Whew. Rick Ross was taken into custody by Miami Beach police early Thursday morning, October 1, on domestic violence charges. According to Miami-Dade jail and court records, the 50-year-old Carol City legend was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 6:10 a.m. Ross whose legal name is William Leonard faces a felony count of battery by strangulation and a misdemeanor battery charge. Bond was set at a combined $6,000.
His attorney, Bradley Horenstein, is representing him, and an arraignment is set for October 22. Authorities haven’t released the full arrest affidavit, so the specifics of what allegedly went down are still under wraps.
However, the arrest comes just days after his ex, model and real estate agent Jazzma Kendrick took to Instagram Stories with heavy accusations. Kendrick, who went public with Ross in August 2025 at the Miami launch of his RR22 brand and had been on and off with him since, responded to a follower who said they could see what Ross saw in her. “He saw a punching bag,” she wrote. She followed with a photo of a swollen lip captioned, “The day Rick busted my lip and the day I left,” then a close-up of a deep purple bruise inside her upper lip. Kendrick said the alleged incident happened about a month ago. The pair were spotted together as recently as August 2026 at his Port of Miami Orchestra Reunion Tour stop in Dallas.
By Monday, Kendrick was giving her supporters an update, saying she was okay and healing. “If you’re going through something similar, you’re not alone, and you deserve to be safe,” she wrote, adding, “Now, back to living my life.” Her posts didn’t include a police report, and it wasn’t clear at the time whether law enforcement was involved. Reports on Thursday did not say whether the arrest is directly tied to her claims, though outlets noted the timing.
Even 50 Cent, who has been trading shots with Ross for years, reportedly had no jokes this time. He reacted to Kendrick’s claims on September 27, and the move was seen as a clear sign that even in the middle of a long-running feud, domestic violence allegations were off limits for punchlines.
Meanwhile, Ross hadn’t publicly responded to the accusations before his arrest, though he kept posting on Instagram, where commenters flooded his page with questions.
This isn’t Ross’s first time dealing with the law. Back in 2015, he was arrested at his Georgia mansion on kidnapping and aggravated battery charges stemming from an alleged altercation with a groundskeeper. He’s also had run-ins over marijuana and firearm charges in Miami and elsewhere.
We’ll keep you posted as the affidavit drops and more details surface.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-7233.