Blogs

MADRID (AP) — Prosecutors in Spain said Friday they would ask a court to sentence Colombian pop star Shakira to eight years and two months in prison, if she is convicted in her expected trial for alleged tax fraud.

Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, is charged with failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros ($15 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014. The prosecutors said they would also seek a fine of 24 million euros ($24 million).

The indictment details six charges against Shakira. The singer this week rejected a settlement deal offered by prosecutors, opting to go to trial instead. A trial date has yet to be set.

Her publicists in London said in a statement Friday that Shakira “has always cooperated and abided by the law, demonstrating impeccable conduct as an individual and a taxpayer.” The publicists accused the Spanish Tax Agency of violating her rights.

Shakira’s Spanish public relations team said earlier this week that the artist has deposited the amount she is said to owe, including 3 million euros in interest.

Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged the Grammy winner spent more than half of each year between 2012 and 2014 in Spain and should have paid taxes in the country.

Shakira recently ended an 11-year-long relationship with FC Barcelona star Gerard Piqué, with whom she has two children. The family used to live in Barcelona.

#shakira #shakirataxfraud #shakirataxfraudspain #singer #entertainer #actress #spain #taxevasion #taxfraud #fcbarcelona #gerardpique #soccer #futball #taxes #barcelona #spanishtaxagency #rightsviolation #15milliondollars #shakira15milliondollartaxfraud #spanish #superstar #prosecutors

Follow Me

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — FOX31 has confirmed with various sources that the City of Aurora will settle a federal lawsuit with the family of Elijah McClain for $15 million.

“The City of Aurora and the family of Elijah McClain reached a settlement agreement in principle over the summer to resolve the lawsuit filed after his tragic death in August 2019,” said Ryan Luby, the city’s deputy director of communications and marketing.

McClain died in 2019 after police confronted him while he was walking home and wearing a mask. He was also injected by paramedics with the sedative ketamine. He died following the altercation.

Each of the police officers who confronted McClain before his death in August 2019 and the medics who sedated him with ketamine is facing manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges.

The lawsuit, filed in August 2020, names as defendants the city and multiple police officers and fire personnel who were present at the scene prior to McClain’s death.

“Ms. McClain would like to thank the community for its incredible support, love, and commitment to ensuring that Elijah’s death would lead to meaningful reform,” an attorney for Elijah’s mother, Sheneen McClain, said in a statement. “Ms. McClain raised Elijah as a single mother and his death has left an enormous void in her life. While nothing will fill that void, Ms. McClain is hopeful that badly needed reforms to the Aurora Police Department will spare other parents the same heartache.”

#elijahmcclain #elijahmcclainwasmurdered #elijahmcclainaurora #elijahmcclain15milliondollarsettlement #elijahmcclainmom #wrongfuldeathlawsuit #civilrightslawsuit #auroracolorado #murder #homicide #policebrutality #abuseofpower #paramedics #drugged #ketamine #NathanWoodyard #JasonRosenblatt #RandyRoedema #caughtoncamera #killercops #policethepolice #walkinghome #sheneedmcclain #manslaughter #jeremycooper #PeterCichuniec #bodycam #guiltyascharged #lockthemup #justforelijahmcclin

Follow Me

Kyrie Irving & Andrew Wiggins will each lose more than $15 MILLION if they refuse to get the jab ... because the NBA just announced it will NOT pay players who miss games for not having the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Association has not made it mandatory for players to be vaxxed, but local mandates in San Francisco & New York City will keep guys like Wiggins and Irving -- who have reportedly elected against the vaccine -- from being able to play home games for the Warriors & Nets, respectively.

Considering NBA teams play half of their games at home, this would keep the 2 stars from playing in at least 41 games this season ... which will put a serious hurt on their bank accounts.

Wiggins -- who is in a 5-year, $147,710,050 deal -- will reportedly pass up on $15.8 million this season ... while Irving -- 4-year, $136,490,600 contract -- will forfeit $17.5 million.

Kyrie has spoken out about his choice ... saying it's a personal decision and he hopes to be with his team as much as possible.

Wiggins is reportedly hellbent on not getting the vaccine ... despite the Warriors setting up meetings with health officials to try to ease any fears.

The league says players cannot be forced to get vaxxed unless the players' union agrees to it & it sounds like that ain't happening any time soon.

Of course, it's absolutely their decision to not get the vaccine ... but that's a serious amount of money that could have the guys reconsidering their stance.

#covid19 #covidvaccine #coronavirus #covidshot #antivaxxer #kyrieirving #brooklynnets #andrewwiggins #goldenstatewarriors #bradleybeal #washingtonwizards #jonathanisaac #orlandomagic #nba #nbaplayers #basketball #basketballplayers #nbacovidvaccine #bagfumbled #securethebag #giannisantetokounmpo #milwaukeebucks #damianlillard #portlandtrailblazers #lebronjameslalakers #joebiden #presidentbiden #mandatoryvaccine #adamsilver #vaccine

Source: TMZ

Follow Me

Andrew Wiggins just made a nearly $15 million decision -- the Warriors forward has officially put his COVID-19 standoff to rest and is vaccinated, Steve Kerr confirmed Sunday.

The 26-year-old was previously hellbent against getting the jab ... saying he had nothing against other folks being vaccinated, but it was his personal decision to elect against it.

Considering the San Francisco Dept. of Public Health currently requires anyone 12 or older to be fully vaccinated to attend indoor events, Wiggins would have missed every Warriors home game this season -- and the paycheck that comes with it.

But, Kerr says the saga is over ... telling reporters the star decided to cave in and get the vaccine.

"Andrew got vaccinated," Kerr said. "He just told me today that he was fine with us acknowledging it and that will be the end of it. I'm not going to answer any questions beyond that."

As we reported before, Wiggins had applied for a religious exemption with the NBA ... which was denied.

Now that Andrew is vaccinated, the Warriors can put their focus on the upcoming season as they look to some noise in the Western Conference this season.

Kerr said he expects Wiggins to see some action Monday night as the GSW tip off their preseason against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Source: TMZ

#andrewwiggins #andrewwigginsnba #andrewwigginsgoldenstate #andrewwigginscovidvaccine #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #deltavarient #pandemic #mandatoryvaccination #pfizer #moderna #johnsonandjohnson #astrazeneca #covidshot #goldenstatewarriors #nba #basketball #basketballplayer #stephcurry #klaythompson #draymondgreen #kyrieirving #brooklynnets #jamesharden #kevindurant #joebiden #preseidentbiden #drfauci

Follow Me

Video After The Jump

The bidding has officially started.

The much talked about potential boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0) vs. Conor McGregor (21-3 MMA) is starting to gain some traction.

During an appearance on First Take earlier this week, Mayweather, outlined the financial terms he would be agreeable with.

"They know what my number is. My number was a guaranteed one hundred million dollars," Floyd said. "That was my number. We're the A side and I don't really know how much money he has made before. I don't know how much money Conor McGregor has made. He hasn't even made ten million an MMA bout. But we are willing to give him fifteen million. And then we can talk about splitting the percentage ... the back end percentage on pay-per-view. How can a guy talk about twenty or thirty million if he's never even made eight or nine million?"

UFC President Dana White appeared on Fox Sports 1's "The Herd" on Friday, January 13, and said an offer of $25 million each would be fair.

According to TMZ, White countered Mayweather's argument of being the "A side," by saying The Notorious is the bigger draw because Money May's last fight against Andre Berto was so boring it diminished his negotiating power.

White, who is negotiating for McGregor because the Irish fighter is under contract with the UFC, knows there's no way a deal gets done with his offer. But, at least it's a starting point.

If the fight happens Mayweather will get the lion's share of the purse, gate and pay-per-view sales profits, as he looks to make history by becoming the only boxer to achieve a record of 50-0. 

Who would you be picking if this boxing match takes place?

Follow Me

Back in February we reported that Ciara had filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit against her former fiance and baby's father, Future.

The singer feels like Future, real name Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, is trying to damage her career by making negative comments about her during interviews and on social media.

While on The Breakfast Club last July, Future was critical of Ciara for letting her boyfriend at the time, now fiance Russell Wilson, push their 1-year old son Future Zahir Wilburn in a stroller.

"Of course I wouldn't want someone to push my son. That's the number one rule. If I was a kid and my mama had a dude pushing me I would have jumped out the stroller and slapped the shit out of her," the rapper said at the time. "You never do that in our community. You don't even bring a man around your son. You've only known this dude for a few months and you're bringing him around your kid. Who does that?"

Charlamagne Tha God suggested that Wilson shouldn't have put himself in that position.

"He probably didn't know," Future replied. "She set him up. I'm not for the publicity stunts. Leave my son out of the publicity stunts."

In January the "Turn on the Lights" hit maker ripped his baby's mother via Twitter for allegedly making it hard for him to see his son.

"This bitch got control problems," he wrote. "I gotta go through lawyers to see babyfuture...the fuckery for 15k a month. I jus want babyfuture that's all. I been silent for a year & a half. I ran outta patience."

I gotta go through lawyers to see babyfuture...the fuckery for 15k a month

— FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) January 4, 2016

I jus want babyfuture that's all.

— FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) January 4, 2016

I been silent for a year & a half..I ran outta patience

— FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) January 4, 2016

Future is now fighting Ciara's defamation lawsuit by filing a counter-suit, according to The Jasmine Brand.

He defends calling her a bitch, saying he meant "overbearing, complaining or unpleasant — not a lewd or immoral woman."

As far as damaging Cici's musical career Future doesn't think that's possible because he believes her career has been in the tank for the last 2-3 years. 

His suit further states that Ciara's last album flopped, she isn't winning any awards, doesn't have a huge fan base and isn't known worldwide.

He's asking that her $15 million lawsuit be thrown out of court, requests that she be forced to stop talking trash about him, be ordered to pay his legal fees associated with the case and asks for unspecified punitive damages for violating the law with her frivolous complaint. 

Follow Me

When Jay Z bought Swedish music streaming firm, Aspiro, for $56 million in March 2015, their subscriber base was figured into the purchase price.

The business mogul, who later renamed the company Tidal, is now seeking to recoup $15 million from the seller, claiming the subscription numbers were inflated.

“It became clear after taking control of Tidal and conducting our own audit that the total number of subscribers was actually well below the 540,000 reported to us by the prior owners,” Tidal said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg. “As a result, we have now served legal notice to parties involved in the sale.”

Despite having exclusive content from artists including Beyonce, Kanye West, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Jack White and others, Tidal with it's 3 million subscribers still trails it's biggest competitors by a wide margin.

In contrast, Spotify currently has 30 million paid subscribers and Apple Music has more than 11 million.

Follow Me

Video After The Jump

Future's split from former fiancee Ciara has been bitter and it just got worse.

In a July 2015 interview with The Breakfast Club, Future was highly critical of his baby's mother over a photo of her current boyfriend, Russell Wilson, pushing their one-year old son Future Zahir Wilburn in a stroller.

"You never do that in our community," the rapper said at the time. "You don't even bring a man around your son. You've only known this dude for a few months and you're bringing him around your kid. Who does that?"

Charlamagne Tha God suggested that Wilson shouldn't have put himself in that position.

"He probably didn't know," Future replied. "She set him up. I'm not for the publicity stunts. Leave my son out of the publicity stunts."

Last month the "Honest" hit maker took his feud with Ciara to Twitter, accusing her of making him jump through hoops to see his son.

"This bitch got control problems," he wrote. "I gotta go through lawyers to see babyfuture...the fuckery for 15k a month. I jus want babyfuture that's all. I been silent for a year & a half. I ran outta patience."

Ciara has fired back by filing a $15 million slander and libel lawsuit against her ex.

TMZ reports the suit states that the singer has done everything she can to make sure Future gets frequent visitation, claiming he has had at least 19 visitations since December 2014.

Cici wants her baby's father barred from making more malicious public statements about her. She also is asking that all derogatory tweets be deleted and for Future to refrain from talking about private family matters regarding their son.

**UPDATE** February 10

Future Hendrix is considering filing his own lawsuit in response to Ciara's. TMZ reports that he is waiting to see the documents from his former fiancee before deciding whether or not to pursue legal action of his own.

The 32-year old rapper, real name Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, claims Ciara has been doing the same thing she's accusing him of.

A source within his camp says he could have sued Ciara over her 2015 single titled "I Bet," but decided not to. The song is widely believed to be about Future's infidelity when the two were together.

"So I'm supposed to believe that it's Fellini's calling your phone? / I'm supposed to believe that they're asking you if you're home? / I wasn't born yesterday, not me / Can't get that over me, not me / I love you, but I won't be a fool for you / That is just something that I wouldn't do, babe / I mean, I'mma stay if you could tell the truth / But you can't, no matter how much time I ask," she sings.

Expect this to drag out for quite a while longer.

Follow Me

Chris Brown and his baby's mother, Nia Guzman, are at odds over the amount of child support the singer is paying for their toddler daughter, Royalty.

According to TMZ, Brown had been paying $2,500 a month, until Guzman demanded that he up that amount to $15,000 a month.

Chris refused the demand and simply stopped paying anything. He believes Guzman is using the child as a gravy train.

Guzman's lawyer, Carl Moore, will be taking Chris to court within two weeks, asking for back child support and the pay raise, unless a settlement can be reached beforehand.

Follow Me

Video After The Jump

Back in September we reported that Drake challenged Murder Mook to a battle, according to Mook.

"He pulled me like, ‘Yo, if I battled a n*gga, I’d probably have one of the best battles.’ I’m like, ‘Word?’ I tried to laugh it off and sh*t. He kept insisting he would do that, Mook told "No Edits" "Then he said he wanted to battle another rapper dude, because he didn’t like him — I’m not gonna say his name. Then he was like, ‘I didn’t really want to give a n*gga that look. But you, I f*ck with you.’”

Drake has never acknowledged the challenge publicly, but Mook says they have to battle because it was issued. He and Dame Dash are trying to make it impossible for the Toronto rapper to turn it down by getting Floyd Mayweather Jr. to sponsor a $15 million winner-take-all match.

"I'm talking $10 million... $15 million dollars. We could make a lot of money off that," Mook told AllHipHop in a new interview. "That's what the money should be. Let's holla at Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] Floyd loves this type of shit."

"Floyd knows the pay-per-view game. And he knows all the outlets to do it," Dame chimed in. "He could get involved in some way and we can do this thing together. Floyd, help us. Don't let nobody else rob us. We wanna go through another black man and figure out how to do this, You wanna be a fight promoter. So, let's fight promote.... let's do battle rap. And the first one is for $15 million. [Mook] vs. Drake. Winner takes $15 million."

The battle would definitely generate a lot of interest and Floyd has the money, but $15 million is steep. You have to find big name sponsors. I'm talking brands like Pepsi and Budweiser. Then there would be the cost of the pay-per-view. Hip Hop fans are not boxing fans. Most won't shell out $50 no matter who is battling. The event would have to be reasonably priced and held in a big enough venue to generate enough money at the gate.

Also the undercard would have to be the best ever in the history of battle rap.

What's your take on all of this? How much would you be willing to pay to see Drake go against Murder Mook?

Follow Me

Video After The Jump

Radio legend Troi Torain (STAR) always delivers hard-hitting objective truth. As a culture critic he is vicious, as a businessman he is relentless, as a luminary he is un-matched.

Considered a radio pioneer by many, STAR has set precedents on the urban landscape and was recently inducted into News One's "Top 20 Black Radio Jockeys Of All Time."

STAR & BUC WILD made the national stage on MTV (1999) but it was their radio show on New York's Hot 97 and Power 105 (2000 - 2006) that secured their place in Hip-Hop history.

Torain's resume includes The Source magazine, MTV Networks, Hot 97, Power 104.1, Power 105.1, Pulse 87, Hip-Hop Weekly magazine, Vladtv, Thisis50, 100.3 The Beat, shot97.com and VH1 (The Gossip Game).

This clip is from STAR's LIVE show (12noon -- 2pm) on http://shot97.com.

Media relations — thehater1964@yahoo.com

Follow Me

Video After The Jump

The-Dream can take his time between recording his own projects because he's filthy rich from writing hit records for other artists.

He's penned hits for Beyonce, J. Holiday, Usher and Mariah Carey. One of his biggest hits to date is Rihanna's "Umbrella" and he was paid quite well for it. He told Radio 1Xtra host Tim Westwood he banked $15 million dollars for the record. A very hefty sum that helps him pay large amounts of child support to Nivea, with whom he has three kids and Christina Milian, the mother of one of his kids.

Check out his interview below where he talks about getting along with former wives Nivea and Christina as well as writing Justin Bieber's big hit "Baby."

Follow Me

The latest in designer contact lenses will put a twinkle in your eye and lighten your wallet considerably at the same time.

Shekhar Eye Research has developed new custom-made, gold-plated contact lenses that feature 18 diamonds. They retail for $15,000.

Creator Chandrashekhar Chawan, predicts the contacts will become a big hit for those not satisfied with simply wearing jewelry on their bodies.

“I got mixed responses — some said its looks scary, but most of the people loved it,” Chawan told TODAY.com. “Bollywood personalities loved the concept, that it’s going to be ‘in thing’ in fashion soon. Look at Lady Gaga and her followers. People take time to digest [new fashion], until some celebrity starts using it.”

Although the contacts look like they might be uncomfortable to wear, Chawan claims they are perfectly safe. He uses Chandra Boston Scleral lenses, a product normally used to treat eye illnesses, to hold the jewelry part of the lenses in such a way that it does not touch on the cornea.

It probably won't be long before a rappers try this out, so let the countdown begin.

Lil Boosie's legal troubles just took a significant turn for the worse.

The Louisiana native, real name Torrence Hatch, was accused in a videotaped confession of hiring two men to kill rapper Chris "Nussie" Jackson for $15,000.

18-year old Michael "Marlo Mike" Louding told police that he and Michael “Ghost’’ Judson were hired by Boosie to carry out the hit on February 9, 2010 according to The Advocate.

Judson, who is now deceased allegedly told Louding that Boosie wanted Nussie "stamped out" because he had been disrespectful to an associate. Both men were present when Nussie was killed, but Louding was the one who fired the shots.

Boosie is said to have paid Judson the $15,000. Judson then gave $2000 to Louding.

Boosie is not charged in Jackson’s death because Louding had no direct contact with Hatch prior to the Jackson killing said District Attorney Hillar Moore III. 

But after Nussie was killed prosecutors say Louding and Boosie became acquaintances. He references Louding in the song "Lime Life."

"Ain't no love in my body, Marlo Mike up in da backseat begging for a body," Boosie rapped.

Michael "Marlo Mike" Louding

Prosecutors say Boosie later hired Louding to carry out the October 21, 2009 killing of Terry Boyd. He has been charged with first degree murder for that crime.

In total Louding is charged with murdering six people starting when he was just 16-years old. He can't be executed for killing Nussie or Boyd because of his age at the time, but prosecutors have not ruled yet on whether or not they will seek the death penalty for the 28-year old Boosie in the Boyd case.

Boosie was originally sent to prison in June 2009 for violating his probation on a previous gun and drug case. Since then he has been indicted for trying to smuggle codeine syrup into the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. He's also been charged with one count of criminal conspiracy to take contraband to and from a penal institution, and another of inciting a felony.

Add all that on top of the murder charge and things aren't looking good for Boosie right now.

Follow Me on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter