50 Cent’s legal troubles aren’t officially over yet. Although the Queens native filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, a federal judge ruled to continue the trial proceedings of his sex tape lawsuit, the Hartford-Courant reports.
“I’m taking the precautions that any other good businessperson would take in this situation,” he said in an interview with E! News. “You know when you’re successful and stuff, you become a target. I don’t wanna be a bull’s-eye. I don’t want anybody to pick me as the guy that they just come to with astronomical claims and go through all that.”
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Lastonia Leviston, the woman who initially sued Fifty for posting her sex tape online, recently won a $5 million “compensatory damages verdict” following the jury’s decision on July 10. But this current court date seeks to determine the punitive damages against the multi-millionaire. There’s no word on the exact date of the forthcoming trial, but Leviston’s attorney, Elizabeth Austin, isn’t buying Fifty’s bankruptcy plea.
“I think we’re very clear in our papers that he’s engaged in numerous tactics to delay the eventual entry of a judgment in the state court litigation,” Austin told The Washington Post. “We believe this bankruptcy is yet another one of those tactics, and quite frankly, I’ve not seen all of the comments that have been made in the media. I’ve only seen some of them, but I think that would seem to support our position.”
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While promoting the release of his forthcoming film Southpaw, the “21 Questions” lyricist also answered pressing inquires on his legal woes, which he addressed on Conan.
“Yeah, I need protection,” 50 Cent said. “You get a bull’s-eye painted on your back when you’re successful, and it’s public. You become the ideal person for lawsuits.”