The Top 10 Crime and Justice Stories Of The Year - #4 - "THEY'RE WIGS: HOW CARDI B TURNED A $24 MILLION LAWSUIT INTO VIRAL COMEDY

0:03 Callaroga Shark Media, Good morning, I'm Red Carter. Saturday, December twentieth, twenty twenty five, We're counting down the top ten crime and justice stories of twenty twenty five. Today number four. August twenty twenty five, Alhambra, California, small courthouse outside Los Angeles, a civil trial that should have been routine becomes the biggest viral courtroom moment since Johnny deppen Amber heard on the witness stand. Cardi b Grammy winning rapper, chart topping artist, mother of three, facing a twenty four million dollar lawsuit from a security guard who claims Carti scratched her face with a three inch fingernail and spat on her seven years ago. Plaintiff's attorney Ron Rosen, is cross examining. He notices something. Yesterday Carti had short, black hair, Today it's long and blonde. He's confused. Yesterday you had black hair, short hair, today it's blonde and long. Which one is your real hair or are they both real? Cardi laughs, pauses, looks at him like he's from another planet, their wigs.

1:12 The courtroom erupts, jurors smile. Social media explodes within hours. The clip has millions of views, memes flood, TikTok, Instagram x their wigs becomes the catchphrase of the summer. But behind the viral moments was a serious case. Emani Ellis, former security guard, claimed Cardi B physically attacked her in a Beverly Hills doctor's office in February twenty eighteen, while Carti was secretly pregnant with her first child. Ellis said she was left with a facial scar requiring plastic surgery, lost her job, suffered emotional trauma, wanted twenty four million dollars in damages. Cardi said it never happened, said they argued loudly, profanely, but she never touched The woman said Ellis was courting her, violating her privacy, and she confronted her about it. Verbal altercation, nothing physical. Seven years, twenty four million dollars, and a jury that deliberated for exactly one hour before clearing Cardi B of all liability. I'm Red Carter today, number four on our countdown. The trial that turned into a social media spectacle, the security guard who gambled and lost, and the rapper who proved you can be unapologetically yourself even on a witness stand This is Celebrity Trials. February twenty fourth, twenty eighteen, Beverly Hills, California.

2:40 A Saturday afternoon, Cardi B real name Belcalis Marlenas Almanzar arrives at a medical building for a private appointment with her obstetrician, doctor David Finke. She's approximately four months pregnant with her first child, a daughter she'll name Culture. The pregnancy is a secret she had hasn't told her parents, hasn't told the public, hasn't even told most of her inner circle. This is important context. Cardi B was at the peak of her meteoric rise. Bodak Yellow had made her a household name. She was in Los Angeles for promotional work around NBA All Star Weekend. Every paparazzo, every gossip blogger, every tabloid was hunting for the next big Cardi B story, and being photographed at an obstetrician's office while visibly pregnant that would blow her secret wide open.

3:32 Doctor Fink's office had closed early that Saturday, just for her, no other patients. Complete privacy, or so she thought. Amani Ellis was working security in the building, twenty four years old, had been at the job for four years, clean record, licensed by the state of California. According to Ellis's testimony, seven years later, she was doing her routine rounds when she saw Cardi B exit the elevator on the fifth floor. She exclaimed, and allegedly to no one in particular, Wow, that's Cardi B. What happened next depends on who you believe Ellis's version. Cardi B heard her name, turned around, got in Ellis's face, accused her of telling people she was there, started screaming obscenities. Why the fact are you telling people that you see me? Ellis tried to calm her down, assured her she hadn't told anyone, but Carti was already enraged. Ellis claimed Cardi jabbed a finger in her face, called her a fat ass bitch, mocked her job, threatened to get her fired, then physically attacked her, swinging at her, using a long acrylic fingernail to slice open her left cheek, spitting on her. Ellis said the wound required plastic surgery. Said she was humiliated, traumatized, eventually fired from her job, officially for a hip of violation, but she believed it was because of Carti's threats. She wanted compensation for medical bills, emotional distress, lost wages, and punitive

5:03 damages twenty four million dollars total. Carti's version completely different. She testified that Ellis followed her down the hallway toward doctor Fink's office, that Ellis had her phone out and appeared to be recording, that Carti confronted her, Yes, with profanity, Yes, aggressively, but never physically. I told her, why are you recording? Carti testified, and she said, oh my bad. She practically apologized, but the argument escalated, both women screaming, getting closer. Carty admitted they were chest to chest at one point, but she insisted no physical contact, no scratching, no spitting, no assault.

5:43 I didn't hit her, she didn't hit me. There was no touch, so to me, there was no incident. Carti explained she was terrified she was pregnant, secretly pregnant, and this larger woman was backing her into a corner. She described herself as disabled due to her pregnancy, weighing only one hundred thirty pounds, unable to fight back even if she wanted to. I'm pregnant. This girl's about to beat my ass Hello. That line went viral too. The confrontation ended when doctor Fink's receptionist, Tierra Malcolm, came out and physically got between the women. Then doctor Finke himself emerged, told Ellis to stop and do your job, and escorted Carti into his office. No police were called, no incident report filed that day, no photographs of any injuries, no surveillance footage from that specific hallway, just two women with completely different accounts of what happened. Ellis didn't sue immediately.

6:41 She filed her lawsuit in twenty twenty, two years after the incident. By then, Cardi b was even more famous, even more wealthy, and even bigger target. The lawsuit alleged assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and false imprisonment twenty four million dollars, and it took seven years to get to trial. Make it make sense. August twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, the civil trial begins in Alhambra, California, at a small courthouse near Los Angeles. Emmanny Ellis takes the stand first. Now thirty two years old, no longer working security, she'd pivoted to a career as a social worker helping low income families access resources, but she wanted her day in court. Ellis described the twenty eighteen incident in detail, the verbal abuse, the physical attack, the fingernail slicing her cheek, the spit, the threats. She testified that she was deeply traumatized, that the scar on her face required cosmetic surgery, that she lost her career in security because of what Cardi B did. Her attorney, Ron Rosen Janfaza argue that just because Cardi B is a celebrity doesn't mean she can just say and do whatever she wants and attack people.

8:08 Then Cardi B took the stand and everything changed. From the moment she started testifying, the trial became must see television. Court TV live streamed it, clips flooded social media. Within hours, Cardi B's courtroom testimony was trending worldwide. It wasn't just what she said, it was how she said it. The facial expressions, the eye rolls, the bemused looks at opposing council, the complete refusal to be anything other than herself, even under oath, even facing a twenty four million dollar judgment. When Rosen asked how she knew Ellis was bigger than her. Carti pointed at her own eyes as if to say, I used these, then flipped her hair over her shoulder and declared she was one hundred thirty pounds at that time.

8:57 When Rosen suggested she was physically capable of attacking Ellis despite being pregnant, Cardi shot back, I'm pregnant. This girl's about to beat my ass. Hello. When Rosen asked about her nails, whether they could have caused the scratch Elice described, Carti explained they were coffin style acrylics with flat rhinestones, not sharp, not dangerous. She couldn't get a scratch from me because I didn't touch her. And then came the wig moment. Rosen, apparently unaware of how wigs work, noticed Carti's hair had changed dramatically between court days. Short black bob one day, long, platinum blonde waves the next. He thought he'd caught her in some kind of inconsistency. Yesterday you had black hair, short hair, today it's blonde and long.

9:48 Which one is your real hair? Or are they both real? Carti laughed. The whole courtroom could see she was genuinely amused their wigs. Rosen paused, Okay, I didn't know that it's a good wig today. Then the jurors smiled, some laughed. Social media went nuclear, but Carti wasn't just entertaining, she was effective. She maintained her story consistently. She acknowledged the verbal confrontation but firmly denied any physical contact. She explained her state of mind secretly pregnant, terrified of exposure, confronting someone she believed was violating her privacy, and she had witnesses backing her up. Doctor David Fink testified that he heard yelling and came out of his office to intervene.

10:36 He saw his receptionists standing between Ellis and Carti. He told Ellis to stop and do your job, but crucially, he never saw Carti assault. Ellis never saw any physical contact. Tierra Malcolm, the receptionist, testified similarly. She heard the argument, she stepped between the women to break it up, but she didn't witness a physical altercation, and she revealed something else. A few months after the incident, Ellis called her asking if she would help with an employment claim. Ellis was already thinking about lawsuits. The defense also highlighted inconsistencies in Ellis's accounts what she told her manager at the time versus what she testified in court, the lack of any photographs of her injuries from that day, the lack of any contemporaneous documentation. Closing arguments came on September second. Rosen told the jury that Ellis deserved compensation, that the incident report and testimony proved assault and battery, that Cartie's use of profanity in court showed scorn for the proceedings. He criticized her for cursing on the stand. The defendant came here, used all of this foul language. This is a court of law. You cannot speak this way in court. I have never seen this before. Many observers felt that argument backfired, criticizing how Cardi spoke felt like tone policing, like attacking her for being authentic, rather than addressing the actual evidence.

12:02 Carti's attorney, Peter Anderson, kept it simple, arguing, yelling, even using profanity, is not something you can sue over. That's just part of normal life. Ellis failed to prove physical contact, failed to prove assault, failed to prove her case. The jury, six men, six women, got the case at two fifteen pm. At three point fifteen pm, they sent a note they had a verdict one hour unanimous, not liable on all counts. Cardi b made the sign of the cross, exhaled seven years of this lawsuit finally over. Outside the courthouse, she addressed reporters, thanked her lawyers, thanked the jurors, then delivered a warning to anyone else thinking about suing her. The next person who tries to do a frivolous lawsuit against me, I'm going to counter sue and I'm going to make you pay, because this is not okay. I am not that celeb that you sue and you is going to settle.

13:01 I'm not going to settle. She complained about missing her kid's first day of school for the trial, joked that her forehead was raw, raw, raw from changing wigs every day, posed for pictures with fans, then she went back to work. Her album am I The Drama dropped September nineteenth. She even released special court Room edition CD covers featuring her viral moments and daily hairstyles from the trial. Amany Ellis spoke to reporters too, said she didn't regret bringing the case, didn't think the verdict reflected the truth, but she held her head high. I had my day in court. I showed up. She filed a motion for a new trial in December, argued that Carti's star witnesses should have been barred for late disclosure. Argued that jurors were intimidated by Carti after she threw a pen outside the courthouse when a reporter asked inappropriate questions about her rumored pregnancy. Judge Ian Fusselman denied it, said the jurors paid close attention and returned a verdict based on evidence. Said nothing outside the courtroom impacted deliberations. Case closed. Cardi B wins again.

14:19 This wasn't Cardi B's first legal rodeo, and it probably won't be her last. September twenty twenty two, three years before the Ellis trial, Carti pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and reckless endangerment for a completely different incident. August twenty eighteen Queen's New York Angels Gentlemen's Club, a strip club in Flushing. Carti allegedly orchestrated an attack on two sisters who worked as bartenders, one of them she believed was having an affair with her husband, rapper offset. Carti admitted in court to offering five thousand dollars to a friend to beat up one of the women admitted to throwing glass bottles in their direction herself. That case was resulted in fifteen days of community service and three year protection orders for the victims, no jail time. Carti released a statement, part of growing up and maturing is being accountable for your actions as a mother. It's a practice that I am trying to instill in my children, but the example starts with me. So here's the question everyone was asking during the Ellis trial. If Carti admitted to throwing bottles at bartenders and queens, why should we believe she didn't attack a security guard in Beverly Hills. The answer came down to evidence. In the queen's case, there was surveillance video, multiple witnesses. Carti eventually admitted what she did. The evidence was overwhelming. In the l's case, there was nothing, no video, no photographs of injuries taken that day, no contemporaneous incident report,

15:50 no witnesses who saw physical contact. Just two women with contradictory stories, seven years of fated memories and a jury that had to decide who to believe. The jury believed Cardi. Maybe it was the witnesses. Doctor Finkey and his receptionist both testified they never saw an assault. That's powerful corroboration. Maybe it was the lack of evidence. If Ellis's face was really slashed by a three inch fingernail, where are the photos? Why no police report? Why wait two years to sue? Maybe it was Cardi herself. Say what you want about her courtroom demeanor, the profanity, the eye rolls, the whig jokes, but she was consistent. She never wavered.

16:36 She admitted the verbal confrontation but denied the physical assault, and she stuck to that story under cross examination. Or maybe it was just celebrity justice, the cynical take. Rich and famous people can afford better lawyers, better experts, better everything. They can outlast lawsuits that would crush ordinary defendants. They can turn trials into pr opportunities. Ellis certainly felt that way. We know that the justice system is sometimes flawed, she told reporters after the verdict. And unfortunately that was the case for me. But here's what's interesting. Cardi b has lost cases before. In twenty twenty two, she won a four million dollar defamation verdict against celebrity gossip vlogger Tasha Kay, who spread false rumors about her that took years of litigation and a federal jury trial. Carti fought it because she believed she was right, not because she was guaranteed to win. She's also been sued for allegedly throwing a microphone at a fan during a twenty twenty three Las Vegas concert for allegedly using part of a man's back tattoo on a mixtape cover. For all kinds of things that come with being one of the most famous entertainers on the planet. Some cases she wins, some she settles, some get dismissed. But she doesn't just write checks to make problems go away. She fights. I work all day, and I work hard for my money, for my kids,

18:08 for the people that I take care of, she said after the Ellis verdict. So don't you ever think that you're going to sue me and I'm just going to settle. That's the lesson of Cardi b versus Emanny Ellis, not that celebrities always win, not that the justice system is rigged, but that evidence matters, witnesses matter, and sometimes Authenticity on the stand matters more than polished performance. Cardi B didn't pretend to be someone she wasn't in that courtroom. She cursed, she made faces, she changed wigs. She was exactly who she's always been, the girl from the Bronx who became a superstar without ever losing her edge, and the jury believed her. Your tax dollars at work. That's number four on our countdown of the top ten crime and justice stories of twenty twenty five. Cardi B e versus Emani Ellis a twenty four million dollar lawsuit over an alleged assault at a Beverly Hills doctor's office in twenty eighteen.

19:09 Seven years of litigation, a trial that went viral for all the wrong reasons and all the right ones. Their wigs two words that launched a thousand memes. But behind the viral moments was a real case with real stakes. Ellis claimed she was physically attacked. Carti claimed it never happened. The jury sided with Carty. In about an hour December twenty twenty five, Judge Fusselman denied Ellis's motion for a new trial. Case officially closed, Cardi B walks away with another legal victory. But the bigger story is what this trial revealed about celebrity justice and authenticity. Cardi b could have hired crisis consultants, could have scripted her testimony, could have worn conservative suits and spoken in measured tones. In Instead, she was herself and it worked. Not because she's famous, but because the evidence supported her, because her witnesses backed her up, because the jury found her credible. Profanity and all Tomorrow number three on our countdown, the Hollywood battle that made this year's biggest Summer blockbuster unwatchable. Justin Baldoni versus Blake Lively, dueling lawsuits, sexual harassment allegations, and a digital smear campaign that's redefining celebrity warfare in the social media age. I'm read Carter, see you tomorrow for number three.

20:34 This is celebrity trials