50 Cent Ordered To Pay More Money in Sex Tape Case
Earlier this month, 50 Cent made himself the subject of headlines and eager puns when he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In typical, media-savvy fashion, the Queen rapper-turned-provocateur-turned-entrepreneur joked about his supposed poverty, suggested the move was simply an attempt to skirt regulations and even tried shifting the discussion entirely. But the impetus for his filing won't go away, and now, it's back, knocking at the door, begging for more. After a judge ordered 50, born Curtis Jackson, pay $5 million in a lawsuit over a leaked sex tape, he's been ordered to cough up another $2 million in punitive damages. According to the New York Daily News, counsel for Lastonia Leviston, the subject of said sex tape and the mother of Rick Ross' child, argued that 50's late-night television appearances (and a heavily precipitating strip club appearance) indicated a lack of seriousness about the case, and suggested he had more money to spare than he was letting on. Though the plaintiff was seeking an amount in the $15 million range, Leviston said she felt she had "been served justice by the courts and vindicated by God."
50, who was not in court, was recently the subject of Ross' ire on a diss track called "Wing Stop (Remix)." Those guerrilla beef tactics he employed to rise to the top of the early 2000s' mixtape heap in New York didn't play well with jurors, who reportedly thought the mogul was too "funny" for someone accused of tormenting a woman. As Sylvia Rodriguez, who sat on the jury, cracked, "He has it. He's 50 Cent. You know he has more than 50 cents."