Rapper 50 Cent filed for bankruptcy on Monday, days after being ordered to pay $5 million to a woman whose sex tape he released online.
“This filing for personal bankruptcy protection permits Mr. Jackson to continue his involvement with various business interests and continue his work as an entertainer, while he pursues an orderly reorganization of his financial affairs,” William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and Jackson’s lawyer, said in a statement.
According to court documents filed Monday, the rapper, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, reported assets and debts that were both in the range of $10 million to $50 million.
The filing comes three days after a jury ordered the “Power” star and executive producer to pay $5 million to a woman who sued him for releasing her sex tape online.
The Associated Press reported that Lastonia Leviston filed the civil suit, claiming emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
In the doctored 2009 clip, Jackson serves as a commentator named Pimpin’ Curly narrating a video made by Leviston and her then-boyfriend. Wearing a wig, he makes crude comments about Leviston and his rap rival Rick Ross, with whom she has a daughter.
The Manhattan jury ordered him to pay $2.5 million in damages for violating her civil rights for using her image without her permission, and $2.5 million for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Jackson did not appear at the trial to testify.
His lawyer’s statement said that the personal bankruptcy allows 50 Cent to “reorganize his financial affairs, as he addresses various professional liabilities and takes steps to position the future of his various business interests. Mr. Jackson’s business interests will continue unaffected in the ordinary course during the pendency of the chapter 11 case.”