Tyrese Held in Contempt, Must Pay $636K for Child Support and Ex's Lawyer
Tyrese Rocked in Court ... $636K for Child Support, Lawyer Bills!!!
UPDATE
6:28 PM PT -- Despite the astronomical numbers that came out of today's hearing, Tyrese's attorney Tanya Mitchell Graham isn't too down about it. She tells TMZ ... they will file an appeal as soon as the judge's order is entered. She's also filed a motion for a new trial which will be heard next month.
UPDATE
As for the money -- Tyrese doesn't have to pay it all at once. The judge set May 15 as the due date for about $258K of it, but Tanya says that could be pushed back once their appeal is filed.
UPDATE
Also, the judge made a point of saying Tyrese has been paying child support all along, just not the $10K/month the court ordered -- instead, he's been paying $2,236/month. The $237K represents the monthly difference he owes, plus interest.
The judge Tyrese publicly called out before his child custody hearing is ordering him to fork over nearly $250K to his ex-wife, and almost $400K to her attorney!
The actor/singer was in Fulton County court Tuesday to deal with his ongoing child support battle with Samantha Lee Gibson -- the main issue being Tyrese refusing to pay the $10,000/month he was ordered to pay last August, because he felt the judge was "racist" and biased against him.
Also, as he stated on the stand today, Tyrese feels the $10K is excessive -- he claims Samantha doesn't need that much, because she makes good money on her own.
Leading up to today's hearing, Tyrese ripped Judge Kevin Farmer in a video calling on people like civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Martin Luther King III to show up in court to support him in his fight against the judge. They weren't there.
Inside court, the judge fired back at Tyrese for his failure to cough up the money he'd been ordered to pay, and held him in contempt of court. He could have been arrested, but the judge cut him a break ... well, aside from the staggering amounts of money he's gotta pay now.
Tyrese was ordered to pay a total of $237,944 in back child support for their daughter Soraya and $399K for Samantha's attorney fees. He also has to foot a $17K bill for the special master ... a referee, of sorts, appointed by the judge to handle minor disputes during the case.
AUGUST 2022
You'll recall, Tyrese incurred Judge Farmer's wrath during last summer's hearing and was nearly held in contempt back then -- so, maybe it's not all that shocking today's proceedings were so testy.
Samantha's attorney Adam Gleklen tells TMZ ... all she wants is to co-parent their daughter, follow the court orders and move forward in peace.
