There are plenty of celebrities who basically seem to exist just to flaunt their massive fortunes on Instagram, and there’s no law against it. But if you’re going through bankruptcy proceedings like rapper Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, it may not be a good idea to post pictures of yourself with untold stacks of hundred dollar bills if you want to show good faith and honesty in the bankruptcy process. 50 has been ignoring this wisdom in the past, but now it seems that his social media behavior has caught the wrong kind of attention from a bankruptcy court judge, who’s now demanding to see him in court personally at the end of the week.
50 Cent first filed for bankruptcy in July of 2015, when he said his multi-million-dollar income was the subject of unmanageable drains, stemming from an array of big-money lawsuits against the rapper. News like that can be embarrassing, especially for one with 50’s cash-obsessed persona, so it’s not exactly a surprise that since October of that same year, he appears to have been compensating for the reports (not to mention jokes on the internet and late night TV) by flaunting his immense, uh, cash liquidity on Instagram.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ann M. Nevins is somewhat understandably annoyed by 50 Cent’s pattern of flaunting stacks of cash on the internet while pleading his dire financial straits in court. Now she’s voicing concerns that the rapper’s social media activity indicates actual dishonesty and deception in bankruptcy court, telling 50’s attorney James Berman “I’m concerned about allegations of nondisclosure or a lack of transparency in the case,” going on to say “There’s a purpose of having a bankruptcy process be transparent, and part of that purpose is to inspire confidence in the process,” and that 50 Cent’s Instagram shenanigans are undermining that same process, and that he needed to show up in court this last Friday in order to defend himself, according to court audio transcribed in a recent CNNMoney report.