50 Cent makes bankruptcy debt payback deal

The rapper had to cut back on his lavish habits after a failed business deal and a lawsuit over a sex tape. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid – RTX2HPDC

RAPPER 50 Cent, known for flashing the cash as part of his extravagant lifestyle, has received court approval to get out of bankruptcy.

A court in Connecticut has given the green light to a proposal submitted by the singer to pay some $23.4m (£18m) to creditors over five years.

Judge Ann Nevins said creditors – who accounted for 99.5% of the claims against the rapper – had accepted his arrangement.

Best known for his album and movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, the rapper filed for bankruptcy protection last year soon after losing a lawsuit over a sex tape.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, had appeared in a wig and spoke in an artificially high voice as he narrated a video that depicted sex acts by Lastonia Leviston.

He had been seeking to mock fellow rapper Rick Ross, who was formerly in a relationship with Ms Leviston. After she sued, 50 Cent was ordered to pay $7m (£5.3m) in damages.
Under the bankruptcy deal, he will instead pay her $6m (£4.6m), a court document showed.

The biggest claim against the rapper was from investors in Sleek Audio, a failed headphone venture.

He agreed to pay them more than $17.5m (£13.4m) under the deal.

In the settlement, 50 Cent said he was putting forward $7.4m to his creditors immediately in cash and would generate nearly all the additional money by selling his home, a Connecticut mansion once owned by boxer Mike Tyson.

When he filed for bankruptcy protection, 50 Cent had told the court that his lavish lifestyle was all a show and that he posed with fake dollar bills and even borrowed expensive jewellery that he returned after wearing it in public.

50 Cent earned an estimated $100m (£77m) in 2007 when he sold a stake in enhanced water drink VitaminWater.- news.sky.com

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