*It’s a good thing 50 Cent has a lot of money because a New York jury has awarded a Florida woman $5 million of his fortune for posting her private sex video online as part of his rap beef with rival Rick Ross. We also bet that when he heard the news, he wasn’t skinnin’ and grinnin’ the way he is in the pic above next to the woman he just made a millionaire.
The verdict was announced late Friday after the four-woman, two-man jury deliberated for only an hour and ten minutes toward the end of a five-week trial.
Now the rapper/actor/entrepreneur may have to appear in court next week along with his net worth statement so the jury can decide on additional, punitive damages.
Lastonia Leviston, who is rapper Rick Ross’ baby mama was found by the jury to have suffered suffered “severe emotional distress” when 50 Cent, aka, Curtis Jackson, narrated the video calling her a “slut” and “motherf–king porn star.”
On top of that, the jury found that Jackson had profited off the posting that was linked to his website ThisIs50.com. The posting violated Leviston’s privacy rights, the jurors found.
50 admitteed in a Hot 97 interview that was played during the Manhattan Supreme Court trial, that his feud with Ross drove traffic to his website.
Leviston’s lawyers said that the publication of the 2009 film, which shows her in graphic sex positions with her then boyfriend Maurice Murray, nearly drove the mother of two to suicide. Murray reportedly sold the video to Jackson after his breakup with Leviston.
“Maurice broke her heart and 50 Cent ruined her life,” Leviston’s lawyer, Philip Freidin said in his closing statement.
As the verdict was announced in the Manhattan courtroom Leviston, 36, sat in the front row squeezing the hand of a friend and then wiped away tears as the jury foreman, a grey-haired art professor, read the verdict sheet.
When it was all over, Levisto won $2.5 million for the privacy violation and $2.5 million for emotional distress.
You can read/learn MORE at Page Six.
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