Mr. Jackson to continue his involvement with various business
interests and continue his work as an entertainer, while he
pursues an orderly reorganization of his financial affairs,” 50
Cent’s lawyer, William A. Brewer III, said in an e-mailed
statement.
The bankruptcy is In re Curtis James Jackson III, 15-21233,
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Connecticut (Hartford).
For Related News and Information:
Taco Bell Sued by ‘50 Cent’ Over Persona in Promotion
Legal headlines: TLAW <GO>
Bloomberg legal resources: BLAW <GO>
--With assistance from Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles and Patrick G.
Lee in Manhattan state court.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Tiffany Kary in New York at +1-718-875-1459 or
tkary@bloomberg.net;
Dawn McCarty in Wilmington, Delaware at +1-302-661-7618 or
dmccarty@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Andrew Dunn at +1-212-617-2529 or
adunn8@bloomberg.net
Charles Carter