Fairly Legal

A manifesto has surfaced that's being attributed to the man who set himself on fire -- and if it's legit, which it certainly seems to be, then the guy's motivation was purely political.

The man in question has been ID'd as Max Azzarello -- and he appears to have his own Substack page called The Ponzi Papers ... with his latest post titled "I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial."

The first lines are telling, and you can clearly make out that this man is very anti-governmental. He writes, "My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan. This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery."

Nate Diaz is being sued by a man in Louisiana who says the MMA legend beat him up and injured him during a street fight in New Orleans last year, TMZ Sports has learned ... a lawsuit Diaz's people believe is literally laughable.

Rodney Petersen, an amateur fighter, filed the lawsuit earlier this week in Orleans Parish ... where he's seeking damages for injuries he claims he sustained during the April 2023 brawl.

"LOL" ... was the response from Zach Rosenfield, Nate's longtime rep, when we reached out for comment.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori seemed to be in good spirits this week ... driving around L.A. in separate cars -- this just hours after a man filed a battery report against Ye.

Photogs snapped the couple caught in rush hour traffic Wednesday -- and they were rolling in completely different vehicles. BC was piloting her Porsche and Ye was riding shotgun in a Cybertruck ... both seemingly happy and healthy after what sounds like a tough night.

Hard to tell what Bianca's wearing here -- unclear if it's her usual level of sheer or not -- but, she's got her eyes firmly fixed on the road while waiting at traffic lights in her sweet ride.

GloRilla got put through the gauntlet of a typical DUI arrest -- having to do a bunch of field sobriety tests for the responding officer ... which we can now see on video.

TMZ has obtained the body cam footage from Tuesday night in Gwinnett County, GA -- where cops pulled her over and ultimately took her to jail and booked her on suspicion of driving under the influence, among other charges.

Now, we can see exactly how the whole thing played out on camera -- and you can tell right from the get-go the officer here wasn't gonna let her off the hook, despite GloRilla insisting she was okay to drive. The cop wasn't buying that, and made her get out of the car.

Kodak Black can now place his recent drug possession case in his rearview mirror ... the last significant charge in the case was tossed out this week!!!

Court docs obtained by TMZ Hip Hop show a judge just dismissed the remaining tampering charge against the Florida rapper -- this after previously tossing the drug possession charges, back in February, after Kodak showed he had a prescription for the drugs.

Bradford Cohen, Kodak's attorney, tells TMZ Hip Hop ... "The court recognized the valid arguments that were made to dismiss the last remaining count of this wrongful arrest. We are happy to see the case resolved and Kodak continue to be successful in both the entertainment world and his philanthropic ventures."

Kanye West y Bianca Censori parecían estar de buen humor esta semana, conduciendo por Los Ángeles en sus respectivos carros, solo horas después de que un hombre presentara una denuncia por agresión en contra de Ye.

Los fotógrafos captaron a la pareja atrapada en el tráfico el miércoles y andaban en vehículos completamente diferentes. Bianca pilotaba su Porsche y Ye iba de copiloto en un Cybertruck, ambos aparentemente tranquilos después de lo que parece fue una noche dura.

Es difícil saber lo que Bianca está usando aquí. No está claro si es su habitual estilo de transparencias, pero tiene los ojos fijos en la carretera mientras espera en los semáforos.

Bryan Kohberger's defense team is planning to bring in a tech expert to help support his alibi as he stands trial for a quadruple murder -- namely, he was nowhere nearby.

Bryan's attorney is arguing he was out driving miles away from Moscow, ID the night 4 University of Idaho students were slain in their home. Kohberger's team claims they have cell phone tower records and a radio frequency expert set to corroborate this defense.

According to new docs detailing this, Bryan was south of Pullman, WA and west of Moscow, Idaho on the night in question. The defense claims this was normal for the former criminology student ... as he liked to hike/run in the area and look at the night sky.

10:16 PM PT -- Un representante de Kanye West le dice a TMZ: "'Agarrar' es muy inadecuado como una descripción de lo que sucedió. Bianca fue agredida físicamente".

Y añaden: "El agresor no se limitó a chocar contra ella. Le metió las manos por debajo del vestido, directamente sobre el cuerpo, la agarró por la cintura, la hizo girar y luego le sopló besos. Fue maltratada y agredida sexualmente".

Kanye West podría tener un nuevo problema legal en sus manos, ya que el rapero aparece como sospechoso en una denuncia sobre agresión y ahora la policía está revisando las afirmaciones en su contra ... TMZ ha averiguado.

10:16 PM PT -- A rep for Kanye West tells TMZ ... "'Grabbed' is grossly inadequate as a description of what happened. Bianca was physically assaulted."

They add, "The assailant didn't merely collide into her. He put his hands under her dress, directly on her body, he grabbed her waist, he spun her around, and then he blew her kisses. She was battered and sexually assaulted."

Kanye West might have new legal trouble on his hands -- he's the named suspect in a battery report, and cops are now looking into the claims against him ... TMZ has learned.

It looks like people were better behaved at Coachella Weekend 1 this year ... because arrests were down significantly compared to last year, TMZ has learned.

Indio PD released their data from the festival's first installment ... and they say they only clocked 81 arrests in their system between Friday and Sunday -- which is pretty damn low compared to years past, especially 2023.

That's down 20% from the 102 arrests made last year. There was also a small smattering of citations issued -- just 47 -- and they're all handicap parking related ... down 43% from last year.

Un hombre de Ohio, quien aparentemente pensó que estaba involucrado en un elaborado complot para estafarlo, ha sido acusado de dispararle fatalmente a una conductora de Uber, quien también había sido engañada, por cierto.

Según los informes, William Brock, de 81 años, le dijo a las autoridades en el condado de Clark que le disparó a Loletha Hall, de 61 años, afuera de su casa el 25 de marzo, pero se defendió diciendo que solo lo hizo pues pensaba que estaba trabajando con alguien que le había exigido un rescate monetario.

Cuento corto, Brock había sido contactado por unos estafadores, que comenzaron diciéndole que tenía que soltar miles de dólares porque un pariente estaba en la cárcel y luego convirtieron el caso en un rescate de rehenes, que dejó a Brock confundido.

An Ohio man has been charged in the fatal shooting of an Uber driver, whom he reportedly thought was involved in an elaborate plot to scam him ... and ditto for the woman, BTW.

Per reports, 81-year-old William Brock told authorities in Clark County that he shot 61-year-old Loletha Hall outside his home on March 25 ... but defended himself, saying he only did so because he believed she was working with someone who'd demanded a ransom from him.

Long story short, Brock had been getting contacted of late by scammers -- who started out by telling him he had to cough up thousands of dollars because some relative was in jail ... which then turned into a straight-up ransom/hostage call, which left Brock confused/rattled.

Red Lobster is reportedly mulling over bankruptcy, and while this is far from the end for them as a business ... some online are certainly treating it that way, with jokes galore.

According to Bloomberg, the famous seafood restaurant chain is considering its options to restructure some of its debt and other expenses it has on its plate right now -- including leases they have under its name, not to mention rising labor costs.

Apparently, it's Chapter 11 bankruptcy that's on the table ... which, if they pursue that, would mean they could still run their operation while sorting out their debts with creditors, etc.

El patrimonio de O.J. Simpson no está repleto de dinero como se podría esperar, ni es suficiente para satisfacer su deuda con la familia de Ron Goldman, o al menos eso afirma su albacea.

El abogado de Simpson, Malcolm LaVergne, habló con "TMZ Live" el martes sobre las finanzas de O.J. tras su muerte la semana pasada. Según Malcolm, O.J. murió con menos de 5 cifras en su cuenta bancaria de Nevada, y en general, tenía menos que millones a su nombre.

En sus últimos días, O.J. estaba recibiendo la cantidad máxima de la seguridad social, así como las pensiones por su tiempo como estrella de la NFL y como actor. Malcolm afirma que esos pagos totalizaron menos de los $ 400K por año que se han informado.

O.J. Simpson's estate is NOT flush with the kinda cash you'd expect -- nor is it enough to satisfy his debt to Ron Goldman's family ... at least that's what his executor is claiming.

We got Simpson's longtime attorney Malcolm LaVergne Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and he opened up about O.J.'s finances following his death last week. As Malcolm put it, O.J. died with less than 5-figures in one Nevada bank account, and overall ... had less than millions to his name.

In his final days, O.J. was receiving the maximum amount of social security, as well as pensions from his time as an NFL star and actor. Malcolm claims those payments totaled less than the $400K per year that's been reported.

A woman who accused Trevor Bauer of sexual assault has just been hit with a criminal charge ... after she allegedly defrauded the former Cy Young winner into paying her for an abortion he believes never happened.

The charge -- fraudulent schemes and artifices -- was formally filed against Darcy Esemonu in Arizona on Monday ... weeks after a Maricopa County grand jury indicted her on the felony count.

According to a video statement Bauer posted on his YouTube page Tuesday, it stems from allegations Esemonu made against the former Dodgers star in a 2023 lawsuit.

The woman alleged in her papers that Bauer raped her during a 2020 encounter and got her pregnant. In a countersuit, Bauer denied any wrongdoing ... but he did say he had consensual sex with her one time in Dec. 2020, when the condom he had been using broke.

He claimed in his countersuit that after their hookup, Esemonu told him she was pregnant and wanted more than $1 million to terminate it. Bauer claimed he would support her decision ... before he gave her $8,761 for the cost she eventually said it took to end the alleged pregnancy.

However, in his video statement Tuesday, Bauer said, "She never had an abortion, because she was never even pregnant." He added that that was all "corroborated by her own medical records."

Bauer said authorities were made aware of all of this after they initiated an investigation into her sexual assault allegations against him.

Court records show Esemonu was also charged with fraud due to her interactions with a man named Marco Bresciani. In addition, the records show she was charged with felony theft by extortion for wrongdoing against Bresciani as well.

"Her m.o. is clear," Bauer said of the newly filed charges. "Lie to men to get their money. Extort them if she must. When they refuse to pay, stop paying, or stop giving her what she wants, go to the police, accuse them of sexual assault, and file a civil suit against them to retaliate."

Bauer stated he's hopeful he can now get another crack at pitching in the MLB again soon.