Fairly Legal

Elon Musk is getting a job title change ... because he'll no longer be a Tesla chairman after reaching a settlement with the SEC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled with Musk after hitting him with a lawsuit this week for misleading investors after he tweeted in August ... "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."

According to the legal docs ... Musk will have to pay a civil penalty of $20 million as part of the settlement and give up his role as chairman of the board for at least three years. He has 45 days to relinquish his chairman title.

Tesla will also pay a $20 mil fine and appoint 2 new independent directors to the board. However, Musk will remain CEO of Tesla.

As we reported ... the SEC alleged Musk's tweets caused significant confusion and disruption in the market for Tesla's stock, and ended up hurting investors' wallets. It also wanted to "prohibit him from acting as an officer or director" of any public company.

In losing his chairman role, it looks like the SEC will get part of its wish. It should be noted the settlement is still subject to court approval.

Tupac's estate is getting a treasure trove of unreleased music, although not as much cash as it wanted.

We've learned Tupac's estate has settled its lawsuit against Entertainment One, the company it sued because the estate claimed E.O. had screwed it over royalties to the tune of 7 figures.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Entertainment One will pay the estate a substantial 6-figure amount. But, there's something way more significant.

Tupac's mom, Afeni Shakur, was the administrator of Tupac's estate back in 2013 and sued Entertainment One to get a bunch of unreleased master recordings her son had made.

Afeni died in 2016, but the lawsuit trudged on ... until this week. We've learned those unreleased masters will now go back to the estate. We're told the value of the recordings is huge.

Kevin Spacey is getting sued by a masseur who claims the actor forced a rubdown of his testicles and attempted to kiss him ... TMZ has learned.

The masseur, filing as John Doe, says he was called by a third party to go meet Spacey at a home in Malibu in October 2016. According to the docs, Spacey led the man to a room where he set up his massage table.

Doe says he told Spacey to lay face down on the table, but he insisted on laying face up. In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Doe says Spacey told him he was having pain in his "groin area" ... and then proceeded to grab the masseur's hand and push it onto his testicles.

Doe says he pulled away, and Spacey stood up naked ... then moved toward him and said, "you have such beautiful eyes." Doe believed the actor was trying to kiss him. The masseur says he continued to back away, but Spacey grabbed his genitals and said something to the effect of ... just let me give you a blow job.

The man says he grabbed his massage table and fled the residence. He's suing Spacey for sexual battery, battery, assault and false imprisonment.

50 Cent's all bark and no bite -- at least that's what his first baby mama thinks of his threat to derail her reality TV show ... but we've learned he's ready to sic his lawyers on her.

Shaniqua Tompkins tells TMZ ... she's not at all concerned after the rapper said there's no way in hell she can do a reality TV show because he owns her life rights. She's planning to team up with Nas' baby mama to sell a reality show about urban women in business.

ICYMI ... 50 went off on IG about her TV plans, saying ... "I have to say this in a way she can understand me. Look bitch go get a f***ing job, I own your life rights reality Tv is a no go. I don't know what to tell you, oh go shake your new fake ass over at club Angels."

Shaniqua says the "Power" star is powerless and is just salty 'cause she has ZERO interest in his ass. We're not so sure ... because a rep for 50 says, "Mr. Jackson intends to fully enforce his contractual rights as he has done in the past regarding Ms. Tompkins."

A source close to Fiddy tells us those contractual rights include Shaniqua's life story -- but watch the vid ... she's definitely not convinced and threatens to fire off a lawsuit of her own.

The lawyers for Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Ford both have strong Hillary Clinton connections.

It's interesting ... Kavanaugh's lawyer, Beth Wilkinson, is a high-powered, Washington D.C. lawyer who represented multiple top Clinton aides involved in the FBI email investigation during the campaign. She's also a long-time Democratic booster, and is married to CNN contributor David Gregory.

As for Dr. Ford ... her lawyer, Debra Katz, was a campaign fundraiser for Clinton during her 2016 Presidential campaign. Earlier, we posted a pic of Hillary with a woman who'd mistakenly been identified as Katz, but it wasn't her.

Couple other facts about the attorneys at the center of Thursday's Senate hearing -- Katz famously represented a University of Colorado student who claimed she was the victim of retaliation by the school after she said she was subjected to a sexually hostile academic environment.

Wilkinson was a prosecutor in the case of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and successfully argued for the death penalty.

Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin will take vows promising to love each other until death, but he's hedging his bets with a prenup ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us, Bieber and Hailey have each lawyered up for the negotiation that is as important as it is awkward.

There are reports Justin is not asking for a prenup because he and Hailey are both so religious they take the "til death do us part" vow literally -- that's just not true. Justin has been counseled it would be insane not to get a prenup, and he's on board.

We're told the prenup is about to be negotiated and the couple will not get married until it's signed.

TMZ broke the story ... Justin and Hailey got a marriage license last week but did not tie the knot.

Reports of net worth are almost always wildly inaccurate, but the rough guess for the Biebs is around $250 million. Hailey is reportedly worth a couple of mil.

FYI ... the money they each bring into the marriage is their own and, unless they co-mingle their funds to the point no one can figure out who has what, it stays their separate property throughout the marriage.

Remember the "rent is too damn high" guy? Well, Jimmy McMillan is still up in arms about the outrageous prices in the Big Apple ... and he's pissed there's nothing he can do about it.

Jimmy is suing the New York State Board of Elections in an attempt to run for Governor under the "Rent Too Damn High" party. He claims the board has been trying to keep him off the ballot for five years.

Apparently, Jimmy still thinks the rent is too damn high and the board of elections is too damn mean.

Jimmy was on the governor's ballot in 2010 ... when he rose to fame with this unforgettable debate performance.

Jimmy, who has run for office at least six times since 1993, is asking the court to put him back on the ballot immediately. But, he's running out of time. The election is November 6.

America has its share of problems these days, but Justin Bieber is looking at the glass half full because we've learned he's applying to become an American citizen.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Justin has applied for dual citizenship. He'll retain his Canadian citizenship, but he will become an American citizen as well.

When you think about it, it's no surprise ... J.B. spends most of his time in the U.S. and those ties will only get stronger when he marries Hailey Baldwin. We're told he has a deep love for the U.S. and an appreciation for this country, where he became extremely rich and successful.

Justin was born in Ontario, Canada but moved to Atlanta when he was 13. He's been grounded in the U.S. of A ever since.

As for the process ... there are 5 relevant steps:

-- Proof he has a right to be in the country. Justin does ... he has a green card.

-- File USCIS Form N-400 ... a formal request to start the naturalization process. BTW, it costs around $700, but we're guessing he can afford it.

-- Background check by the FBI and fingerprinting.

-- Citizenship interview. During the interview, Justin will have to answer questions about U.S. history and government and also prove he knows English.

-- Appear at an oath ceremony and pledge allegiance to the U.S.

He could renounce his Canadian citizenship, but we know he would not. Justin feels a deep connection to Canada. In fact, he just bought a massive, $5 million estate on 101 acres in Ontario.

3:00 AM PT Carter just told TMZ, he does indeed owe money, but the amount was being negotiated when the lawsuit was filed.

7:30 PM PT -- Troy Carter tells TMZ, he never borrowed money from Scooter. He says he agreed to "re-purchase" Atom Factory -- a management company which Scooter bought from Troy -- and Scooter offered him a discount if he paid up front. Carter does not specifically say if he still owes Scooter money.

Troy says he feels he's the victim of extortion because Scooter threatened to sue him for fraud if he didn't pay him the money, adding, "It's ironic how I can make it out of the streets, only to be extorted by paper gangsters and their attorneys."

He then goes after Scooter, "The only fraud is Scooter Braun professing to be a high integrity individual. The spurious speeches about equal rights don't square when you make excuses for clients that make jokes about 'n******s.' Or, attempting to spin the press when a client diminishes the horrific crimes of slavery. He goes on ... "Had these comments been anti-semitic, he would've made sure those clients never worked again. It's financial gain over personal principals."

And, he says, "There are only a handful of African-American executives left in our business and yet he's okay with attempting to falsely ruin my reputation."

Scooter Braun's company is going after Lady Gaga's former manager for millions it loaned him, but never got back ... according to a new lawsuit.

Ithaca Management Holdings, Scooter's Co., is suing Troy Carter -- in addition to managing Gaga, he used to be a muckety-muck at Spotify. In the docs, Ithaca Management says it loaned Carter in excess of $10 mil in June 2016.

IMH says the deal was if Carter's company got paid from a case it was arbitrating, it would fork over the $10 mil-plus it was loaned. Sources connected to the case tell us Carter was arbitrating a dispute with his ex-client, Gaga.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Carter's firm did settle the case but tried to hide the money, instead of paying off the loan. IMH sent a letter to Carter in August demanding its funds ... to no avail.

Roy Moore followed through on his threat -- he's suing Sacha Baron Cohen for portraying him as a pedophile on national TV ... and he's gunning for tens of millions of dollars.

Moore and his wife, Kayla, filed suit against Sacha, Showtime and CBS for duping him into appearing on Cohen's "Who Is America?" In the episode Sacha, disguised as an ex-Israeli intelligence officer, waved a wand that could supposedly detect enzymes secreted by pedophiles.

Of course, the device went off like crazy when he used it on Moore. Viewers might have laughed, but Roy isn't.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the entire interview was set up under false pretenses. The Moores say they never would've agreed to meet with Sacha or sign his release form had they known it was all a sham.

More importantly, they say Sacha's gag -- which aired last month -- made Roy look like a sex offender, and seriously tarnished his reputation, caused emotional distress and financial damage. They insist Roy is not a sex offender, and Sacha's prank amounts to defamation. They're suing for at least $95 million.

The former U.S. Senate hopeful faced multiple allegations that he'd preyed on minors decades ago ... accusations that surfaced while he was running for Senate in Alabama last year. He vehemently denied the claims, and has never been charged with a crime.

Teresa Giudice claims Chief Keef plastered the inside of her mansion on the cover of his mixtape without getting permission ... so she's gunning to sue.

James Leonard Jr. -- an attorney for the 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' star -- tells TMZ she and her family noticed Chief put what looks like a pic of their Montville Township, Towaco home as the cover art for his new project, "Mansion Musick."

Leonard Jr. says this is clearly something Teresa and co. deserve to be compensated for, adding it's an invasion of their privacy.

It might be an uphill battle for Teresa -- the photo was once used to market the house when it was for sale a while back, so it's not exactly a private family photo. They ended up not selling.

BTW ... looks like Teresa's not a fan. She only found out about the cover art because one of Teresa's daughter's friends follows Keef and noticed the cover art matched the crib.

The mixtape dropped in July.

Another side note ... this house is one of the homes the Giudices nearly lost a few years back during their legal troubles. One of their NJ homes ended up getting demolished after it went up for auction with an opening bid of $100.

4:00 PM PT -- Mel B says she is not a "raging alcoholic," though she does drink socially. She also denies she takes "illicit drugs," and says she's not a sex addict ... these are her responses to Belafonte's request for sole legal and physical custody.

Mel B claims Russell Updegraff's declaration in which he makes these claims has no credibility, because she says he's an ex employee who has an ax to grind, and he and Belafonte are hell bent in dragging her through the mud and ruining her reputation out of spite.

She says she is willing to submit to random drug testing for a limited period of time to prove she's a fit parent, and wants Stephen to do the same.

And, in her legal docs Mel B repeats her claim that Belafonte has abused her so badly she's suffering from PTSD.

Mel also agrees to submit to a child custody evaluation with psychological testing, because she strongly opposes Stephen getting full custody. She also states the following -- she's not a "sex addict" who brings home random men, she is not a raging alcoholic as Stephen paints her to be, she does not take illicit drugs ... and her children's well-being is her top priority

There's more ... Anthony Santa Maria -- Mel B's housekeeper and childcare services provider -- vouches for Mel in the docs, claiming he's never witnessed her drunk "or even buzzed," and he's never seen her do anything remotely dangerous or neglectful with her kids.

Short story ... Mel B says Belafonte is angry, hungry for media attention and he has waged a vicious campaign to destroy her so he can stay in the spotlight.

10:15 AM PT -- We've learned Mel B and Stephen reached a settlement in the judge's chambers. The details are confidential. On her way out of court, we asked Mel if she was going to rehab ... but she was mum.

Stephen Belafonte says Mel B isn't fit to retain custody of her children, because she's in the grip of an alcohol-fueled spiral ... so claims ex-husband Belafonte.

Belafonte appeared in court Friday, armed with documentation from people who have been close to Mel B. She showed up as well, covered in sweat.

One of the declarations Belafonte submitted is from Russell Updegraff, who said in legal docs he's been responsible for watching her 2 kids, Madison and Angel, who he says are at serious risk because of a profound drinking problem on Mel B's part.

Updegraff claims Mel B drinks daily ... often starting as early as 10 AM. He says the day begins with beer, and then turns to wine and eventually hard liquor ... including vodka, tequila and gin. He says Mel B typically passes out, awakes and then becomes mean and belligerent.

Updegraff says the drinking problem is so bad, she's asked him to go to the store and get 12 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of vodka and one to two 12-packs of beer ... which she consumes in 4 to 5 days.

According to Updegraff's declaration, Madison, who turns 7 Saturday, and 11-year-old Angel are scared and stressed. He claims Mel B was sometimes physically abusive to Angel, digging her nails into her, grabbing her and shaking her.

Updegraff also says Mel B has been a cocaine user, although the docs suggest the real issue now is alcohol.

And, Updegraff says Mel B often brings various men home, with the kids present. In one case, he says a strange man tried to bring Madison into the shower, and he had to intervene and stop him.

He also says Mel B would regularly leave town for 1 to 2 weeks at a time and never check in to see how the kids were doing.

The hearing will be held this morning. We will update when the judge rules.

Belafonte wants temporary custody of kids so Mel B can go to rehab and get clean. He does not want to take the kids away from her, but fears they are at extreme risk given Mel B's state.

Prince's estate is going after a record label, claiming it's run by a group of bootleggers conspiring to cash in by jacking his tunes and plastering the Prince logo on all their rip-off merchandise.

Prince's estate just filed docs -- obtained by TMZ -- against Eye Records ... which the estate says is described as a "bootleg label dedicated to Prince." According to the docs ... Eye Records has illegally released 18 Prince compilations since Prince died in 2016, including CD sets titled 'Blast From The Past.'

Eye Records allegedly uses the online store newlovesigne.com to sell the bootlegged music, which includes live performances and unreleased studio tracks ... like "Prince Atlanta," which contain live recordings of the musician in his last-ever show.

Prince's estate is suing the record label and the individuals it believes are involved in the bootlegging scheme for monetary damages ... including $2 million for every one of their alleged Prince trademark violations ... and they claim there are a lot.

A rep for Prince's estate tells us, "There was nothing more important to Prince than the quality of his music and how his fans experienced it. With this filing, our hope is to preserve the integrity of the music and remain true to Prince's wishes."

Dr. Dre and Xzibit screwed 3 people out of a fortune in the cannabis industry by taking their time, money and hard work, and then pretending they never existed ... according to a new suit.

Three individuals are suing the rappers and their weed company, Brass Knuckles, claiming they did a ton of legwork for them and eventually struck a deal to acquire a 14.5 percent stake in the business ... but then got hosed.

According to the docs, Dre -- who the 3 individuals claim is a secret co-owner of Brass Knuckles -- was happy with their work and was going to be involved in promoting some major projects associated with the biz.

The 3 people claim they reached an agreement with Dre, Xzibit and others in the company to pay $5 million to buy their 14.5 percent, and everything was going fine ... until the Brass Knuckles execs got greedy.

According to the docs ... the company was originally valued at $50 million, but after the deal was struck with the group of 3 and they ponied up the $5 mil for their share, it was determined the company was actually valued at $170 mil.

The 3 claim at this point ... Dre, Xzibit and company pretended the deal never existed. The 3's lawyer, Larry Ecoff, tells us his clients were essentially kicked to the curb after the higher valuation, and "this case is all about greed and weed."

They're now suing for breach of contract and want monetary damages ... along with a judge to rule they are 14.5 percent owners of the company.

Dr. Dre's lawyer, Howard King tells us ... this lawsuit is "without any allegations of anything done by [Dre] that would justify naming him as a defendant," and that doing so "is nothing more than a blatant and short-sighted attempt by the plaintiffs to generate publicity for their cause."

Steven Tyler is done giving Donald Trump chances ... the Prez better stop using Aerosmith's songs at campaign rallies ... and that means now!

We got Steven and his GF Aimee Friday in Bev Hills, going into Optometrix, when our photog asked about his repeated demands that Trump stop using songs like "Livin' on the Edge" and "Dream On" at various campaign rallies.

Trump has ignored the demands, and clearly Steven has had it up to here. His lawyers fired off 2 cease and desist letters during the 2016 Presidential campaign as well.

Tyler's lawyers fired off a letter to Trump Wednesday, telling the Prez to cut the crap .. this after "Livin' on the Edge" was played Tuesday at a West Virginia rally.

Tyler tweeted ...

Former "The Parkers" and "Moesha" star Countess Vaughn claims her longtime BF has been abusing her for years -- and most recently threw bleach in her face -- and it was more than enough for a judge to grant her an order of protection.

According to docs obtained by TMZ, the '90s sitcom star claimed David Benjamin Richard Whitten chucked bleach at her face back in June to keep her from working as an actress.

Countess says the BF has felt insecure anytime she moves up in her career, and she's endured a decade of physical, verbal and emotional abuse from him -- including alleged slapping, beating, strangulation and sexual assault.

She says Whitten has threatened to leak explicit videos of her and even threatened to kill her at times. She's got a couple kids -- one with Whitten -- and she fears for their safety if Whitten is allowed to have contact with them.