50 Cent has served his former girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, with a US$20 million defamation lawsuit for allegedly making offensive and false statements about him and claiming that he "tried to kill" her.
The suit, which was served on Friday (June 20) outside a Suffolk County, NY court, follows a fire that swept through the rapper's property on May 30, burning the Long Island home to the ground.The house was owned by 50 Cent - whose real name is Curtis Jackson - and Tompkins was living in the residence with their 11-year-old son, Marquise, at the time of the fire.
Shortly afterwards Tompkins held a press conference, during which she made defamatory statements, according to Jackson's court documents, accusing the rapper of "trying to kill" her and their son by setting the fire.
Tompkins, who was also granted a temporary order of protection against Jackson by the judge on Friday, repeated the sentiments to People magazine outside the Long Island courtroom.
"He always threatened me," Tompkins said.
"If someone threatens you on Monday and you jump out of a second floor window on Friday, that's the facts, you decide."
Jackson's attorney Brett Kimmel counters that "it's simply not true", telling People magazine that the hip hop star was in Louisiana filming 'Microwave Park' with Sharon Stone at the time of the incident.
Tompkins has also been deliberately prevented his client from seeing his son, he added, by not revealing their new place of residence, which is in direct violation of a court order from last June.
"She's completely cut him off from his son," Kimmel said.
"The trouble in the relationship is driven by the anger and hostility that's coming from her."
Both Tompkins and Jackson are due in court on July 17 for another hearing. In the meantime, local fire department officials have deemed the house fire "suspicious" but have yet to rule it arson.
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