Judge orders 50 Cent to forfeit guns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. rapper 50 Cent was ordered to surrender any guns he might have after a judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order requested by the rapper’s ex-girlfriend, lawyers said.

A lawyer for the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, said he would contest the order and that 50 Cent did not have guns or access to guns. "To my knowledge, he has no guns," said lawyer Brett Kimmel.

The order bars 50 Cent from being in contact with Shaniqua Tompkins, the mother of his 10-year-old son, without the court’s permission, lawyers said.

50 Cent and Tompkins have been locked in a legal fight over money. Tompkins has argued that she is entitled to half of 50 Cent’s estate, based on an oral agreement.

The dispute escalated last month after a fire destroyed the rapper’s $2.4 million (1.2 million pound) Long Island home, where Tompkins lived with their son.

Police said they were investigating the fire as suspicious.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based rapper has denied any involvement in the fire and separately on Friday filed a $20 million defamation lawsuit in a Connecticut Superior Court against Tompkins for statements she made to the media.

"It’s completely baseless and it’s retaliatory," Tompkins’ lawyer, Paul Catsandonis, said of the defamation suit. "It’s nothing .....continued below

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Since his debut album in 2003, 50 Cent has built a business with a record label, a clothing and footwear line, ringtones and video games. He has also starred in a movie based on his life, "Get Rich or Die Tryin’."

(Reporting by Edith Honan, editing by Michelle Nichols)