NEW YORK – Rapper Lil' Kim (search) struck back Monday at a trial witness who helped to secure her false-statements conviction and yearlong prison sentence, filing a lawsuit accusing the witness of unlawfully using her name and image to promote a DVD.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, she accuses James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd (search) of preparing to release a DVD entitled, "The Chronicles of Junior M.A.F.I.A. Part II: Reloaded." (search)
She says the DVD, like a predecessor, was unauthorized and improperly uses her name, image and likeness, amounting to false advertising and false endorsement. She's seeking $6 million in damages.
She also says Lloyd has announced publicly that the DVD will include interviews with him and other members of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. group explaining their involvement with her trial.
There was no telephone listing in Los Angeles for the company that produced Lloyd's DVD, Ground Zero Entertainment, which also is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Lil' Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, was convicted after she told a grand jury that she didn't see her manager and a friend at the scene of a 2001 gunfight outside WQHT, the Manhattan rap station known as HOT 97. A man was injured in the shootout.
Lloyd and Antoine "Banger" Spain, Brooklyn rappers who once teamed with Lil' Kim in the Junior M.A.F.I.A., testified they saw her manager and the friend she denied seeing at the radio station with her.
Lil' Kim says in the lawsuit that she separated from the musical group in 2001 over personal and business differences.
Lil' Kim, 30, was the sidekick and mistress of the late Notorious B.I.G. As a solo artist, she has become known for her revealing outfits and suggestive lyrics. She won a Grammy in 2001 for her part in the hit remake of "Lady Marmalade."
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