Rapper Nicki Minaj has narrowly averted the impending sale of her $20 million Hidden Hills, California mansion after making a last-minute payment to satisfy a long-outstanding legal judgment in a lawsuit stemming from a 2019 incident. The dramatic legal turn ended months of uncertainty about whether one of the world’s most recognized female hip-hop artists would lose her luxury estate over a comparatively modest debt.
The legal saga began with an incident during Minaj’s “Nicki World Tour” stop in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2019, when a security guard, Thomas Weidenmüller, says he was assaulted by Minaj’s husband, Kenneth “Zoo” Petty, after attempting to intervene during a backstage dispute. Weidenmüller, who was working as a security guard for the show at the time, alleged that Petty struck him without warning, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with serious injuries requiring multiple jaw surgeries.
In January 2022, Weidenmüller filed a lawsuit against both Minaj and Petty. Because neither defendant responded to the lawsuit, a default judgment was entered in March 2024, awarding Weidenmüller $503,318 in damages for his injuries and associated losses. Efforts to collect the judgment over the following months reportedly went unanswered, with multiple written requests and attempts to levy Minaj’s assets allegedly ignored.
In late 2025, Weidenmüller’s legal team took the rare step of filing a motion asking a Los Angeles court to order the sale of Minaj’s Hidden Hills mansion to satisfy the unpaid judgment. Court filings noted that the property, purchased by Minaj in December 2022 for about $19.5 million, was appraised at approximately $20 million a value far above the owed amount.
Legal filings highlighted that the home carries a substantial mortgage lien of over $13 million and a homestead exemption of about $722,151, leaving roughly $6 million in net equity more than enough to cover the $500,000 judgment and associated legal costs. Because California law allows a creditor to seek sale of a debtor’s residence without first exhausting other collection measures, the motion argued that the sale would fully satisfy the judgment “with millions to spare.”
Judge Cindy Pánuco appeared poised to grant the motion, with court proceedings set for January 22, 2026. Legal commentators noted that ordering the sale of a celebrity’s personal residence to satisfy what was a relatively modest debt was unusual , especially given Minaj’s reported personal net worth well into the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.
Eleventh-Hour Resolution: Debt Paid, Mansion Saved
Just hours before the scheduled hearing that could have authorized the sale, Minaj’s legal team satisfied the judgment in full, paying the required $503,318 to Weidenmüller. The payment means that the drastic measure of selling the mansion is no longer necessary, according to statements from Weidenmüller’s attorney, Paul Saso, outside the courthouse.
Saso described his client as “incredibly gratified” by finally receiving payment after years of pursuing the case and said the resolution came at the “eleventh hour” , just as the court was preparing to enforce the sale of the property. With the debt satisfied, the judge formally called off the sale order.
What This Means for Minaj and Her Public Image
The resolution of this legal battle spares Minaj from the rare embarrassment of losing a multimillion-dollar home over a six-figure judgment. It also avoids a high-profile sale that could have drawn negative publicity about her finances, even though her overall wealth as a global music star is widely reported to be substantial.
That said, the case underscores the legal risks celebrities can face when default judgments go unpaid particularly when they refuse to engage with court proceedings. It also highlights how debt enforcement mechanisms, including judgment liens and property seizure motions, can reach even highly affluent individuals if a court judgment remains unsatisfied.
In the end, Nicki Minaj managed to avert what would have been a remarkable seizure and sale of her Hidden Hills mansion by settling the judgment against her just in time. The episode has attracted widespread media attention as an unusual intersection of celebrity status, legal process, and personal responsibility.
Source: US Weekly
