Money

Michael Jackson's mother has amassed a fortune since her son died -- to the tune of tens of millions, which is why she can pay for her own lawyers ... so claims MJ's estate.

A rep for the estate confirms to TMZ that they've filed legal docs in their ongoing dispute with Katherine Jackson over attorney's fees that she's trying to have the estate cover ... over a deal that the estate itself struck, which she's currently appealing.

TMZ has seen the paperwork ... and it lays out some financial info that, if accurate, is absolutely eye-popping.

In the filing, the estate claims there's a massive amount of cash and other benefits Katherine has received since Michael's death in 2009 ... with the executors of the estate alleging it all totals more than $55 million over the nearly 15 years.

A good chunk of that dough, the estate claims, comes in the form of a monthly allowance it says Katherine is afforded by MJ's estate, and totals more than $160k/month.

that allowance -- plus other cash payments -- amount to $33 million of the $55m total, according to the estate.

On top of that, the docs say Katherine is well taken care of by the estate ... which claims to have shelled out more than $15 million to buy and improve her luxury home, not to mention paying for her transportation and other perks -- like a private gardener, chef, and security.

The point of the estate executors laying this all out is to bolster their argument Katherine can afford to cover her own attorney's fees as she pushes forward with her appeal to fight a huge business deal the estate struck ... which she and Michael's son, Blanket, were fighting together until recently.

Unclear what exactly that deal is, but it appears to be related to the blockbuster deal the estate struck for Sony to buy half of MJ's music catalog for 9 figures.

We broke the story ... Blanket filed legal docs earlier this week that made clear he, too, felt Katherine should be covering her own attorney's fees for the appeal -- and that the estate shouldn't have to pick up the tab.

Blanket was on Katherine's side up until a judge ultimately ruled against them, and he decided it didn't make sense to go forward with an appeal of that ruling.

Blanket now says he wants out of the fight -- and that Katherine is on her own for the appeal.

La madre de Michael Jackson ha amasado una fortuna desde que su hijo murió. Literalmente decenas de millones... así que puede pagar sus propios abogados.

Un representante del patrimonio le confirma a TMZ que han presentado documentos legales en su disputa en curso con Katherine Jackson, sobre los honorarios del abogado que ella está tratando de que el patrimonio costee.

TMZ ha visto el papeleo, y si es exacto, es absolutamente impresionante.

En la presentación, la finca afirma que hay una enorme cantidad de dinero en efectivo y otros beneficios que Katherine ha recibido desde la muerte de Michael en 2009, con los ejecutores de la finca alegando que todo suma más de $55 millones en casi 15 años.

Una buena parte de ese dinero viene en forma de una asignación mensual de $160k.

Ese subsidio por sí solo asciende de $33 millones a los $ 55M, de acuerdo con el patrimonio.

Además de eso, los documentos dicen Katherine está bien protegida, y afirman haber desembolsado más de $15 millones para comprar y mejorar su casa de lujo, por no hablar de pagar por su transporte y otros beneficios; como un jardinero privado, chef y seguridad.

El punto es reforzar el argumento de que Katherine puede permitirse el lujo de cubrir los honorarios de su propio abogado, mientras ella sigue adelante con su apelación para luchar contra un gran negocio hizo el patrimonio... ella y el hijo de Michael, Blanket, estaban luchando juntos hasta hace poco.

No está claro cómo es exactamente este acuerdo, pero parece estar relacionado con el exitoso movimiento en el que Sony compró la mitad del catálogo de la música de Michael por un número de 9 cifras.

Publicamos la historia... Blanket presentó documentos legales a principios de esta semana que dejaron claro que también sentía que Katherine debe cubrir los honorarios de su propio abogado para la apelación, y que el patrimonio no debería pagar la cuenta.

Blanket estuvo del lado de Katherine hasta que un juez falló en su contra, y decidió que no tenía sentido seguir adelante con una apelación.

Blanket dice que quiere salirse de la pelea y que Katherine está por su cuenta para la apelación.

12:14 PM -- LeBron James was clearly watching every second of the first-round matchup ... 'cause the Lakers superstar was quick to congratulate his former coach on the 71-67 upset win over BYU.

"YEAAAAHHHH @DruOnDemand LFG!!!! Go Dukes @DuqMBB," Bron said on Thursday.

As the saying goes ... it's gotta be the shoes!!

The Duquesne basketball team got a sweet surprise before their first-round game in the NCAA Tournament ... brand new LeBron James XXI kicks -- from the King himself!

The Lakers superstar had the white and light blue sneakers delivered to the 11th-seeded team this week before Thursday's game against 6th-seeded BYU ... in the tourney's East Region.

The players were HYPED when they saw the new shoes ... and were super appreciative of the gift.

FYI, the LeBron 21s "Blue Diver" dropped this month ... with Air Zoom cushioning and a glow-in-the-dark outsole. The shoe was modeled after an Oyster shell.

There's a deeper meaning ... and it's a tribute to Bron's daughter, Zhuri, and how the proud dad protects his daughter just as a shell shelters a pearl.

You're probably asking, why Duquesne? Well, James' former high school basketball coach is their current HC ... Keith Dambrot, who has been the coach of the Dukes since 2017.

The special delivery comes on the heels of Duquesne's biggest basketball game in decades ... they haven't been in the NCAA tourney in 47 years, and last made a trip to the Final 4 in 1940, 84 years ago.

Ray J's trip to NYC where he's launching his own streaming platform, The Tronix Network, wasn't completely rained out -- he and his team got the good news their missing Maybachs were located back in Nevada, and not long after he vented to us about their mysterious disappearance!!!

Thanks to the gumshoe work of his biz partner, Ray J tells us the Maybachs were discovered in Reno near a chop shop and a casino.

The 6-figure vehicles went ghost on Sunday and Ray suspects the thieves got spooked by them constantly ringing the security alarms, and dumped the cars to get repurposed.

Ray's mood remained the same from when we spoke to him earlier ... he's not spending mental energy on the bandits -- they'll get their karma -- but he was happy to be back in the Maybachs.

He says his kids love the GLS backseat space ... it's the perfect family car -- if you have the $200k+ cash to spend!!!

With the Maybachs returned to their rightful owners, Ray now has to contend with Monica (or was it Goonica?) after she sent him a very stern warning for plugging a potential tour with Brandy against her knowledge and consent.

Ray told "The Breakfast Club" he was plotting a tour of them together ... with Monica opening up for his big sis.

Planet Fitness seems to be going through the exact same thing Bud Light did last year -- and yes, it's once again all about a transgender person ... who's got a certain group fired up.

You've probably heard about this by now ... a woman in Alaska posted a photo of a trans woman in the women's locker room at her Fairbanks location -- accusing the company of allowing men in a space that she thinks should be exclusive to cisgender women.

The original pic appeared to show the trans woman in question shaving over a sink in the locker room, and the lady who took it ranted and raved on a video that went viral afterward.

In the aftermath ... her local Planet Fitness reportedly revoked her membership, and let the unidentified trans woman stick around -- who has continued using the locker room. Planet Fitness has also explicitly defended the transgender member, saying their policy allows people with certain gender identities to use the locker rooms that they see fit.

With that said, they also say people can't act in bad faith on this ... or they'll get booted.

Now, more photos of this trans woman have been taken and circulated in the days since all this first kicked off ... and as you can imagine, it's drummed up a lot of outraged reactions.

Specifically, a lot of folks on the right have been blowing this story up over the past week or so -- and they've been calling on people to cancel their Planet Fitness memberships nationwide ... and on its face, it would appear a good handful of members are doing so.

The reason that seems apparent ... PF's stock price has taken a somewhat big hit, and their market value has also plummeted -- with the stock going from $66 to about $56 over the course of 12 days or so, the amount of time that's passed since this firestorm has taken off.

As a result of the stock dip, their market cap has also fallen around $400 million -- going from about $5.3 billion to about $4.9 bil over the course of 5 days, starting last week.

Planet Fitness parece estar pasando exactamente por lo mismo que Bud Light el año pasado, y sí, tiene que ver de nuevo con una persona transgénero.

Usted probablemente ha oído hablar de esto. Una mujer en Alaska publicó una foto de una mujer trans en el vestuario de mujeres, acusando a la empresa de permitir hombres en un espacio que ella piensa que debe ser exclusivo para mujeres.

La foto original parecía mostrar a la mujer trans en cuestión afeitándose, y la señora que tomó despotricó en un video que se hizo viral después.

Finalmente, el local de Planet Fitness, revocó su membresía, y dejó que la mujer trans no identificada se quedara, y ha seguido utilizando el vestuario. Planet Fitness también ha defendido explícitamente el miembro transgénero, diciendo que su política permite que las personas con ciertas identidades de género utilice los vestuarios que les parezca.

Dicho esto, también dicen que la gente no puede actuar de mala fe, o serán expulsados.

Ahora, más fotos de esta mujer trans han circulado, y como se puede imaginar, hay muchas reacciones de indignación.

En concreto, un montón de gente de derecha ha estado alentando a que la gente cancele sus membresías de Planet Fitness en todo el país, y parece que un buen puñado de miembros lo están haciendo.

El precio de las acciones de la compañía ha recibido un golpe, y su valor de mercado también se ha desplomado, con las acciones que van desde $66 a $56 en el transcurso de 12 días más o menos, la cantidad de tiempo que ha pasado desde que esta tormenta de fuego ha despegado.

Como resultado de la caída de las acciones, su capitalización de mercado también ha caído alrededor de $400 millones, pasando de alrededor de $5.3 mil millones al rededor de $4.9 mil millones en el transcurso de 5 días, a partir de la semana pasada.

Michael Jackson's family is involved in a complex legal battle ... and they're not all on the same side in this one -- 'cause MJ's son Blanket is trying to stop his own grandmother from using estate money in her ongoing fight.

Here's the deal ... Blanket -- MJ's youngest son, whose real name is Bigi Jackson -- filed documents this week, obtained by TMZ,  asking the court not to allow his grandmother Katherine to use Michael's estate money to fund an appeal of a previous ruling.

Basically, Blanket and his grandmother were recently working together to stop the executors of Jackson's estate from going through with a huge business transaction that they were very much so against.

The docs don't say exactly what the transaction was -- it's been shrouded in mystery throughout this saga -- but, based on recent reporting, it seems like it may be related to the deal the estate made with Sony to sell about half of Michael's music catalog for $600M.

Blanket explains he and his grandmother presented their arguments opposing the deal ... but ultimately the court ruled against them -- seemingly bringing the legal issue to a close.

However, Katherine's decided to appeal the ruling ... a move Blanket says he doesn’t want any part of -- and, more importantly ... he doesn't want his father's estate paying for her legal bills. As you know, he's an heir to the estate ... so that cash is pretty important to him.

The way Blanket explains it in the docs ... the appeal has little chance of winning, and he says he doesn't think it truly benefits the beneficiaries of the trust to continue the fight -- so, he simply doesn't want the estate to foot the bill for it ... something Katherine wants.

Blanket's also asked the court to use its best judgment to grant Katherine reasonable attorney's fees incurred from the pre-appeal battle -- which he agrees she's entitled to ... at least to a certain extent.

It's unsurprising Blanket's filing against Katherine ... just yesterday, executors of Michael's estate reportedly claimed that she receives a seven-figure allowance for the year -- money Blanket presumably would rather she use for the appeal instead of the estate's dough.

La familia de Michael Jackson está involucrada en una compleja batalla legal y no todos están en el mismo bando, pues el hijo de Michael, Blanket, está tratando de detener a su propia abuela de usar dinero de la herencia en el marco de la lucha que está en curso.

Esta es la cuestión, Blanket, el hijo menor de Michael Jackson, cuyo verdadero nombre es Bigi Jackson, presentó documentos esta semana que fueron obtenidos por TMZ, que piden al tribunal que no permita que su abuela Katherine utilice el dinero de la herencia de Michael para financiar una apelación de una sentencia anterior.

Básicamente, Blanket y su abuela estuvieron trabajando juntos recientemente para impedir que los albaceas de la herencia de Jackson siguieran adelante con una enorme transacción comercial con la que ellos estaban muy en contra.

Los documentos no dicen exactamente cuál fue la transacción, la que ha estado envuelta en misterio a lo largo de esta saga, pero de acuerdo a la información reciente, parece que puede estar relacionada con el acuerdo que los albaceas hicieron con Sony para vender la mitad del catálogo musical de Michael por $600M.

Blanket explica que él y su abuela presentaron sus argumentos en contra del acuerdo, pero en última instancia, el tribunal falló en contra de ellos y aparentemente habría puesto fin a la cuestión jurídica.

Sin embargo, Katherine ha decidido apelar al fallo, un movimiento del que Blanket no quiere ser parte, y más importante, no quiere que la herencia de su padre pague estas facturas legales. Como saben, él es uno de los herederos, por lo que el dinero es muy importante.

Por la forma en que Blanket lo explica en los documentos, la apelación tiene pocas posibilidades de ganar y dice que no cree que beneficie a los beneficiarios del fideicomiso, por lo que simplemente no quiere pagar por ello, pero Katherine sí.

Blanket también le ha pedido al tribunal que use su mejor juicio para concederle a Katherine unos honorarios razonables por los abogados incurridos en la batalla previa a la apelación, algo a lo que él considera que sí tiene derecho, al menos hasta cierto punto.

No es de extrañar esta petición de Blanket en contra de Katherine. Ayer mismo, los albaceas de la herencia de Michael, según los informes, afirmaron que ella recibió una asignación de siete cifras este año, dinero que Blanket presumiblemente preferiría que utilice para la apelación en lugar de recurrir al efectivo del fideicomiso.

El Tío Sam está llevando a Apple a los tribunales con el alegato de que tiene un monopolio en el negocio de los smartphones y que la naturaleza interconectada de sus productos es un poco demasiado anticompetitiva.

El jueves, el Departamento de Justicia presentó una demanda federal contra la compañía de Tim Cook con un montón de acusaciones contra el gigante de la tecnología, incluyendo que todo su modelo de negocios es inherentemente controlador y que tiene un dominio absoluto de la industria.

En los documentos obtenidos por TMZ, los federales dicen que el ecosistema de todas las cosas de Apple -incluyendo el iPhone, su reloj de Apple y otras aplicaciones y funciones conectadas a la computadora central de Apple- ha creado un "agujero" que está dejando injustamente afuera a sus empresas rivales y a sus propios clientes.

La demanda afirma: "Durante muchos años, Apple ha creado una plataforma y un ecosistema dominante para el iPhone que han impulsado la astronómica valoración de la empresa. Al mismo tiempo, ha comprendido hace tiempo que las tecnologías disruptivas y las aplicaciones, productos y servicios innovadores amenazaban ese dominio, al hacer que los usuarios dependieran menos del iPhone o les facilitaran el cambio a un smartphone que no fuera de Apple".

Los federales añaden: "En lugar de responder a las amenazas de la competencia ofreciendo menores precios de sus teléfonos inteligentes a los consumidores o una mejor monetización para los desarrolladores, Apple habría hecho frente a las amenazas de la competencia imponiendo una serie de normas y restricciones cambiantes en sus directrices de la App Store y en sus acuerdos con desarrolladores lo que le habría permitido a Apple extraer tarifas más altas, frustrar la innovación, ofrecer una experiencia de usuario menos segura o degradada y estrangular las alternativas competitivas. Ha desplegado estas jugadas a través de muchas tecnologías, productos y servicios, incluyendo super apps, mensajería de texto, smartwatches y carteras digitales, entre muchos otros".

Además de sus productos, que los federales alegan que son creados solo para que funcionen dentro del sistema de Apple, la demanda afirma que la empresa ha hecho todo lo posible por cerrar las aplicaciones y/o programas que faciliten la comunicación de la gente entre productos iPhones con productos no iPhone. Esencialmente, están alegando que Apple ha hecho imposible interactuar con otros productos y usuarios si estos no están utilizando también un producto de Apple, y dicen que eso viola la ley federal.

La demanda también dice esto: "Si no se cuestiona, Apple solo seguirá fortaleciendo su monopolio de los smartphones. Este comportamiento anticompetitivo está diseñado para mantener su poder monopólico, mientras obtienen la mayor cantidad de ingresos posible."

Uncle Sam is taking Apple to court -- claiming they have a monopoly on the smartphone business and that the interconnected nature of their products is a little too anti-competitive.

The Dept. of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against Tim Cook's company Thursday, which makes a lot of allegations against the tech giant ... including that their whole business model is inherently gatekeeping, and has a stranglehold on the industry.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds say the ecosystem of all things Apple -- including the iPhone, their Apple Watch and other apps and features connected to Apple's mainframe -- has created a "moat" that's unfairly shutting out rival companies and their own customers.

The lawsuit states, "For many years, Apple has built a dominant iPhone platform and ecosystem that has driven the company’s astronomical valuation. At the same time, it has long understood that disruptive technologies and innovative apps, products, and services threatened that dominance by making users less reliant on the iPhone or making it easier to switch to a non-Apple smartphone."

The feds add ... "Rather than respond to competitive threats by offering lower smartphone prices to consumers or better monetization for developers, Apple would meet competitive threats by imposing a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions in its App Store guidelines and developer agreements that would allow Apple to extract higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives. It has deployed this playbook across many technologies, products, and services, including super apps, text messaging, smartwatches, and digital wallets, among many others."

In addition to their products -- which the feds allege are created to work only within Apple's system -- the suit claims Apple has gone out of its way to shut down apps/programs people have attempted to use to make communicating on iPhones easier with non-iPhone products. Essentially, they're alleging Apple has made it impossible to interact with Apple products/users if you're not also using an Apple product ... and they say that violates federal law.

The lawsuit also says this ... "If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly ... This anticompetitive behavior is designed to maintain Apple’s monopoly power while extracting as much revenue as possible."

Shohei Ohtani has a new righthand man in Korea ... the Dodgers have appointed Will Ireton to be his interpreter -- this less than 24 hours after Ippei Mizuhara was canned due to his alleged role in a gambling scandal.

L.A. manager Dave Roberts refused to comment on the entire Mizuhara saga in a pregame meeting with reporters Thursday ... but he did confirm Ireton -- the team's manager of performance operations who previously helped Kenta Maeda with communicating -- will fill in for Ohtani's former translator for the time being.

Roberts also said Ireton would handle interpreting duties for Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

And, it didn't take long for Ireton to make his impact felt during the Dodgers' second game of the season against the Padres in Seoul. As Yamamoto struggled in his debut versus San Diego, it was Ireton who hit the mound to help relay coaches' words.

Ireton was also seen standing close by to Ohtani in the dugout throughout the game.

So far, Ohtani's looked solid despite all of the distractions surrounding him, he's currently 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI -- and he just nearly missed hitting a home run in the seventh inning.

As we previously reported, Mizuhara -- who had just worked as Ohtani's translator during the season-opener against the Pads on Wednesday -- was fired in the hours following Game 1 after Ohtani's attorneys accused him of stealing money from the two-way star in order to place bets with an alleged illegal bookmaker.

Roberts told media members he "can't say anything" regarding the matter ... but he did tell journalists Ohtani was "ready" for game action in spite of the outside noise.

L.A. is currently down 12-9.

3/21, 7:10 AM -- Ippei Mizuhara told ESPN that Ohtani knew of his gambling debts and agreed to pay them off in exchange for a promise -- the interpreter would never gamble again.

"Obviously, [Ohtani] wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again," Ippei initially said, adding, "He decided to pay it off for me.

But, Mizuhara then seemingly changed his story, saying, "I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again."

Ippei Mizuhara -- the Japanese interpreter who's been Shohei Ohtani's righthand man for nearly a decade -- has been fired by the Dodgers ... after Ohtani's attorneys claim he engaged in a "massive theft" of the two-way star's fortune.

The lawyers -- from the LA-based law firm Berk Brettler -- said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times they uncovered the alleged stealing after Ohtani's name had surfaced in a federal investigation of an alleged illegal bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer.

According to The Times, Mizuhara was accused of taking some of Ohtani's funds and using them to place bets with Bowyer. Ohtani's attorneys told the outlet they're now going to cops to have them investigate their findings further.

"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries," the lawyers said, "we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities."

The Dodgers confirmed Wednesday afternoon they let go of Mizuhara following the claims. No further comment from the team was added.

Mizuhara and Ohtani just joined the Dodgers this season ... after the two-time MVP signed with them in free agency on a 10-year, $700 million deal.

Prior to putting on Dodger Blue, the duo worked together throughout Ohtani's six historic seasons as an L.A. Angel.

Story developing ...

Elon Musk finalmente ha decidido mostrar lo que Neuralink ha estado haciendo. Resulta que han mostrado al primer sujeto utilizando su tecnología... y es increíble.

El jefe de Tesla -que también dirige Neuralink- publicó un video de cerca de 9 minutos mostrando por primera vez a alguien usando su tecnología. Hablamos del testimonio de un tipo llamado Noland Arbaugh, un tetrapléjico de 29 años de edad que pasó por el quirófano para poder usar Neuralink.

Dice que tuvo un extraño accidente de buceo hace unos 8 años que lo dejó paralizado de los hombros para abajo, y tras enterarse de lo que Neuralink podía hacer, se inscribió.

El video muestra cómo funciona exactamente esta tecnología, y efectivamente, se puede ver a Noland utilizando su mente para mover el cursor de un ordenador portátil que tiene delante en el que está jugando al ajedrez. Se ve bastante fluido, ¡y lo tiene dominado!

Noland es capaz de mover las piezas de ajedrez en la pantalla e incluso bajar el volumen de la música, todo con solo pensarlo. Se complica un poco al describir cómo lo hace exactamente, diciendo que está implementando algo llamado "movimiento imaginado", y utilizando el "poder de la mente".

Como hemos dicho, parece tenerlo todo bajo control, y es aún más sorprendente lo bien que se encuentra luego de la cirugía. Otro tema que toca en el video.

Noland respalda a Neuralink y reconoce que todavía hay mucho trabajo que hacer para perfeccionarlo, pero asegura que el progreso que han hecho hasta ahora es prometedor. Afirma que el número de personas a las que podría ayudar es asombroso, y se alegra de ser el paciente número 1.

Es bastante sorprendente, y puedes imaginar que habrá muchos que querrán prestarse como conejillos de indias, sobre todo viendo lo bien que ha resultado hasta ahora.

Elon Musk has finally pulled back the curtain on what Neuralink has been doing behind the scenes -- showing off their very first subject using their tech ... and it's incredible.

The Tesla chief -- who also heads Neuralink -- posted a link from his company that featured about 9 minutes of video from Neuralink ... and it's a full-blown testimonial from a guy named Noland Arbaugh -- a 29-year-old quadriplegic who went under the knife for this.

He says he was in a freak diving accident about 8 years ago, and it left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. After hearing about what Neuralink could do, however, he signed up.

The clip goes on to show how exactly the technology works -- and sure enough ... you can see Noland using his mind to move a mouse around on a laptop that's set up in front of him ... on which the guy's playing chess. It looks pretty seamless, and he's got it down pat!

Noland is able to move chess pieces on the screen and even turn down music -- all by simply thinking about where he wants the mouse to go. He gets into the weeds a bit in describing how exactly he does it ... saying he's implementing something called imagined movement, trying to pivot away from attempted movement with a whole lot of brain power.

Like we said ... he certainly seems to have a knack for it now -- and even more amazing is how well he appears to be doing post-surgery, something else he touches on in this video.

Noland gives a ringing endorsement for Neuralink -- acknowledging there's still much work to do to perfect it ... but saying the progress they've made so far is promising. He says the number of people this could potentially help is staggering ... and he's happy to be patient #1.

It's pretty powerful visuals ... and you gotta imagine more folks are gonna put their names down to be guinea pigs for this effort -- especially seeing how well it's gone thus far.

Ray J's new chapter with his Tronix Network is off to a rocky start, as 2 Maybachs he shipped out to NYC to promote the venture, never made it, and he says they're still in the wind!!!

We caught up with Ray Wednesday in Manhattan, but we could only picture him rollin' in our head ... because his expensive whips are good 3,000 miles or so away. He told us trackers on the missing Maybachs indicate they're still floating around Nevada.

Ray says he and his Tronix biz partner planned to plug the new media platform by stuntin' in the streets in their Maybachs -- but he says he's hit a dead-end with police and can't even get a 911 operator on the line to help with the search.

He was remarkably calm about losing 2 rides worth around $200k each ... and admitted he's taking it much smoother than his partner, who Ray says is still combing Reno for the luxury vehicles.

Ray says he's gotta press on, making the rounds in NYC to talk Tronix -- but he firmly believes the thieves will get what's coming to them in due time.

It's been quite the year for Ray J -- his estranged wife Princess Love filed for divorce for a 4th time, and all signs point to it being the final time.

The guy seen in video throwing a devastating punch at one of Nardo Wick's fans has a new issue on his hands -- he's lost his bond money by skipping out a court appearance.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained docs confirm 34-year-old Zachary L. Benton's $2,000 cash bond was forfeited after he missed a March 18 court date for the case.

We broke the story back in December ... Benton and a 15-year-old minor are accused of viciously attacking George Obregon Jr. -- a Nardo fan who was trying to get a selfie with the rapper.

In the video, Benton throws one sucker punch, and then the minor follows up with multiple shots to George's face, knocking him out cold on the pavement and causing a concussion.

Nardo wasn't with the smoke, and distanced himself from the attack ... while Benton later surrendered to police, and was charged with felony aggravated battery.