50 Cent owes $5m to woman who sued over sex tape

Rapper 50 Cent has to pay $5m (USD) (£3.2m) for posting a sex tape of a woman she made with her boyfriend without her permission.

The woman who filed the suit, Lastonia Leviston, wiped away tears as her attorney described the graphic video in detail, including the rapper's commentary which picked apart Leviston's physical flaws, remarking her stretch marks and trashing her as a "slut," reported Page Six.

The New York jury made the award and are set to deliberate next week on possible further punitive damages in Lastonia Leviston's invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the Get Rich or Die Tryin' rapper.

Attorney William A. Brewer III says 50 Cent and his legal team are "disappointed in the verdict but very appreciative of the service of the jury and the court," according to AP.

Leviston's lawyer, Philip Freidin, declined to comment.

The lawsuit stems from a 13-minute video that appeared online in 2009 featuring a wig-wearing 50 Cent as a narrator dubbed 'Pimpin' Curly.'

The P.I.M.P. rapper made explicit remarks about Leviston and taunted rap rival Rick Ross, who wasn't in the video but has a daughter with Leviston.

At the time the video was posted, Ross and 50 Cent were trading barbs in interviews, song lyrics and video.

Leviston, who had a child with 50 Cent rapper rival Rick Ross in 2003, said she was 'horrified and humiliated' when it appeared online, and that the incident nearly drove her to suicide, according to a doctor report in Page Six.

"This was something done to me. I didn't have a choice. I would never, ever do this to myself," she testified.

50 Cent acquired the video from Leviston's then-boyfriend Maurice Murray in 2008. According to an AP report, the rapper and his lawyers said that The P.I.M.P. rapper didn't actually post the video, but said that Murray said she wouldn't mind if he did.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, said that 'The Pimpin' Curly' character was just "joking" by referring to Leviston as a "porn star," in pre-trial questioning, which was played to the jury, as reported by ABC News.

He did not testify at the trial.

50 Cent gained popularity with the release of his rap album Get Rich or Die Tryin,' in 2003. He survived being shot nine times at point-blank range.

Along with a rap career, the 40-year-old has built a business empire, including his $260m (£168m) Vitamin Water fortune, and also acts in the US action series Power and the upcoming boxing movie Southpaw.