50 Cent has been ordered to pay millions of dollars more in his sex tape lawsuit.
The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, declared himself broke by filing for bankruptcy last week, just days after jurors declared he must fork over $5 million to Lastonia Leviston for posting a sex tape of her online.
But despite his alleged financial struggles, he will have to shell out even more to Leviston, as the Associated Press reports a New York City jury has declared he must pay $2 million in punitive damages.
The jurors announced their decision on Friday, two weeks after they ordered 50 Cent pay Leviston $2.5 million for violation of civil rights and using her image without her permission, as well as another $2.5 million for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Leviston’s lawyer Philip Freidin originally asked the jury to award his client $15 million, but she will be leaving with a total of $7 million now that punitive damages have been exacted. 50 Cent’s attorney wanted jurors to limit her award to no more than $700,000.
The whole sex tape case came about after a feud ensued when Rick Ross, the father of Leviston’s child, accused 50 Cent of looking at him the wrong way at the 2009 BET Awards. And in response to the ongoing exchange between the men, 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, uploaded a sex tape to YouTube which featured Lavonia fornicating with her ex-boyfriend Maurice Murray.
50 Cent doctored the sex tape by superimposing his own character ‘Pimpin' Curly’ into the clip and he went on an expletive filled rant in his altered version. He also added two of his own songs to the fornication footage, which racked up millions of views.
