Chris Brown recently took to Twitter to announce that his album X will be dropping on May 5th…incidentally, it’s the same day that Lil’ Wayne is planning to drop Tha Carter V. Looks like a strong matchup.

From TMZ:

Chris Brown is the victim of EXTORTION … and his lawyer is about to blow the whistle on the alleged evildoer … so claims Brown’s famous lawyer.

Malcolm Ausbon filed a lawsuit against Chris, claiming the rapper and 3 of his goons beat the crap out of him during a pick-up basketball game at 24-Hour Fitness.

TMZ has obtained a letter Ausbon’s lawyer sent to Chris’ legal eagle, Mark Geragos, demanding $250,000 from Chris … OR ELSE.  As for the “or else” … the lawyer says if Brown doesn’t pay, “Mr. Ausbon is placed in a position by the LAPD where he needs to decide whether he will press charges.”

The lawyer continues, “He would rather be compensated.”

THAT, Mark Geragos tells TMZ, is EXTORTION … cleverly worded extortion, but extortion nonetheless.

Geragos says he’s going after Ausbon by filing a police report.

And, by the way, a lawyer in Geragos’ office says he met with Ausbon’s attorney back in August and the guy admitted Brown never touched his client.  Geragos’ lawyer says the other attorney said the guy who struck his client had dreadlocks and it was all captured on video.

According to a recent tweet, Chris Brown will now be releasing an album version of Fan Of A Fan, as well as his long-awaited X. A hot Summer it will be.

From Billboard:

District of Columbia police have opened an internal affairs investigation into statements made by a police officer who responded to reports that singer Chris Brown had punched a man outside a Washington hotel.

The investigation centers on a disputed conversation between the officer and an unidentified acquaintance of Brown, discrepancies that will likely be important for the authorities to reconcile as the criminal prosecution moves forward. The apparent inconsistencies are described in charging documents laying out the basis for the assault case against Brown and his bodyguard.

The acquaintance reported being told by the officer that the alleged victim said Brown never hit him, according to the police records. The officer was then interviewed by detectives and denied having even spoken with the acquaintance. However, a uniformed Secret Service officer at the scene told detectives that he overheard the conversation with the officer and confirmed the acquaintance’s story. The accuser also denied having told anyone that Brown never struck him, the documents state.

An Associated Press reporter who had previously asked the police department about that conversation was contacted this week by an internal affairs investigator assigned to the probe. The investigator confirmed a review was underway.

“We are aware of the discrepancy among witness statements in the Chris Brown case. This is not uncommon in cases with multiple witnesses involved. We have received no complaint of misconduct on the part of any officer in this matter,” Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in a written statement.

In an interview Thursday, Lanier added, “Nobody has accused anybody of lying. One person says one thing, one person says something else. Nobody has made an allegation that an officer is lying” or covering anything up.

The female police officer was not named in charging documents, and police officials did not identify her. The head of the police officers’ union said he had not been made aware of the investigation. Danny Onorato, Brown’s lawyer, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office, which is handling the prosecution.

Brown was charged with assault after a man said Brown and his bodyguard, Christopher Hollosy, had punched him after he tried to get into a picture the singer was taking with two other people. Brown’s lawyer said he is innocent of the misdemeanor charge and revealed in court last week that he had rejected a plea offer. He is due back in court Feb. 20.

Hollosy has rejected the same deal that Brown was offered, his lawyer has said.

At the time Brown was charged in Washington, the Grammy winner was on probation in California for a 2009 attack on singer Rihanna, his then-girlfriend. As a result of the new charge, a judge in December revoked Brown’s probation in California, but the ruling didn’t change a requirement that Brown complete rehab and community service including roadside cleanup and graffiti removal.

From NY Daily News:

Chris Brown rejected a plea deal Wednesday related to his alleged sidewalk smackdown in Washington D.C. last October.

The singer appeared in court in the nation’s capital with his prominent California-based lawyer Mark Geragos and girlfriend Karreuche Tran.

He sat quietly with his bodyguard Christopher Hollosy, his co-defendant in the case, as their lawyers indicated prosecutors were taking a hard line in negotiations.

“My client is charged with simple assault, and the plea deal is simple assault,” Hollosy’s lawyer Bernie Grim explained to the judge.

“Sometimes a deferred prosecution agreement or deferred sentencing agreement is offered as part of a plea deal, but that was not the case today,” Bill Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia, said outside court.

Deferred prosecution agreements allow defendants to get amnesty if they fulfill certain terms of the deal.

The parties agreed to return Feb. 20 to get a tentative trial date, and prosecutors promised to hand over surveillance footage related to the incident.

Brown, 24, wore a dark three-piece suit and a new natural brown hairstyle that replaced his recent bleached blond look.

The “Run It” crooner is in court-ordered anger management rehab in California after the Los Angeles County judge on his Rihanna assault case reviewed his Washington D.C. police report and revoked his probation last month.

The judge sent Brown back to rehab, not jail, and ordered him to stay put for 90-days of treatment and take all medications prescribed by his doctors.

The short-fused singer was arrested on suspicion of felony assault and tossed in jail Oct. 27 after a 20-year-old man claimed Brown went berserk and broke his nose outside the W Hotel, just blocks from the White House.

A police narrative obtained by the Daily News states the alleged assault victim – identified in court as Parker Adams – told cops the melee erupted when he tried to crash a photo Brown was taking with his female friend and another person.

The Grammy winner pleaded not guilty to the reduced misdemeanor charge in October and voluntarily checked into rehab for anger management days later.

He was temporarily kicked out of treatment Nov. 10 for losing his cool and hurling a rock through a window of his mom’s car during a family therapy session.

If convicted of the simple assault charge, Brown faces up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, prosecutors said.

He could also get more jail time in California if his Los Angeles judge decides the D.C. incident violated his probation for beating Rihanna.

Geragos said Wednesday he would file a motion to get Brown excused from the Feb. 20 court date in D.C. because he needs to focus on his rehab recovery.

“My client is presently in a residential program and loses three days of treatment just doing the traveling,” Geragos told the judge.

TMZ reports:

According to the report, Chris’ mom showed up for a family session and was urging her son to stay in the facility for extended treatment. Apparently, Chris violently disagreed with her and in a fit of anger threw a rock through her car window, shattering it.

The report goes on to say without continued therapy and a strong recovery support network, Probation says his prognosis is “very guarded.”

And here’s an interesting detail from the report: before Chris entered rehab on October 29th, he says he had issues with Attention Deficit Disorder and also underwent a period of depression.

TMZ broke the story … Chris got booted from the Malibu facility earlier this month following the outburst … after just two weeks of treatment.

As we reported, the judge has just ordered Brown to 90 days in a facility and also ordered him to submit to drug testing.

TMZ reports:

Chris Brown went into a VIOLENT RAGE while in rehab earlier this month for his anger issues … TMZ has learned … throwing objects and breaking them … and we’ve learned the D.A. will use this and other incidents later today in court to make the case that he belongs in jail … NOW.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/20/chris-brown-jail-rehab-violent-criminal-charges-rihanna/#ixzz2lEaepeDX

We’re told the rehab facility wanted him OUT after the incident … and that’s why he bailed after only 2 weeks.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … the L.A. County Probation Dept. is submitting information to the judge today about the incident, along with the criminal assault charge in Washington, D.C. We’re told the Probation Dept will ask the judge to order Chris into a live-in anger management program for a period of months.

Our sources say the D.A. isn’t as forgiving and will ask the judge during today’s progress hearing in the Rihanna beating case to revoke his probation and send him to jail — as early as today.

The hearing is set for 2 PM. We’ll be there.

Breezy’s X no longer has an official release date (it was previously set at December 3rd), so in the meantime (November 19th — tomorrow — to be exact), the singer will be dropping a 5 song mixtape, dubbed the X Files.

TMZ reports:

Chris Brown is out of rehab … because he has something more pressing … community service.

TMZ first reported … Brown checked into a Malibu rehab facility for anger management 16 days ago … after a street brawl in Washington D.C. in which he allegedly punched a guy in the face.

At the time … we were told Brown could be in rehab for up to 3 months — sources told us “The rehab facility has been told to take him [Brown] apart and put him back together.”

Now … a little more than two weeks after entering the program … Brown has checked out.

Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, tells TMZ his client needed to get out of the facility to start the community service he’s required to perform in the Rihanna case. As you may recall, the judge would not accept the hours Chris claimed he had done, and made him do it all over again.

Geragos would not say if rehab did the trick, but did tell us Chris will continue in outpatient therapy.