Custody Suit Targets Insurance Money for Rapper's Burned-Down House
A New York judge has ordered rapper 50 Cent to hold on to the property where a $2.4 million house at the center of a bitter dispute with his ex-girlfriend burned to the ground last month.
State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead also ordered the rapper (real name: Curtis Jackson) to put any insurance proceeds he might receive into a trust account pending the outcome of the $50 million lawsuit filed against him earlier this year by Shaniqua Tompkins.
Tompkins' lawyer, Paul Catsandonis, requested the orders so his client can have access to some of 50 Cent's assets if she wins a judgment. He said 50 Cent, who was not present in court, agreed years ago to give Tompkins half of his earnings for life.
The home has been the subject of an intense feud between the entertainer and Tompkins.
Tompkins, 32, claims he promised her a house more than a decade ago while she was supporting him, but that since their breakup, he has been trying to evict her and their 11-year-old son, Marquise, from the home.
The mansion in the Long Island community of Dix Hills was destroyed in a suspicious fire May 30. Authorities are still investigating the blaze.
Tompkins said outside court Tuesday that 50 Cent had threatened her earlier that week _ a charge the rapper's lawyer, Brett Kimmel, denied. Kimmel said his client had nothing to do with the fire and was in Louisiana at the time making a movie.
Six people, including Tompkins and her son, were treated for smoke inhalation. The rapper didn't live there.
Also during the hearing, Edmead ordered Tompkins to pay 50 Cent $4,500 in rent for May by Friday. The rapper pays Tompkins $6,700 a month in child support, $4,500 of that as a housing allowance.
Tompkins, who started dating 50 Cent in 1995 when she was 15, said Tuesday that she is broke. "All we have are the clothes we jumped out of the window with,'' she said.
Tompkins denounced her former companion for failing to contact her or his son after the blaze. She said her son was "traumatized'' by his father remaining on a movie set and failing to call after the home was destroyed.
"He's not a good father,'' she said. "He doesn't care about his son at all.''
The rapper has been nominated for 13 Grammys, including nominations for the song "In da Club'' and the album "Get Rich or Die Tryin'.'' In 2005, he starred with Terrence Howard in a semi-autobiographical movie based on that album.
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