William Jefferson, the former U.S. congressman from Louisiana who was convicted of corruption after federal agents found $90,000 in his freezer, has filed for bankruptcy. A chapter 7 liquidation petition filed last week by Jefferson and his wife, Andrea, reveals that the couple owes between $1 million and $10 million to about 50 creditors. The petition also lists their estimated assets as being worth between $10 and $50 million. When someone files for chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, their assets are sold and the cash goes to creditors. Some property may be exempt from sale. In early August, Jefferson was convicted of peddling his congressional influence to land his wife and children lucrative contracts in Africa. In addition to guilty verdicts for bribery, racketeering, and money laundering, the jury ruled that Jefferson, who was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and several key congressional committees, must relinquish about $470,000 in bribery receipts. When he was elected nearly two decades ago, Jefferson became the first Black congressman from Louisiana since Reconstruction. In 2005, the FBI raided his Capitol Hill home and found the $90,000 in bribe money wrapped in foil and stashed in frozen-food boxes. Prosecutors told jurors that the money was to secure the vice president of Nigeria’s help with a telecommunications venture.

A nude explicit photo of Madonna, which was sold to Playboy when she was a struggling, 20-year-old dancer, could go for $10,000 at auction. A representative of Christie’s auction house says that the photo, taken in 1979 and appearing in the men’s magazine in 1985, is one of six photos from the shoot sold to Playboy. Lee Friedlander took the full-frontal image, according to People magazine. Matthieu Humery, head of Christie’s photography department, says that of all the photos, this is “maybe the most explicit one.” Another photo of Madonna to be auctioned is by Helmut Newton; in that photo, the pop star is wearing lingerie, according to People.

Oprah Gives a Fat Check to Atlanta Educator
On Christmas Eve, Ron Clark, the creative, inspiring educator, got a Federal Express package from the Queen of Talk TV, Oprah Winfrey. It was $365,000. Turns out that Winfrey had been monitoring the success of his South Atlanta school and thought that $1,000 a day for an entire year made sense as she was looking for the recipient of her most generous gift this year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Clark, who said his school needs $2.4 million to operate, says the extra money will enable him to provide 26 full scholarships for a year. Last month, his academy also got $300,000 from Tony Cann, vice chairman of Promethean Ltd, the leading manufacturer of collaborative classrooms systems.

Foxx’s ‘Intuition’ Pays Off
Jamie Foxx’s third album, Intuition, debuted at No. 3 on the Top 200 Albums chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The disc’s success goes in part to the offerings of such sidemen as T.I. (on “Just Like Me”) and Ne-Yo and Fabolous (on “She Got Her Own”). With a total of 265,196 units sold in the first week, Intuition also reached No. 2 on the R&B Albums chart. The video for “Just Like Me” was the Spotlight video on VHI, netting more than 100 spins a week on VH1 Soul.

Birmingham mayor is arrested for alleged misdeeds. Federal agents arrested Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford, on Monday, charging him with taking bribes in exchange for doling out county financial business to a favored firm when he led the Jefferson County Commission from 2002 to 2006, reports The New York Times. Langford, 60, was charged in the 101-count indictment with taking over $230,000 in cash, clothing and jewelry for making sure that a well known Alabama investment banker and bond company owner, William B. Blount, got a portion of lucrative bond deals related to the financing of improvements to Jefferson County’s failing sewer system. Read the rest here.

50 Cent Gives Fans a Shot at Fame in New Reality Show.

Watch out Donald Trump!  50 Cent is filming his own “Apprentice”-like reality show, and word has it – it’s going to be off the chain!  The show, “The Money and the Power,” will feature 14 contestants living together and competing to earn a $100,000 investment from the rapper and business mogul. In the show, Fiddy will share his lessons on how to make it to the top.   Similar to Trump’s “The Apprentice,” the contestants are all hand-picked by 50 Cent himself to compete in “business flair, strength, ambition, fearlessness” and originality, according to MTV. The series will also feature special appearances by several celebrities, including fellow G-Unit member Lloyd Banks, rapper and actor LL Cool J and now former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day. The show will premiere on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT)

Anquan Boldin’s pass defender is fined $50,000.

NFL receiver Anquan Boldin is recovering from a helmet-to-helmet hit that sidelined him in a Sunday game versus the New York Jets. The Arizona Cardinals’ Boldin was immobilized and carted off the field before being checked out for injuries at a hospital. Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt wants the league to review the play for violations. Jets safety Eric Smith, who delivered the hit to Boldin, has been suspended for a game and fined $50,000 for the indiscretion. NCAA player Dante Love was temporarily paralyzed in a recent game and is recovering from an injury after a similar helmet-to-helmet collision.

Ex-football star’s acquaintance admits wanting cash.

Former O.J. Simpson associate Thomas Riccio pulled down $210,000 from media outlets including TMZ.com for his hotel set-up of the football legend, Riccio says. The man who tape-recorded Simpson’s alleged robbery and kidnapping of memorabilia dealers in Vegas a year ago told Simpson’s lawyer on Monday that Simpson wanted the souvenirs as “heirlooms.” Simpson and his friend, C.J. Stewart, are on trial for multiple felonies after they were accused, along with four others, of forcefully taking thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia and Simpson family photos from the collectors. Simpson claimed the property had been stolen from him. Riccio testified that he first approached two California police departments and the FBI to tell them that Alfred Beardsley, one of the alleged robbery victims, was selling stolen property. After getting no response, Riccio told Simpson of the hotel room where Beardsley and his partner were keeping the property. Riccio says he planted a tape recorder in the room, later earning $150,000 from TMZ.com, $25,000 from “Entertainment Tonight,” $20,000 by a sponsor of Howard Stern’s radio show for his tape, plus $15,000 by ABC for an unrelated photo. Judge Jackie Glass ordered Riccio to disclose the amounts he earned, although he claimed that contracts prohibited his doing so. Do you think this testimony will lead to an acquittal of O.J. – or is he destined to go down, no matter what?

Gary Sheffield belts league benchmark

The Tigers’ Gary Sheffield has hit the Major Leagues’ 250,000th home run. The score, which totaled the number of homers by all players since the establishment of the pros, occurred during a Monday Detroit win against the Athletics. Sheffield’s grand slam, his second homer of the game, also leaves him just four shy of 500 career home runs. Starting with the National League, the first homer recorded occurred on May 2, 1876.

Golfer wins water war with 129,000 gallons per month

How huge would a crib have to be to use 129,000 gallons of water a month? Tiger Woods knows. The Orlando Sentinel reports that while an average home uses 10,000 gallons monthly, Woods’ house on Jupiter Island near Palm Beach soaks up over 10 times the norm. Fellow Floridian athletes Grant Hill and Dwight Howard put out eye-popping numbers, too: Hill reportedly used 263,000 gallons in May alone, Howard, 189,000 gallons in July. Sounds like plenty of pool parties or lots of toilet flushing – or maybe both.

More legal problems find Gary Coleman.  Police are investigating a weekend incident during which former “Diff’rent Strokes” TV star Gary Coleman allegedly struck a man with his truck after an argument. Find out more at BET.com/News.

Rappers make $100,000 Xbox wager. The Game is a better Madden football player than Bow Wow – and he’ll have $100,000 for charity to prove it. Bow Wow tells TMZ.com that he lost the Xbox video competition to Game. The pair had recently made a friendly wager, with the loser’s cash going to those in greater need.

Three 6 Mafia event ends in violence. A fight at a West Hollywood show by Oscar-winning group Three 6 Mafia has left a woman with a broken leg. The clash took place as the rappers ended their gig at the House of Blues and resulted in the female spectator getting trampled. Two people were arrested in the incident this week after L.A.County Sheriff’s deputies responded with both force and swiftness.

Oprah’s mom allegedly owes store $150,000. The Valentina, Inc. boutique has named the mother of talk show diva Oprah Winfrey in a lawsuit claiming that an open charge account has gone unpaid. Vernita Lee allegedly has $155,547.31 in unpaid clothing and services, such as delivery. Her $2,000 minimum monthly payments on the account reportedly stopped without explanation or any further arrangements of pay. Fortunately for Ms. Lee, her daughter was recently listed as Forbes magazine’s top-earning TV celeb – again – checking in with a nine-figure net from 2007 to 2008.