Shaniqua Tompkins is pushing back against a lawsuit filed by G-Unit Books, alleging that she was coerced into signing away her life rights under threats, intimidation, and extreme financial pressure tied to Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his team.
The lawsuit, brought by Jackson’s publishing company in July 2025, targets videos Tompkins posted in 2023 and 2025 in which she recounts alleged details of her past relationship with the rapper, which began before his rise to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
One June 2025 YouTube video drew particular scrutiny, as Tompkins accused Jackson of physically and verbally abusing her during her pregnancy with their son, Marquise, and throughout their relationship.
She also alluded to Jackson’s possible involvement in a 2008 fire that destroyed her Long Island home, a property she claims he was attempting to evict her from at the time.
G-Unit Books argues that these public statements violate a 2007 Life Rights Agreement that granted the company exclusive control over her life story, name, and likeness.
In a sworn affidavit obtained by AllHipHop, Tompkins contends that the agreement was never entered into freely. In her filing, she stated she was “entirely financially dependent on [50 Cent],” alleging that he forced her out of a real estate investment business to ensure that dependence and pressure her into signing the deal with G-Unit Books.
According to Tompkins, the late music executive Chris Lighty — Jackson’s manager until his death in 2012 — acted as “an intermediary and enforcer on behalf of [50 Cent].” She claims Lighty appeared at her Las Vegas hotel room with a man she believed to be a bodyguard and told her the agreement was “non-negotiable.”
“During this encounter, Mr. Lighty told me that I would suffer severe consequences if I did not sign the agreement,” Tompkins’ filing claims. “Fearing for my life and for my children’s lives, I signed the agreement under extreme duress.”
She further alleges Lighty warned that Jackson would use his “power, wealth, and public platform” against her, leaving her with what she described as “no meaningful choice” and intimidating her “to extract rights that I would never have surrendered freely.”
The agreement allegedly promised $80,000, though Tompkins says she received only $35,000 and that G-Unit Books “did not honor the agreement it now claims to enforce.”
In December 2025, G-Unit Books’ attorneys sought a default judgment in New York federal court after Tompkins initially failed to respond by the Sept. 10 deadline, requesting a permanent injunction and a damages inquiry.
The publisher is seeking $1 million in damages, plus interest and legal fees. At the time of filing, Jackson’s attorney Reena Jain stated, “Jackson purchased these rights to preserve them for use in future biographical or autobiographical projects, but also in part because he was concerned that Tompkins would attempt to monetize their history and his name. His concerns were ultimately proven correct.”
This story was originally published on VIBE.
