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Dave Portnoy sold Barstool for $551 million. His ex-wife still has full access to his bank account
Shannon Sharpe: what if she spends $500,000 on a wedding to another man?
Portnoy: "100%"
Then Shannon tells him to cut her off. His answer is in the video below
Her name is Renee. They married in 2009. He says they once lived at her parents' house
They split in 2017. That is right when the money started coming in
2016: The Chernin Group buys 51%. The whole company is valued at $10 to $15 million
2020: Penn buys 36% for $163 million
2023: Penn buys the rest. Total price: $551 million
Six months later Portnoy buys it all back for $1
He is reportedly worth around $150 million. He says Renee has access to all of it
Shannon can't believe it. Portnoy doesn't blink:
"I trust her implicitly"
"She was there when we couldn't afford a hamburger"
"We kind of separated when we started making it. So she doesn't get to enjoy any of that. To me, that's not right"
"I won't even notice if it's gone"
Here is the part most people miss. Per People, they never finished the divorce. On paper, she is still his wife
He also says she could have emptied the account years ago. She never did
Do the math. A $500,000 wedding is a third of one percent of $150 million. For someone with $30,000 in savings, that is $100
The case for: she stood by him when he was broke, and he refuses to pretend that never happened
The case against: you do not hand a blank check to someone you are no longer with, no matter how good the history is
Is Portnoy the most loyal man in America, or is this a mistake waiting to happen?
Bill Belichick is 74. Jordon Hudson is 25. They secretly split a year ago, and she still runs his business
In 2023 she bought $8 million of real estate in six months. No one has confirmed if any was his money
In the video, watch who answers when CBS asks how they met
"How did you guys meet?"
Her voice, from off camera: "We're not talking about this"
Seconds earlier, Belichick had said: "Never been too worried about what everybody else thinks"
That was April 2025. By late 2025, according to TMZ, the romance was over. Nobody outside knew
She kept showing up at his games. She kept running his brand and his business deals
When the split came out, a reporter asked him about it. His answer:
"Do you work for a tabloid now?"
"I'll keep my personal comments and relationships to myself. How's that? All right with you?"
Now the real estate. All of it bought in 2023, after they started dating:
June: $2.3 million, Boston
October: $610,000, a Cape Cod cottage
December: $3 million, a building in Roxbury Crossing
December: $2.2 million, a townhouse in Dorchester
About $8 million in six months
A tenant asked the New York Post: "Isn't she 24?"
One four-bedroom home in Dorchester rents for $4,900 a month. A tenant told the New York Post he had lived there two years and never seen her
Here is the part most people miss. Ten days after the breakup went public, she filed a lawsuit. She sued two Airbnb hosts she accuses of leaking the security video of a shirtless Belichick
Broken up for a year. Still fighting over a video of him
Do the math. Three of the properties carried $1.2 million mortgages each, $3.6 million total. That leaves about $4.5 million of the purchase prices that wasn't borrowed. No one has confirmed where it came from
For scale: UNC pays him $10 million a year. $1 million is salary. The other $9 million is listed as "supplemental income"
The case for her: she built a real portfolio, runs his business, and he keeps defending her
The case against: a 49-year age gap, $8 million in buildings within months, and a "relationship" that kept going in public long after it ended in private
Smart businesswoman or the best-paid girlfriend in football?
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Ben Affleck and Matt Damon sold Good Will Hunting for $600,000. Affleck told himself "I'm rich forever"
Six months later they were broke. The movie went on to make $225 million
In the video, Affleck breaks down every dollar. Half of what was left went into one thing
The one thing: a $55,000 Jeep Cherokee. Each
$600,000 for the script
$300,000 each
Minus $30,000 to the agents
Minus about $160,000 in taxes
$110,000 left
$55,000 on the Jeep
$5,000 a month for a party house by the Hollywood Bowl
"We were broke in six months"
Affleck was 22. Damon was 24. The day the check came, this is what went through Affleck's head:
"We are now rich for life. My needs are over. I will never have to work again"
Here is what came before. Two broke kids from Boston, one shared bank account
"I always thought it was perfectly normal"
Every dollar from extra work, a line here and there, the occasional Burger King commercial went into it. The money was for train tickets to auditions in New York
"We were friends and we wanted each other to succeed"
Here is the part most people miss. Being broke was not the worst of it. Castle Rock, the studio that bought the script, gave them 30 days to find a new buyer or lose the movie
Their friend Kevin Smith got it to Miramax. The film made $225 million and won them the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
Do the math. After agents and taxes, each of them kept about 37 cents of every dollar. Half of that went into one car. Their $600,000 was about a quarter of one percent of what the film made worldwide
Today they run Artists Equity, a company built to share a film's profits with the people who make it
The case for: they trusted each other with every dollar before anyone knew their names, and it built two careers
The case against: two Jeeps, a party house, and a $600,000 check was gone before the movie was even made
They were 22 and 24 with $110,000 each. Be honest, would you have done any better?
Charlie Sheen reportedly made $1.8 million an episode on Two and a Half Men. Melanie Lynskey says her best check was $43,000, before taxes
Holland Taylor: "I got four Emmy nominations, and they never gave me a raise"
Taylor says how CBS reacted when she stopped signing
Two and a Half Men ran for 12 seasons and 262 episodes
Taylor, 83, played Evelyn Harper, the rich mother of Sheen's character. Last month she told the podcast Alchemy with Anthony Mason why she let her contract lapse after six seasons
She says CBS was surprised
Taylor: "I don't want to be on a contract anymore and they said, 'We can't pay you any more money'"
Taylor: "They never paid me very well on that show"
Taylor: "I was paid on that show what I had made on a series like eight years before or something"
Taylor: "I loved a lot about that show, but they were not full of courtesies"
Here is the timeline:
2003: Two and a Half Men premieres on CBS
2005 to 2010: Taylor earns four Emmy nominations
2011: Sheen's last season, reportedly $1.8 million per episode
2015: The series ends
Oct 2026: Taylor tells her side on Alchemy with Anthony Mason
Oct 2026: Lynskey answers a rumor about her own pay
Days later, under an Instagram post about Taylor's interview, a fan wrote that Lynskey made "200,000 to 300,000" per episode
Lynskey replied in the comments
Lynskey: "This insane number is floating around on the internet and I must tell you how wrong it is"
Lynskey: "The highest paycheck I got on the show was I think $43,000 for one episode in the final season"
She says she started at $20,000 per episode with a 5% raise each season, and that after agents, managers and taxes she takes home around 50%
Here is the part most people miss
The fan guessed $200,000 to $300,000 per episode. Lynskey says the real number was about one tenth of that
Sheen's reported $1.8 million is about 42 times her best check and 90 times her starting pay
By her own estimate, she kept around $21,500 of that best check
Lynskey says she was extremely grateful for the job. Taylor says she loved a lot about the show
The case for: Sheen was the lead, the show was built around him, and leads have always been paid on a different scale
The case against: a four time Emmy nominee got no raise, and a supporting actor had to correct the internet about her own paycheck
Is this just how TV pay works, or is this a pay gap Hollywood should be embarrassed by?
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Eminem's mother sued him for $10 million. She won
Then the bill came. The judge gave her $25,000. Her own lawyer took $23,354.25. She walked away with $1,645.75
In the video below, she describes what strangers did to her in public after his first hit
And her lawyer still felt underpaid. His words, per LADbible:
"She was the most high-maintenance client I've had in my legal career"
Her name was Debbie Mathers. She raised Marshall alone in a working-class part of Detroit
In 1999 "My Name Is" made him famous. In it, he says his mom used more drugs than he did
The whole world heard it. She says strangers spat on her and called her a disgusting pig
On Inside Edition she said:
"It does hurt. And God knows I don't deserve it"
"You don't do this to your mom"
"He was spoiled rotten"
"What have I really actually done to you?"
In September 1999 she sued her son for slander. She even recorded her own CD to answer him. She called it "Set the Record Straight"
His lawyer's reply: everything Eminem said could be verified as true
The case dragged on for two years. In 2001 a judge ruled she could keep about $1,600 of the $25,000, per ABC News
Do the math. She asked for $10,000,000 and kept 0.016% of it. Her lawyer made 14 times more from the case than she did
Years later Eminem released a song apologizing to her. She died in December 2024 at 69
The case for: no son should humiliate his mother in front of millions of strangers
The case against: she sued her own child for $10 million over his childhood, and her lawyer ended up with almost all of it
Was Debbie right to take her son to court, or did she get exactly what she asked for?
Eminem's mother sued him for $10 million. She won
Then the bill came. The judge gave her $25,000. Her own lawyer took $23,354.25. She walked away with $1,645.75
In the video below, she describes what strangers did to her in public after his first hit
And her lawyer still felt underpaid. His words, per LADbible:
"She was the most high-maintenance client I've had in my legal career"
Her name was Debbie Mathers. She raised Marshall alone in a working-class part of Detroit
In 1999 "My Name Is" made him famous. In it, he says his mom used more drugs than he did
The whole world heard it. She says strangers spat on her and called her a disgusting pig
On Inside Edition she said:
"It does hurt. And God knows I don't deserve it"
"You don't do this to your mom"
"He was spoiled rotten"
"What have I really actually done to you?"
In September 1999 she sued her son for slander. She even recorded her own CD to answer him. She called it "Set the Record Straight"
His lawyer's reply: everything Eminem said could be verified as true
The case dragged on for two years. In 2001 a judge ruled she could keep about $1,600 of the $25,000, per ABC News
Do the math. She asked for $10,000,000 and kept 0.016% of it. Her lawyer made 14 times more from the case than she did
Years later Eminem released a song apologizing to her. She died in December 2024 at 69
The case for: no son should humiliate his mother in front of millions of strangers
The case against: she sued her own child for $10 million over his childhood, and her lawyer ended up with almost all of it
Was Debbie right to take her son to court, or did she get exactly what she asked for?
Chris Tucker says he was paid $10,000 for Friday, the movie that made him a star
Ice Cube: "They had 10 to 12 million set aside for him to do Next Friday, and he turned that down"
Cube drops it right after the first paycheck, then explains where actors really get paid
Friday (1995) was a tiny movie. Cube has said it cost $2.3 million and was shot in 20 days
Cube says everyone on it got paid union scale. Tucker told Shannon Sharpe in 2021 that he did not mind
Tucker: "I got about $10,000 for it or whatever, I didn't care. I wanted the opportunity"
The movie went on to gross more than $27 million
Then came the sequel, and Tucker was not in it
Here is the timeline:
1995: Friday. Tucker is paid about $10,000, per Tucker
2000: Next Friday. Mike Epps takes over as Day Day
Dec 2021: Cube tweets about the offer
Nov 2026: Cube repeats it on Club Shay Shay
Cube's tweet in 2021:
"We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10 to 12 million to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons"
"He didn't want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore"
Tucker has said something similar himself
Tucker: "I don't want everybody smokin' weed"
Now Cube is telling it again, and he starts with the pay on the first movie
Cube: "Everybody got paid scale"
Then he explains how sequels work
Cube: "That's when you come back and cash in"
Here is the part most people miss
Tucker was already a star by 2000. Rush Hour, The Fifth Element and Jackie Brown were behind him
So the offer was not a rescue. It was a bet that Smokey was worth more than the whole first film
The offer was 1,000 to 1,200 times his first paycheck
It was also 4.3 to 5.2 times the entire $2.3 million budget of Friday
The case for: he walked away from a life changing check over principle, and his career kept going
The case against: nobody can check the offer except Cube, and the first check stayed $10,000
Is Tucker a man who stood by his principles, or is this a $10 million mistake?
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Chris Brown's 2025 tour grossed $298,381,915 in four months. His daughter's mother says he pays $7,000 a month. She has $10,000 to her name
He says: "I LITERALLY PAY FOR EVERYTHING"
In the video below, she asks: "Did you smoke a little bit too much this morning?"
Her name is Diamond Brown. Their daughter is Lovely
In October she asked a Los Angeles court for at least $30,000 a month. Her proposed monthly budget was over $45,000. She says she makes about $1,500 a month as an esthetician and influencer
Chris fired back on Instagram: "I LITERALLY PAY FOR EVERYTHING, her cars(2), her HOUSE, SCHOOLING, MEDICAL, and 10K a month"
Then: "I haven't seen my daughter in 7 months"
She answered on camera:
"Where's the 10K? I don't have 10K"
"You don't give me $10,000 a month"
"I have receipts and my attorney has receipts"
"You did also subtract money when you found out I was dating"
"You couldn't pay me to be bitter, baby"
His girlfriend Jada called her "ungrateful," per TMZ. The mothers of his other kids lined up to defend him
Per her filing, she has Lovely about 90% of the time, he hasn't asked to see her in 6 to 7 months, and he asked to take a 4-year-old on tour on alternating weekends
On November 9 it escalated. Her lawyers subpoenaed his business managers for his bank records. They objected, and both sides are at a standstill, per TMZ
Do the math. His current tour with Usher averages about $7.8 million a night, per Pollstar. One of those nights would cover about 93 years of $7,000 a month
The case for Chris: a tour gross is not a paycheck, he says he covers her house, two cars, school and medical on top of the cash, and he says she's the reason he hasn't seen his daughter
The case for Diamond: $7,000 a month from a man who grossed $298 million in four months, and she says he cut it when she started dating
Is Chris Brown underpaying his daughter, or is Diamond trying to get paid off his tour?
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Kelly Clarkson had primary custody of her kids. A judge still ordered her to pay her ex-husband $195,601 a month
He had asked for $436,000 a month
Then a state labor commissioner ruled he owed her $2.6 million
In the video below: "I was destroyed, like on the ground"
Brandon Blackstock was her husband and her manager. He booked her deals with The Voice, the Billboard Music Awards, Wayfair and Norwegian Cruise Line
The commissioner ruled he had no license to book them and ordered him to pay back $2,641,374
Before that, the court had her cover $1.25 million of his legal fees. The 2022 settlement: $1.3 million up front, $115,000 a month in spousal support until 2024 and $45,601 a month in child support
Her kids, she says, would tell her: "I wish Mommy and Daddy were in the same house"
In August 2025, Brandon died of cancer at 48. She postponed her Las Vegas shows to be with their children. In February 2026 she announced her talk show would end
Should the parent with custody ever have to pay the other one?
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In 2022, Ethan Klein mocked a YouTuber for cheating on his wife with an employee
"He probably got a fat payout," he said. "You gotta pay him off to get him out"
4 years later, his wife says he had a 6 month affair. Now he's giving up his stake in everything they built
Hila says it went from "just a kiss" to "emotional cheating" until he "finally admitted he'd been in an affair for over six months"
His own crew refused to work with him "involved or profiting in any way." H3 is now on indefinite hiatus
Ethan says he is "urgently" removing his "ownership and financial stakes" in the podcasts, Teddy Fresh, Teddy Glow and "any joint venture that I would profit from"
On November 2, Hila filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage and 3 sons. She hired Kim Kardashian's divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, and is asking for spousal support
Ned Fulmer, the man he mocked in 2022, posted on X: "Karma's a b*tch, huh?"
He gave up his stake. She still wants spousal support
Fair, or not enough?
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He married a wealthy 59-year-old woman two months after meeting her online. She paid $6,500 a month for their bayfront house and covered everything else. He kept telling her that her kids only wanted her money. He wasn't a doctor. He had multiple names and Social Security numbers. When she finally cut him off, he posted her nude photos online, set her car on fire and went after her youngest daughter with a knife. The daughter took the knife and stabbed him 13 times.
Her name is Debra Newell. In the video below, she says out loud why she thought he'd kill her. Wait for the second sentence
October 2014. Debra was an interior designer in Orange County with her own business, grown kids and plenty of money. She told herself she had everything except love
She met John Meehan on a dating site for people over 50. His profile said doctor, divorced, Christian. He said he'd served in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. He called every day and told her she was the soulmate he'd been waiting for
Five weeks later she signed a lease on a $6,500-a-month home on Balboa Island. Three weeks after that, they were married in Las Vegas
He had no car, so he drove her Tesla. He wore surgical scrubs everywhere, even when he wasn't working. Her daughters saw red flags from day one
He had an answer for that too. Her kids didn't really love her, he said. They just wanted her to die so they could take her money
The records told a different story. Multiple names. Multiple Social Security numbers. A former nurse anesthetist with a trail of women behind him. His first wife says she found a box of fentanyl and other anesthesia drugs pushed to the back of a top shelf
Debra left. Went back. Left again. In April 2016 she filed for an annulment and cut him off from her money
Then came the threats, the nude photos, the car on fire. A private investigator told her to switch hotels every few nights. Her lawyer told her to rewrite her will. "He feels that this man is going to kill me because of the money," she said
August 20, 2016. He was waiting for her daughter Terra on the roof of her apartment's parking garage. He grabbed her and stabbed her in the arm
She kicked the knife out of his hand, picked it up and stabbed him 13 times. He died four days later
Terra was never charged. It was self-defense
The man who said her kids only wanted her money ended up dead at the hands of one of them
Her daughters saw it from the first week. She married him anyway and paid for everything. Blind love, or something she should have seen coming?
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Before he was Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was homeless and did a softcore porn film for $200
"It was either do that movie or rob someone," he said
Five years later, with under $100 to his name, he turned down a reported $360,000. Then he told his wife exactly what would happen to him if he took it
Her name was Sasha. In the video below, he repeats what he told her. Watch the first 7 seconds
1970. He'd been evicted and was sleeping in a New York bus station. A cheap film called The Party at Kitty and Stud's needed a muscular lead. Two days of work. $200
"Instead of doing something desperate, I worked two days for $200 and got myself out of the bus station"
Five years later he wrote Rocky. The studio loved the script. They just didn't want him in it
The first offer was $20,000. His manager said take it. His agents said take it. He had "maybe under a hundred bucks"
He'd already sold his dog for about $40 because he couldn't feed him. "It's the only thing I could sell"
He kept saying no until the offer reportedly hit $360,000. The studio finally let him star, on a budget of about $1 million
Rocky made over $225 million and won Best Picture
The first thing he bought was his dog. The new owner knew he was desperate and charged $15,000. "He was worth every penny," Stallone wrote
Then the porn film came back from the dead. Producers retitled it "Italian Stallion" and rented it to theaters for $10,000 a night. The movie that paid him $200 now made that much every few minutes
His reaction: "Hell, for $10,000 forget the movie! I'll be there myself!"
When a woman's porn past comes out, it often ends her career. His became a punchline. Double standard, or just a different era?
When her mom found out she was doing porn, she texted her: "You lied to me"
A million dollars later, she says her parents are proud of her "because I made money"
Her psychiatrist saw it differently: "You don't have any values"
Her name is Sky Bri. In the video below, she tells NBA champion Michael Porter Jr. everything. Wait for what she calls "the best day of my mom's life"
She started OnlyFans while working at Target. She shot photos in the work bathroom, still in her uniform. It paid "maybe 1,500, 2 grand a month"
Her parents thought she moved to LA to model
On No Jumper, Adam22 asked her body count. "I'm pretty sure it was like three. I said it was 11"
"I had to pretend to be way more crazy than I actually was," she says
Then her mom's side of the family found her porn on Twitter. At that point she had "little to no money"
Her breakout came on a Sidemen video with KSI's crew. She offered to flash one of the guys on camera, and cleared it with production first. "Everything I've always done is very, very calculated"
"I got half a million followers on Instagram overnight. I instantly made like a million dollars on OnlyFans in a few weeks"
Her dad still won't bring it up. "We've never had that conversation"
Then came the anxiety and depression. "I have a lot of money and followers, but what did I do to get this?"
She quit porn. Fans still tell her she's their idol. Her reaction: "You need a better idol"
And her parents? "If I had done porn and miserably failed, they would probably think a lot differently of me"
Do the math.
Target bathroom: about $2,000 a month
After the Sidemen video: about $1,000,000 in a few weeks
At her old pace, that's 500 months. Almost 42 years
Somewhere in between, "You lied to me" turned into "proud"
Are her parents wrong, or would most parents react the same way?
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The night before her last porn scene, the man she spent Valentine's Day with told her: "I know you're going to f**k someone tomorrow"
She was Penthouse Pet of the Year. She quit studio porn the next day
Before porn, she'd been with four people. After? "I don't even know"
Her name is Kenzie Anne. In the video below, she tells Holly Randall about that night. Wait for how she answered him
Two years earlier she was a student doing e-commerce modeling in downtown LA for $100 an hour
Two girls from her high school were camming. "I'm not the only girl from my high school doing it," she remembers thinking
She went faceless on Streamate. "I was making like 10 grand a month just not showing my face"
Then Vixen slid into her DMs and asked if she'd shoot a scene
During the pandemic, a photographer friend sent her photos to Penthouse. They bought them. She became the 12th Pet of the year, the only one who wasn't "planned and paid." Then she won Pet of the Year
One aunt wrote letters to the whole family telling them to "exile me out of the family"
"That's not going to work," she says. "My family loves me"
Then came Valentine's Day, and that sentence
"It was me quitting porn for me," she says. "I just don't want to feel this way about myself anymore"
She's not fully out. She's still on OnlyFans and calls herself "still a sex worker"
And when strangers ask what she does? "I usually say I'm in social media"
Do the math.
Modeling: $100 an hour
Faceless camming: about $10,000 a month
She'd need 100 hours of modeling every month to match it
Would you date someone who does porn, or is that a dealbreaker?
A 21-year-old saw a $33.8 million fighter jet in a Pepsi commercial. The price on screen: 7 million Pepsi points. He found a loophole that turned it into $700,000. He raised the money and mailed Pepsi the check. Pepsi mailed back coupons
Then Pepsi took him to court
It was 1996. The ad showed a teenager landing a Harrier jet outside his school. On screen: "HARRIER FIGHTER 7,000,000 PEPSI POINTS". His line: "Sure beats the bus"
John Leonard, a business student, read the fine print. You only needed 15 real points. The rest you could buy for 10 cents each
People asked why he didn't just get a T-shirt. "When there's a Harrier out there for 7 million Pepsi Points, why not... aim your sights a little higher"
Five investors put up the money. In March 1996 he sent Pepsi 15 points and a check for $700,008.50
Pepsi's reply: the jet "is not part of the Pepsi Stuff collection". Enclosed: "some free product coupons for your use"
Wait for what Pepsi's spokesman says about him on camera
In 1999 a federal judge sided with Pepsi: "no objective person could reasonably have concluded that the commercial actually offered consumers a Harrier Jet"
Pepsi never cashed his check. It kept the ad on air and changed the price to 700,000,000 points
Do the math.
The jet: about $33.8 million
His check: $700,008.50, about 2 cents on the dollar and about $1.5 million in today's money
Earning the points by drinking Pepsi, per the judge: about 190 Pepsis a day for the next 100 years
The case for Leonard: Pepsi named a price, its own rules let him buy the points, and he paid
The case for Pepsi: nobody sells a military jet in a soda ad, and the court called it an obvious joke
Was he a genius who got robbed, or a guy trying to cash in on a joke?
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A man in West Virginia won $315 million in the Powerball on Christmas Day 2002
He gave his teenage granddaughter $2,000 a week and 4 cars. Within 2 years she was dead
Then he went on ABC and said he wished he'd torn the ticket up
Tonight's jackpot is $835 million
His name was Jack Whittaker. It was the biggest single-ticket jackpot in US history at the time
He was 55 and already worth about $17 million from his construction company
He takes the cash. $113 million after taxes
He gives 10% to churches, buys the deli manager who sold him the ticket a house and a Jeep, and puts $14 million into a foundation for poor families
In the video below, ABC asks him about his granddaughter, Brandi. At the end, you hear him say it himself
He carries cash everywhere. Asked why he has $545,000 in his car, he says: "Because I can"
August 2003. That $545,000 is stolen from his car outside a strip club. 2 club employees are charged in a plot to drug and rob him
A month later, Brandi's boyfriend overdoses and dies in an empty house Whittaker owns. His father says the lottery money killed his son
December 2004. Brandi is found dead. Cocaine and methadone in her system. Nobody is ever charged
He says over 400 legal claims were filed against him or his companies. Fighting them costs at least $3 million
Caesars Atlantic City sues him over $1.5 million in bounced checks he wrote to cover gambling losses
2008. His 42-year marriage ends up in divorce court
2009. Brandi's mother, his daughter, is found dead at 42
2016. His house burns down. He says it wasn't insured
"I pretty much lost everything I held dear in my life," he told ABC
He died in 2020
Tonight's cash option is $357.9 million. More than double the $170.5 million cash option he took
The case for the money: he gave away at least $50 million to churches, strangers and poor families
The case against: by his own words, it took everything he cared about
Knowing his story, would you still want to win tonight?
Institutional traders on Kalshi put $2 million on Greg Abbott last night
A couple of hours later, he lost. Texas just elected its first Democratic governor since 1990
2 years ago, a Frenchman made $80 million betting against the polls. This time, the polls won
July 2026. Kalshi gives Gina Hinojosa an 8% chance
The money is on Abbott's side. Elon Musk is his biggest donor in the last filing period, with a $5 million check. He outraises her $26 million to $17.5 million
Late October. Someone drops $500,000 on Abbott through a private block trade, the kind only institutions and the very rich can make. Days later, another $500,000
The final New York Times/Siena poll: Hinojosa 48, Abbott 47
The market doesn't care. Monday it still has Abbott around 60%
Election night. Polls close with Hinojosa at 37%. Over the night, $2 million more goes in on Abbott
Then the race is called for Hinojosa. Her price on Kalshi goes to 100 cents
The poll said 1 point. With 94% counted, she's up 7
On Kalshi, a losing contract pays $0. If they held, that $2 million is gone
The chart below: 8% in July. 100% this morning. $107 million traded on this one race
Now rewind to 2024
A former bank trader from France who called himself Théo didn't trust the polls either. He paid YouGov to ask voters who their neighbors were voting for
He sold almost everything he had, bet about $80 million on Trump and walked away with more than $80 million in profit
Same move. Opposite result
The case for the Abbott money: institutions use these markets to hedge. That $2 million could be insurance on something else they own
The case against: the last poll had it within 1 point, and the market still priced Abbott at 60 cents on the dollar
Polls or prediction markets: which one would you trust with your own money now?
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The Michael Jackson movie made $1 billion this year.
His daughter says the trust he left his three kids still hasn't been funded.
17 years after he died.
Last week Paris asked a judge to move $600 million into it
Here's how she talks about him: "that was my best friend"
When he died in 2009, he owed more than $500 million
His will put his lawyer John Branca in charge. Branca turned it around. Catalog deals, Neverland, a $750 million Sony deal
By the end of 2024 the estate had about $850 million in cash, Paris says in her filing
Michael's plan, per her petition: income for the kids at 21, the big money at 30
Prince is 29. Paris is 28. Bigi is 24
She's also challenging about $109 million in pay tied to Branca, his lawyers and the late co-executor. Just for 2023 and 2024
The estate says it can't fund the trust while the IRS fight is open. The IRS wanted about $700 million. It says more than $200 million has already gone to the kids
Paris got about $6.3 million in benefits in 2024, per the estate's own accounting
$109 million in pay she's fighting.
$6.3 million for his daughter.
$0 in the trust, she says.
Is she fighting for what her dad wanted, or trying to cash out early?
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