According to Hartford Courant rapper 50 Cent will put his 50,000-square-foot mansion in Farmington on the market soon, bankruptcy attorney Pat Neligan said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Wednesday.
He has tried to sell the house, which costs him $67,000 a month to finance and maintain, on and off since 2007. Neligan also said Jackson will put a condo he owns on the market.
The mansion, on 17 acres, has 21 bedrooms and 37 bathrooms as well as a gym, racquetball courts and a disco with a dancing room that features stripper poles.
Curtis Jackson III, the entertainer's given name, did not attend the hearing in Hartford.
His lawyers had told the court previously that Jackson was trying to lease the property to raise money. He bought it in 2003, the same year he had his first hit record, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," from boxer Mike Tyson for $4.1 million.
He tried to sell the house and its 17 acres of land in 2007 for $18.5 million, and dropped the price several times over the next five years.
Four of Jackson's attorneys, as well as attorneys for Sun Trust Bank, Sleek Audio and Lastonia Leviston, worked out technical details about court oversight of payments to Jackson's attorneys and accountants and how the amounts of his endorsement deals will be shared with creditors.
Jackson's lawyers had argued that the endorsement amounts should be kept secret because Jackson is not allowed to reveal the figures.
Neligan said Jackson makes frequent appearances for Effen vodka and for Frigo underwear, and is negotiating several other promotional deals. He said Derek Jeter and Carmelo Anthony also promote Frigo underwear, which retail for about $19 a pair.
hopeful the property's resale value is more than the balance — but also had a $4 million loan guarantee to Jackson, for his boxing promotion firm. That company, which is also in bankruptcy, has an estimated value of zero, Sun Trust said, or even negative value.
Sleek Audio is Jackson's largest creditor, after it won a lawsuit saying that Jackson's headphone design was at least partly derived from work the rapper did with Sleek while they were intending to bring out a headphone together.
Craig Weiner, from the New York law firm Robins Kaplan, told Judge Ann Nevins that he is nearly
ready to file a malpractice lawsuit against the law firm Garvey Schubert Barer, which represented Jackson in the Sleek case. Weiner said Jackson will be asking for $20 million in damages. Sleek won more than $18 million in its case.
Jackson, 40, is also filing appeals in the Sleek case and in the invasion-of-privacy case brought by Lastonia Leviston. The court ruled that Jackson owes Leviston $7 million for posting, with his own mocking commentary, a tape of her having sex. He entered bankruptcy the day after she won the first phase of damages, but was not able to halt the trial.
