WALLACE FAMILY AWARDED 1 MILLION

The Backstreet Boys, Andy Grammer, and new artist Chris Wallace talk about the American Music Awards pre-show and the 40th Anniversary of the ABC-TV spectacu…

The family of the late Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) scored a minor legal victory last week when a federal judge imposed $1.1 million worth of sanctions on the city of Los Angeles for withholding key documents during the rapper’s wrongful death trial last year. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper awarded the sanction against the City of Los Angeles for allegedly intentionally withholding evidence during the family’s civil lawsuit trial which ended in a mistrial. The family was initially seeking $2 million but the judge left open the possibility that an additional $300,000 could be paid out. Wallace family attorney Perry Sanders said, “It’s pretty clear from the ruling that the judge understands this is a significant and difficult case.”

A mistrial was declared in the wrongful death lawsuit after the judge discovered that a police detective hid statements linking the killing to former Los Angeles Police Department Officers David Mack and Rafael Perez. The two officers are the central figures in the Wallace family theory that the death of the rapper was ordered by Suge Knight. The theory was initially presented by former LAPD Detective Russell Poole who left the police force after it became clear to him that his superiors weren’t going to allow him to pursue the case fully.

“The work that I’m doing with the foundation. As of today, we’ve donated a substantial amount of cash to the Katrina victims, thank goodness for that. Hopefully there’s going to be another B.I.G. Night Out for 2006.”

The Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed in March of 1997 outside of a party in Los Angeles. The case is still unsolved but the wrongful death lawsuit will be retried later this year.

As for the money, it will go to the rapper’s estate and two children. The rapper’s estate also funds his charity, The Christopher Wallace Foundation. His mother, Voletta Wallace, shared what the organization has been working on. She said,