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Young Thug already has 1 trial date secured for his RICO case in the state of Georgia, but now he'll have a whole other case to deal with months after his initial trial.

According to a report AllHipHop published on Monday, August 22, Young Thug is being sued for $6 million by live entertainment company AEG after they claim the rapper failed to honor an agreement they made in 2017. In the lawsuit, AEG states that they gave Thug, born Jeffrey Williams, a $5 million advance in exchange for the exclusive rights to his shows. Despite their agreement, the company claims Williams breached the contract not long after the ink dried.

The lawsuit alleges that the "Best Friend" rapper continued to book other shows outside of AEG & allegedly collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in performances fees. Since they believe Williams violated the terms of their agreement, AEG wants its $5 million advance back with interest. The rapper had also listed some of his intellectual property & publishing rights as collateral. Due to those terms, AEG also aim to take control of the Young Stoner Life brand, his trademark & others assets that will help the company recoup the advance they gave him.

AEG first filed their grievances with Thugger back in 2020, which is long before his issues in Georgia began. Both parties made an attempt to settle the case but couldn't agree on new terms. AEG was already set to take Young Thug to court on October 25, but those plans changed after he was arrested in May. AEG's lawyers have already been granted a one-year extension for the trial, which will now happen on October 24, 2023. The new AEG trial will occur 10 months after his scheduled RICO trial.

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Source: iHeart

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ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia woman has been sentenced to serve nearly three & a half years in federal prison for fraudulently taking more than $6 million in COVID relief funds.

Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old Hunter VanPelt of Roswell submitted six false loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program from April to June 2020. She requested a total of more more than $7.9 million & received more than $6 million.

Prosecutors said VanPelt, who legally changed her name from Ellen Corkrum in July 2016, owned or controlled six companies & lied about the average monthly payroll & number of employees at each company. She also filed false tax, bank & payroll documents along with those applications.

The Paycheck Protection Program represents billions of dollars in forgivable small business loans for Americans struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s part of the coronavirus relief package that became federal law in 2020.

The federal government has been able to recover about $2.1 million of the money she received.

VanPelt pleaded guilty in August. The prison term of three years & five months that she received Tuesday is to be followed by five years of supervised release. The judge also ordered her to pay restitution of more than $7 million and to forfeit more than $2 million.

“The Paycheck Protection Program is meant to help legitimate businesses and their workers through the depths of the pandemic,” U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said in the release. “Unfortunately, VanPelt decided to use the program as her personal bank. A significant federal sentence, such as the one she received, hopefully deters others from following the same path.”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California investigators have arrested and charged a man in connection with the shooting of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies earlier this month as they sat in their squad car, authorities said Wednesday.

Attempted murder charges were filed against Deonte Lee Murray, 36, District Attorney Jackie Lacey told reporters.

Murray was arrested two weeks ago in connection with a separate carjacking. He pleaded not guilty to charges in both cases during his arraignment Wednesday. He is being held in jail on $6.15 million bail and is due back in court in November.

Murray’s attorney, Jack Brennan, declined to comment. Murray faces life in state prison if he is convicted.

Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau Capt. Kent Wegener, who provided details about the investigation, did not suggest a specific motive for the attack “other than the fact that he obviously hates policemen and he wants them dead.”

Lacey described the shooting as “premeditated,” but she declined to say what led investigators to believe that.

The deputies suffered head wounds in the Sept. 12 ambush and have since been released from the hospital and are recovering. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, however, that they face further reconstructive surgeries and that their recoveries will be a long process.

“We saw the worst of humanity” in the shooting, Villanueva said.

Surveillance video showed a person walking toward the patrol car, which was parked at a Metro rail station in the city of Compton, and firing a handgun through the passenger-side window. The deputies radioed for help despite their wounds.

The deputies, a 31-year-old woman and 24-year-old man graduated together from the sheriff’s academy 14 months ago.

Investigators determined that the suspect fled in a black Mercedes Benz sedan and learned that type of vehicle was stolen in a Sept. 1 carjacking in which the driver was shot. A suspect was identified in the carjacking and photographs were compared to images from the ambush, strengthening a connection to the shooting of the deputies, Wegener said.

On Sept. 15, an investigator spotted the suspect driving another vehicle and attempted to stop him. A gun was thrown out before the suspect abandoned the car in the city of Lynwood. He ran off and was ultimately captured. The black Mercedes was found nearby.

That day, Villanueva told reporters the carjacking suspect was not related to the ambush case. He defended his actions that misled reporters, and the public, on Wednesday.

“We’re not going to tell you everything we suspect,” the sheriff said, to protect the investigation.

Ballistics testing of the gun — a so-called ghost gun that is homemade and unregistered — discarded during the pursuit showed it was the one used in the attack on the deputies, Wegener said. He also noted that the gun held eight rounds, five short of its capacity, and that five rounds had been fired at the deputies.

Authorities said Murray, a Compton resident, has a criminal history including convictions for sales and possession of narcotics, firearm possession, receiving stolen property, burglary and terrorist threats. Wednesday’s criminal complaint includes allegations that he associates with gangs.

The Los Angeles Times first reported Murray’s arrest ahead of the news conference.

Compton is among communities near South Los Angeles, an area with a large Black population that has long been a flashpoint for racial tension and mistrust of police.

In recent weeks, demonstrators have marched to protest fatal shootings in the area, where deputies killed a Black man on Aug. 31 and a Black teenager in 2018.

After the ambush, a handful of protesters gathered outside the hospital where the deputies were treated and tried to block the emergency room entrance. Videos from the scene recorded protesters shouting expletives at police and at least one yelling “I hope they ... die.”

Wednesday’s announcement of the arrest in the shooting of the deputies followed a separate, seemingly unprovoked assault on another law enforcement officer in Southern California.

A Los Angeles police officer was attacked Saturday night inside the Harbor Community police station in San Pedro.

The assailant was recorded on surveillance video as he knocked the officer to the ground inside the station, pistol-whipped him with his own gun and pointed it at his chest. The officer is recovering from his injuries.

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(CNN) — The award-winning R&B singer Akon is going ahead with ambitious plans to build a "futuristic" city in Senegal that he says will be a real-life version of Wakanda, the hi-tech nation portrayed in Marvel blockbuster "Black Panther."

On Monday, Akon, real name Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, laid the first stone for Akon city in Mbodiene park, 100 kilometers from Dakar, the country's capital city, and said work would begin next year.

"We are looking at Akon city to become the beginning of Africa's future," he said at the ceremony also attended by Alioune Sarr, Senegal's minister for tourism, and other government officials. "Our idea is to build a futuristic city that incorporates all the latest technologies, cryptocurrencies, and also the future of how African society should become in the future."

According to its official website, the solar-powered city will have healthcare facilities, offices, luxury houses, shopping malls, skyscrapers, and eco-friendly tourist centers. It will be a five-minute drive from the country's new international airport.

The singer was gifted 2,000 acres of land by Senegalese President Macky Sall to build the ambitious city. Akon also said he has raised part of the $6 billion required to do so through unnamed investors.
He first announced his idea for the idealistic city back in 2018 where compared it to the fictional technologically advanced nation of Wakanda portrayed in "Black Panther."

The plan is for Akon city to trade exclusively in its own digital cash currency (cryptocurrency) called Akoin.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies tied to stable currencies, Akoin is tied to cellphone minutes and relies on the use of smartphones.

According to the singer, more people in Africa trust their cellphone companies more than they trust local currency.

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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced Wednesday that it has arrested a 28-year-old man who set up a livestream stunt which eventually caused the death of a mentally ill individual.

Keonte Jones, a 28-year-old Las Vegas local, was approached on June 20 near Owens Avenue and H street by 55-year-old Larry Coner.

Coner, a man whose family says he was mentally ill and known to panhandle, asked Jones for money. In response, Jones offered the man $6 for performing a backflip which he filmed live on Facebook.

When Coner performed the flip, he landed on his neck and laid dying while a group of bystanders formed, looking on and laughing at his demise.

Jones, as the incident went on streaming live on Facebook, continued laughing and filming Coner for nearly 10 minutes, all the while telling onlookers to not call 911, according to LVMPD.

Medical personnel eventually responded and transported Coner to UMC with a serious spinal injury. He died 10 days later as a result of that injury.

The victim's sister, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that Coner was a father and was loved by his family.

"How can you not have human compassion and compassion for another human being?" She said.

The incident was taken to LVMPD by a family member of Coner, prompting detectives to investigate and review the video filmed by Jones.

On July 14, Hones was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center for felony willful disregard for a person’s safety.

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DaBaby better get da lawyer on the phone ... he's just been slapped with a lawsuit by the guy claiming he and his crew beat him up.

Concert promoter Kenneth Carey just filed suit against DB, his entertainment company and a bunch of the goons that were with him that day ... alleging the rapper not only illegally battered him but also turned his back on a deal they'd struck to host an event.

Long story short ... Kenneth now claims in legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- that he and DaBaby agreed to have the latter host a party where another artist, Stunna 4 Vegas, had been booked to perform at. Ken says he and DB agreed on a flat rate ... $20k, no more.

In his lawsuit ... Ken says when DaBaby and co. arrived in town, he arranged hotels and cars for them via a rental company -- and alleges one of those vehicles was returned damaged.

Fast-forward to the day Ken was supposed to pay DB, and he claims the guy asked him for an additional $10k on the spot to cover the damage to the car, which apparently got billed to DaBaby and his crew. Ken says DaBaby insisted it was the least Ken could do ... seeing how he agreed to do the hosting gig for way cheaper than he normally charges.

Ken says he refused to pay another $10k, and that's when the alleged ass-whooping -- part of which was caught on camera -- went down. The promoter says DaBaby and at least 4 other guys pulled his pants down, beat him up and poured apple juice all over him.

He also claims the crew jacked him of his phone, money and credit card that he had on hand. Adding insult to injury, Ken says neither DaBaby or Stunna showed for the event. The suit was filed by Jonathan May of The Lions' Den law firm in Miami.

Of course, DaBaby was later arrested and charged for battery in connection to this case ... but he later sprung himself from jail and defended himself online, denying the account.

Ken is suing for everything he can under the sun -- battery, breach of contract, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and so on. He wants damages and other costs well above $6 million.

Source: TMZ

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CLEVELAND (AP) — The city on Monday reached a $6 million settlement in a lawsuit over the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy shot by a white police officer while playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center.

An order filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland said the city will pay out $3 million this year and $3 million the next. There was no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement.

Family attorney Subodh Chandra called the settlement historic but added: "The resolution is nothing to celebrate because a 12-year-old child needlessly lost his life."

The wrongful death suit filed by his family and estate against the city and officers and dispatchers who were involved alleged police acted recklessly when they confronted the boy on Nov. 22, 2014.

Video of the encounter shows a cruiser skidding to a stop and rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann firing within two seconds of opening the car door. Tamir wasn't given first aid until about four minutes later, when an FBI agent trained as a paramedic arrived. The boy died the next day.

Tamir's death has fueled the Black Lives Matter movement that firmly took root in 2014 after Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City died at the hands of police. Grand juries declined to indict officers in those two deaths and in the shooting of Tamir.

A trial is pending for a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Brown's family. Garner's family received a $5.9 million in a settlement with New York City last year.

From left: Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice

In the Rice family lawsuit, Samaria Rice had alleged that police failed to immediately provide first aid for her son and caused intentional infliction of emotional distress in how they treated her and her daughter after the shooting.

The officers had asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. Loehmann's attorney has said he bears a heavy burden and must live with what happened.

Tamir's estate has been assigned $5.5 million of the settlement. A Cuyahoga County probate judge will decide how the amount will be divided. Samaria Rice, Tamir's mother, will receive $250,000. Claims against Tamir's estate account for the remaining $250,000. Tamir's father, Leonard Warner, was dismissed in February as a party to the lawsuit.

Chandra said the Rice family remains in mourning over Tamir's death.

In this March 3, 2015, file photo, Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, a boy fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer, talks about the family's lawsuit against the city in Cleveland. The city of Cleveland has reached a settlement Monday, April 25, 2016, in a lawsuit over the death of Rice. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

"The state criminal justice process cheated them out of true justice," Chandra said.

The officers had responded to a 911 call in which a man drinking a beer and waiting for a bus outside Cudell Recreation Center reported that a man was waving a gun and pointing it at people. The man told the call taker that the person holding the gun was likely a juvenile and the weapon probably wasn't real, but the call taker never passed that information to the dispatcher who gave Loehmann the high-priority call.

Tamir was carrying a plastic airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets. He'd borrowed it that morning from a friend who warned him to be careful because the gun looked real. It was missing its telltale orange tip.

The settlement comes two years after the city settled another lawsuit connected to the killings of two unarmed black people in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire at the end of a 2012 car chase. Cleveland settled a lawsuit brought by the families of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams for $3 million.

The fatal shootings of Russell and Williams were cited by the U.S. Justice Department in an investigation into excessive use of force by Cleveland police and helped lead to a court-monitored consent decree aimed at reforming the department.

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Video And Pics After The Jump

NEW YORK (Associated Press) — More than 30 years after hooded gunmen pulled a $6 million airport heist dramatized in the hit Martin Scorsese movie "Goodfellas," an elderly reputed mobster was arrested at his New York City home on Thursday and charged in the robbery and a 1969 murder.

Vincent Asaro

Vincent Asaro, 78, was named along with his son, Jerome, and three other defendants in wide-ranging indictment alleging murder, robbery, extortion, arson and other crimes from the late 1960s through last year. The Asaros, both identified as captains in the Bonanno organized crime family, pleaded not guilty through their attorneys and were ordered held without bail at a brief appearance in federal court in Brooklyn.

The elder Asaro's attorney, Gerald McMahon, told reporters outside court that his client was framed by shady turncoat gangsters, including former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino — the highest-ranking member of the city's five organized crime families to break the mob's vow of silence.

Joseph Massino

Massino "is one of the worst witnesses I've ever seen," McMahon said. He added that Asaro had given him "marching orders" that "there will be no plea and he will walk out the door a free man."

The indictment accused Asaro of helping to direct the Dec. 11, 1978, Lufthansa Airlines heist at Kennedy airport — one of the largest cash thefts in American history.

The gunmen looted a vault in the airline's cargo terminal and stole about $5 million in untraceable U.S. currency that was being returned to the United States from Germany, along with about $1 million in jewelry. The cash was never found.

According to court papers, an unidentified mob associate who pleaded guilty and became a cooperating witness told investigators that he participated in the robbery at the direction of Asaro. The theft was hatched by James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke, a late Lucchese crime family associate who was close to Asaro, who told the bandits that he had a "score" that would make them rich, the papers say.

Mobster turned informant Henry Hill (left) and "Jimmy the Gent" Burke, portrayed in the movie 'Goodfellas' by Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro

Each robber was supposed to be paid $750,000, but the cooperating witness said "most did not receive their share, either because they were killed first or it was never given to them," according to the court papers.

The papers say the cooperator wore a wire and recorded a conversation he had with Asaro in 2011 in which the pair discussed being slighted.

"We never got our right money, what we were supposed to get," Asaro said, according to the court papers. "Jimmy Burke kept everything."

In addition to the heist, the elder Asaro was charged in the 1969 murder of Paul Katz, whose remains were found last year during an FBI dig at a house once occupied by Burke. According to the cooperating witness, Asaro and Burke were business partners in Robert's Lounge, the papers say. The saloon was described by a fellow Lucchese associate of Burke, the late Henry Hill, as Burke's private cemetery.

Robert De Niro (left) and "Jimmy the Gent" Burke

"Jimmy buried over a dozen bodies ... under the bocce courts," Hill wrote in his book, "A Goodfella's Guide to New York."

Katz once owned a warehouse where mobsters stored stolen goods, according to the court papers. After a raid at the warehouse, Asaro and Burke began to suspect Katz was a law enforcement informant.

Asaro told the cooperator that Burke "had killed Katz with a dog chain because they believed he was a 'rat,'" the papers say. In the 1980s, Burke ordered the cooperator to dig up the remains and move them to another location.

The cooperator told investigators that Asaro and Burke brought Katz's body to a vacant home in Queens where it was concealed beneath a cement floor.

Burke inspired Robert De Niro's character in "Goodfellas," which was based on Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy" and told the story of Hill's time in the mob and subsequent cooperation with law enforcement.

Massino was convicted in 2004 on charges he had a hand in multiple gangland murders, including the execution of a mobster who vouched for FBI undercover agent Donnie Brasco — a story that was also turned into a movie.

In July, Massino saw his life prison sentence reduced to time served after prosecutors praised his work as a government cooperator.

Read the indictment here

Jerome Asaro is walked out of Federal Plaza in Manhattan on Thursday.

Thomas DeFiore (center) was also one of five men charged in Thursday's wide-ranging indictment.

Jack Bonventre (left), another suspect charged in Thursday's indictment.

John Rigano (left) was charged with four others Thursday in a wide-ranging indictment that covered a number of crimes and offenders.

Arrest made in infamous Lufthansa heist

Raw: Five Indicted in 1978 Lufthansa Robbery

'Goodfellas' mobster pleads not guilty in 1978 Lufthansa heist

Goodfellas - Don't buy anything! (De Niro)

GoodFellas Stacks Edwards "Late For Your Own F*ck'n Funeral"

Goodfellas - Bodies start turning up after robbery

Pic source: New York Daily News, Mafia Wiki

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Nas' new album Life Is Good is dropping later this year, but the rapper won't see a dime of the money that it or any of his other albums generates because the revenue will be going straight to Uncle Sam.

Nas owes the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) $6 million according to TMZ, so the government filed documents in Georgia to have the rapper's wages from record sales garnished via ASCAP and BMI publishing until the debt is paid off.

Looks like Nas will be doing a lot of touring just to survive in the next year or so.

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Kelis might have been the "illest ether" for Nas, but Uncle Sam isn't far behind her.

TMZ is reporting that the U.S. Government has placed a lien on the 38-year old rapper's property for $339,005.49 in unpaid taxes from 2010. 

Nas has a long history of problems with the IRS.

Before this latest lien he already owed the IRS over $6.46 million dollars in back taxes according to Rolling Stone. The IRS filed a $514,298 tax lien on January 10th 2011, which was added on to a $3 million lien from February 2010 and a $2.5 million lien from October 2009. Add all of that to this latest judgement against him and Nas has big financial problems.

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Jay-Z is worth $420 million dollars according to Forbes. No doubt he's worked hard for it. The question is, when you're that wealthy do you have an obligation to give back to those less fortunate? Or at the very least break off a chunk of cash for your own charity?

Those are questions Jay-Z is probably thinking about today after The Daily published a report claiming the superstar rapper made $63 million dollars in 2010, but only gave $6,431 to his own charity. The Daily came up with those numbers by examining tax records for the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund.

Hov's wife, Beyonce, reportedly made $87 million dollars that same year, but did not donate any money at all to the Foundation.

According to the report, the average American gives about 3.5 percent of their income to charity. Jay-Z gave about 0.01 percent of his estimated income to his own charity in 2010.

The Foundation was established in 2003 by Jay and his mother, Gloria Carter. According to it's mission statement "Shawn Carter Scholars are studying at nearly 100 institutions of higher learning throughout the nation." Scholarships awarded help students with "the costs of books and lab fees, food, travel and other self-care expenses." But where exactly is the money to fund these endeavors coming from if Jay-Z is contributing so little?

Hov's representative, Jana Fleishman, told The Daily that the rapper contributes in other ways.

“Jay, along with his family, provided office support, overhead support, [mother] Mrs. Gloria Carter’s 100% effort and time, computers, FedEx expenses, accounting, and treasury function support. This was at no cost to the charity,” Fleishman said.

The Daily noted that tax records show the charity only had to pay $1,209 for office expenses, $1,401 for telephone, and $4,696 in other expenses in 2010.

Fleishman also said that in 2011 Jay-Z helped raise $1.25 million for the charity at its Carnival at Pier 54 event. The Daily couldn't verify those numbers because tax records for 2011 are not yet available.

To be fair to Hov he is playing two Carnegie Hall concerts for free (the first was last night, the second is tonight). Proceeds are being spit between the United Way of New York City and The Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation, but it's not known exactly how much money that will translate into for the foundation.

To read the rest of the report head over to The Daily.

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Having already grossed $48 million on their "Watch The Throne" tour, Jay-Z and Kanye West recently padded their bank accounts with another significant payday for a private show in Dubai before Christmas.

NME reports The Throne earned $6 million dollars to perform at the Sweet 16 birthday party of multi billionaire Manchester Football Club owner, Sheikh Mansour's niece. Hov and Yeezy received $2.9 million each, a drop in the bucket for Mansour, whose wealthy family rules oil-rich Abu Dhabi.

Yeezy's not stopping there. He plans on keeping the cash flowing through the end of the year, having recently announced he'll DJ on New Year's Eve under the alias Yeezy World Peace.

"My New Years DJ name is gone be YEEZY WORLD PEACE! If you book me you have to put YEEZY WORLD PEACE on the E-vite. Or I ain't spinning," Kanye wrote on Twitter. "Ima need a stealth bomber and 2 bottled water #YEEZYWORLDPEACE'S RIDER."

Check out a sample of Yeezy's DJing skills below at the LeBaron club in London from a few nights ago.

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Brazil wants to become the mecca for live entertainment and it's shelling out lots of money to prove it.

UK singer Amy Winehouse just performed the 1st of 5 scheduled shows in the South American country, where she is being paid more than $6 million dollars according to the  UK Sun.

"Amy will be rolling in it. Brazil is keen to establish itself as a major player in live music and is attracting a host of top stars," a source tells the publication. "A lot of money is being thrown around to secure their services and it's working."

Winehouse hasn't released an album since 2006's 'Back to Black.' A disc that won her 5 Grammys and has sold 10 million copies worldwide.

It's a testament to her tremendous talent that she's still being paid big paper to perform live.

The singer was reportedly paid $1.3 million to play a show in Russia just before Christmas, and has big money gigs lined up in Dubai as part of Gulf Bike Week.

Amy's performance last night at the Il Divino venue in Florianopolis was part of Brazil's Summer Soul Festival.

Next she plays two headlining shows at the Arena HSBC in Rio De Janeiro Rio, followed by gigs in Recife and Sao Paulo.

Hopefully all these shows mean we'll be getting Amy's much delayed third solo album. It's rumored to be coming out later this year.

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