Lawyers for the "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" star filed for personal bankruptcy on 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 Connecticut Bankruptcy Court says he has $10-$50 million in assets, and $10-$50 million in debt — a figure that's likely to grow quickly.
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 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.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.2290501
He always bragging about being rich
most sensible post in this thread.
hopefully he doesn't just read the headline and talk about black celebrities going broke again
