50 Cent: Secret Service asking about ‘prop’ money

HARTFORD, Conn. – He’s already explained himself to a bankruptcy court judge, but 50 Cent says the Secret Service is now asking about the wads of “prop” money he used in social media posts.

The rapper, whose name is Curtis Jackson III, wrote in an Instagram post Thursday night that the Secret Service has asked if the fake money was counterfeited. Making his point with a couple expletives, 50 Cent says he doesn’t know.

Secret Service officials and 50 Cent’s lawyers and representatives didn’t return messages seeking comment Friday.

50 Cent was ordered to appear in bankruptcy court in Hartford on Wednesday, after the judge and U.S. trustee’s office raised questions about his finances, including what looked like cash bundles in his Instagram photos. The pictures included ones of him sitting next to piles of cash arranged to spell “broke,” him in a bed with wads of cash and cash stacks in a refrigerator.

Lawyers for the rapper told Judge Ann Nevins on Wednesday that the cash was fake and used only as marketing props, and they denied suggestions he wasn’t fully reporting his assets. The U.S. trustee’s office is asking Nevins to appoint an independent examiner to review the entertainer’s finances.

The rapper, who burst onto the music scene in 2003 with his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin,” has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, citing debts of $36 million and assets of less than $20 million. He and his top creditors have reached a preliminary deal for him to pay at least 74 per cent of his debt to them.

50 Cent also complained in Instagram posts on Thursday and Friday about being treated unfairly by the court system.

He also said he was quitting Instagram.