Blige, husband face $3.4 million tax lien
Mary J. Blige and her husband have been hit with a $3.4 million tax lien in New Jersey.
Court documents show the Internal Revenue Service filed a notice of a lien on the nine-time Grammy Award winner Feb. 7. That was two days before the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul was honored at a pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles.
Blige and husband Martin Isaacs have a home in Cresskill, N.J., about 15 miles north of New York City.
Court documents show as of the date of the IRS notice Blige owed more than $574,000 for the 2009 tax year, more than $2.2 million for 2010 and more than $647,000 for 2011.
A Blige representative said Thursday she’s working “with her new team to resolve all these issues as quickly as possible.”
Trump victorious in Chicago civil trial
An 87-year-old grandmother took on billionaire Donald Trump. And on Thursday, she lost.
Jurors sided with the real estate mogul-turned-TV showman in a weeklong civil trial focused on Jacqueline Goldberg’s claim that Trump cheated her in a bait-and-switch scheme connected to condos in a Chicago skyscraper he built.
The federal jury in Chicago returned with a finding in Trump’s favor after deliberating for more than five hours over two days. Goldberg, of Evanston, had sought damages totaling around $6 million.
Outside court, Goldberg told reporters she has no regrets about suing Trump.
“I think I have exposed him for what he is. I had to try,” she said, adding that she hoped the litigation would dissuade others from doing business with Trump.
Several hours later in a phone interview with the Associated Press, Trump heralded the verdict as “a complete and total victory.”
The dispute centered on the glitzy Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, one of several showcase towers Trump has named after himself in such cities as New York, Las Vegas and Hawaii.
Goldberg accused Trump of wooing her into buying two condos at $1 million apiece in the mid-2000s by dangling a promise to share in building profits – then reneging after she committed to buying.
The birthday bunch
Comedian Tommy Chong is 75. Singer Bob Dylan is 72. Actor Gary Burghoff is 70. Singer Patti LaBelle is 69. Actress Priscilla Presley is 68. Actor Jim Broadbent is 64. Actor Alfred Molina is 60. Singer Rosanne Cash is 58. Actress Kristin Scott Thomas is 53. Actor John C. Reilly is 48. Actor-rapper Jerod Mixon (aka Big Tyme) is 32. Rock musician Cody Hanson (Hinder) is 31. Country singer Billy Gilman is 25.