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Judge orders 50 Cent to hold onto Dix Hills property

BY ANDREW STRICKLER | andrew.strickler@newsday.com

7:31 PM EDT, June 10, 2008

Rapper 50 Cent performs on September 13, 2007 at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. (Wayne Herrschaft, Wayne Herrschaft / September 13, 2007)

The controversial rapper known as 50 Cent cannot sell the Dix Hills property where the remains of a house destroyed last month in a suspicious fire still stand, a Manhattan judge ordered Tuesday.

State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead also ordered the musician and actor, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, to put insurance proceeds in a trust until a legal dispute with his ex-girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, is resolved. Tompkins was also ordered to pay Jackson $4,500 in rent for May.

The decisions came after a fire ripped through the 5,200-square-foot home owned by Jackson, 32, but occupied by Tompkins.

Six people, including Tompkins and the former couple's son, Marquise, 11, were forced to escape the burning building through a second-floor window. They were treated for minor injuries.

The house has been the focus of a legal battle between Jackson and Tompkins, who became a couple before 50 Cent won a string of entertainment awards for the 2003 album "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" and other work.

Tompkins, 32, has claimed that Jackson bought the house for her and their son, which Jackson disputes.

In April, a Suffolk housing court judge ordered Tompkins to leave the house. But in May, Tompkins sued Jackson in Manhattan for breach of contract. A judge stayed the eviction pending a future hearing.

Tuesday's order is in effect until the next court date on July 15. "That property was truly supposed to go to my client ... and she has an ownership interest in any insurance proceeds," said Paul Catsodonis, Tompkins' attorney.

Jackson's attorney, Brett Kimmell, said the sale of the property "hasn't even crossed mind." Jackson did not appear in court Tuesday.

Dix Hills Fire Chief Larry Feld said after the blaze that there existed "a strong, strong possibility that it is suspicious."

Suffolk arson investigators have not determined that the fire was set intentionally. Jackson was in Louisiana shooting a movie at the time of the blaze.

A charred section of the $1.4 million house on Sandra Drive remains standing on the wooded corner lot, where "No Trespassing" signs and police tape block the curved driveway.

"We're still in the investigative mode, and [the cause of the fire]is still being carried as undetermined," said Det. Sgt. Edward Fitzgerald. "We have interviewed some people and we still have more to interview."

The squad is also awaiting lab results from materials found in the destroyed house, Fitzgerald said.

Staff writer Anthony M. DeStefano contributed to this story, which was supplemented with an Associated Press report.