- Rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, exited New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Tuesday after testifying in a lawsuit for a sex tape that was posted online.
- Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Bankrupt rapper 50 Cent says he owns pieces of more than two dozen businesses, including an adult film production company, a clothing unit that might have a new deal and a boxing-promotion company that used to represent Floyd Mayweather.
In a court document filed late Tuesday, lawyers for the 40-year-old rapper, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, listed 32 entities that he has a stake in, though his team didn’t assign a value to any of his holdings.
Mr. Jackson estimated that his assets are worth between $10 million and $50 million in his bankruptcy petition, though he testified under oath on Tuesday that he is worth $4.4 million,
according to the New York Daily News.
Under bankruptcy-court rules, Mr. Jackson was supposed to file an itemized list of his assets and debts by July 27. His lawyers asked Judge Ann Nevins for another week to wade through Mr. Jackson’s complicated financial situation.
Mr. Jackson is poised to draw royalties from several short film companies, according to the court filing. The eight-page document listed his ownership in a company that promotes boxers and a Las Vegas gym; G-Unit Brands Inc., which does endorsement deals; and Cheetah Vision Inc., which is related to television shows and movies.
Court papers say his G-Unit Clothing LLC has a “possible new clothing deal in the works” but did not specify further. A business called Sire Spirits LLC has something to do
with his promotion of Effen vodka. Another, G-Unity Foundation Inc., was listed as a charity.
The court document doesn’t directly refer to any payout that Mr. Jackson received from his investment in the maker of Glaceau Vitaminwater. Forbes
reported that Mr. Jackson walked away with as much as $100 million when that company was
sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion in 2007.
Last week, Mr. Jackson
said that the more than $20 million cost of two legal disputes, and not his lavish spending habits, prompted him to file for bankruptcy on July 13.
Mr. Jackson lost a dispute over a broken business deal to develop headphones. An ex-partner accused Mr. Jackson of later stealing the design of the “Sleek by 50” headphones, prompting a judge to award the partner more than $17.2 million in October. Mr. Jackson is appealing the dispute.
More recently, a jury determined that Mr. Jackson should pay $5 million to a woman who said Mr. Jackson violated her privacy by posting a sex tape of her online. The filing canceled a hearing scheduled for jurors to determine whether he should pay additional damages in the 2010 lawsuit filed by Lastonia Leviston, rapper Rick Ross’s ex-girlfriend. The sex-tape lawsuit accused Mr. Jackson of posting the video on his website as part of a “rap war” between himself and Mr. Ross.
Mr. Jackson appeared on the music scene in 2003 with hit rap song “In Da Club.” He has sold more than 22 million albums and will appear in the boxing drama “Southpaw,” which hits theaters later this week. His Farmington, Conn.,
mansion, once owned by boxer Mike Tyson, is reported to have 21 bedrooms, a racquetball court, a home movie theater and an eight-car garage.
Write to Katy Stech at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatyStech