50 Cent (or Fiddy, as I’ve been instructed to call him) is having some major legal problems lately. He’d been battling his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins, the mother of his son Marquise, 11, over a $2.4 million Long Island home for the better part of a year. Then the home suspiciously burned to the ground on May 30th – with both Marquise and Shaniqua asleep inside. Shaniqua immediately started publicly blaming Fiddy for the fire – and now she won’t let the rapper visit his child, talk to him, or even know where Marquise is living.

“He tried to kill me and his own child,” Tompkins has declared. “I know this came from 50 Cent.” While arson investigators probe the Dix Hills fire, Fitty’s legal team is drafting a defamation complaint against Tompkins.

“There comes a point where you can no longer sit on your hands and listen to her spread these falsehoods,” 50′s lawyer, Brett Kimmel, tells us. “Besides hurting his reputation, they have a damaging impact on their son.” The hip-hop king (real name, Curtis Jackson) charges that since the fire, Tompkins has refused to let him see Marquise or tell him where he’s living. Tompkins has “made it practically impossible” for 50 to speak to or see his son, according to a petition filed this week in Suffolk County Family Court.

50 says that when he learned Marquise’s cell phone was destroyed in the fire, he sent him a new one, along with a duffle bag of new clothes. Tompkins has “failed and refused to give the cell phone to Marquise,” 50 alleges. “The only way [50] can communicate with his son is to call [Tompkins'] cell phone. On June 11 … [she] did permit [50] to speak with his son. However … she was hovering over Marquise, monitoring the conversation and, after a short while, she interrupted the conversation by taking the phone from Marquise and began yelling at [50],” who eventually hung up on her.

[From the Daily News]

Fiddy says Shaniqua is breaking their custody agreement, and is asking a judge to let him see his son. So far the courts seem to be siding with 50 in nearly everything: ten days after the fire, Shaniqua was ordered to pay him $4,500 in back rent in addition to the $9,000 she had already been ordered to pay. Fiddy has been paying $6,700 a month in support – $4,500 is a housing allowance. Shaniqua had maintained that she is still owed 50 Cent’s (formerly) $2.4 million house because she needs a place to raise their son. In addition to the housing allowance.

Considering how crazy her logic has been, I’d say Shaniqua’s as legitimate a suspect as Fiddy.

Here’s 50 Cent and The Game sharing the stage during a news conference at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem on June 9th. Images thanks to WENN.

Rapper 50 Cent has been in a heated legal battle with his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins for the better part of a year over a $2.4 million Long Island home. 50 Cent owns the home, but Tomkins and their son live there rent-free. 50 has been trying to evict them or make Tomkins pay market rent for the place, about $5,400 a month.

Tompkins claims 50 promised her she and their 10-year-old son Marquise could live in it. In the past she’s also claimed that as the mother of his child, she’s owed the expensive home. The pair have been battling it out in court, and it’s gotten so heated that there have been multiple confrontations, including an “extremely dangerous incident” on Monday at the office of Tomkins’ lawyer.

Last night, a “suspicious” fire broke out in the home around 5 a.m. while Tomkins, her two children (include the son with 50 Cent), and three other adults were sleeping.

A multimillion-dollar Long Island home at the center of a dispute between Grammy-nominated rapper 50 Cent and his former girlfriend was destroyed by a suspicious fire early Friday. The blaze occurred just days after a heated confrontation inside the woman’s attorney’s office over the home. 50 Cent does not live in the home and apparently wasn’t there at the time.

Six people inside the Dix Hills home were taken to a hospital suffering smoke inhalation, including the former girlfriend and a boy fathered by the rapper. All six were treated and released. A firefighter also suffered a minor eye injury, officials said.

Investigators from the Suffolk County arson squad were called to the scene after Dix Hills Fire Chief Larry Feld deemed the blaze suspicious. The fire was reported about 5 a.m. and extinguished about 45 minutes later, Feld said.

A passing off-duty police officer helped rescue the six people off an elevated deck in the home’s backyard, Feld said. He referred the case to the arson squad “because of the intensity of the fire.” The rapper’s ex-girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, and two of her children, including 50 Cent’s son, were among the injured. The other three adults in the home were not immediately identified.

[From the Huffington Post]

Several of Shaniqua Tompkins’ requests sound outright ridiculous, especially the reasoning behind it. If you have a kid with someone, they obviously owe you child support. But they don’t inherently owe you a $2.4 million home, which is the argument she’s made on several occasions. She also claims that 50 Cent promised her half of all of his earnings. Forever. Via email. And she expects that’ll stand up in court. Her lawsuit is on the docket for June 10th in New York State Supreme Court.

50 Cent’s rep just released the following statement:

“Informed this morning while filming a new motion picture on location in Louisiana, Curtis Jackson expressed deep concern over this fire at his property. He is extremely thankful that everyone including his son, Marquise, escaped the burning house safely. He is confident that authorities will be conducting a thorough investigation of the incident and is eager to review their findings.”

[From TMZ]

Obviously the fire seems pretty suspicious. But given the heated nature of what’s gone on between 50 Cent and Shaniqua Tomkins, it’s hard to guess who’s responsible for what.

Header of 50 Cent and G Unit performing live in concert at Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia on April 23rd. Image thanks to WENN. Here are pictures of 50 Cent’s house in Dix Hills, from when it was on the market last year. According to Newsday, the house, built in 2002, has 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a 3-car heated garage with a dumbwaiter to the kitchen. It’s located on an acre and also has a pool.