David Millward
US Correspondent
20 September 2024 9:25pm
Michael Jackson’s estate is suing a former associate who has threatened to make new allegations of sexual misconduct against the pop icon unless he is paid $213 million.
The man, who has not been named, is one of five people who threatened to accuse Jackson, who died in June 2009, aged 50, of sexually abusing them when they were children.
In 2020 they reached a $20 million settlement under which they agreed to drop the claims.
They are understood to have each received $2.8 million under the agreement in which the estate bought their life stories and paid a consulting fee.
However, ahead of the final payment of $500,000, one of the five said he was no longer prepared to abide by the deal and demanded $213 million from the estate.
His lawyers have demanded a “substantive response”, threatening to “expand the circle of knowledge” if it does not comply.
The threats come at a sensitive time for the Jackson estate.
They have been made with negotiations under way for the sale of half of his music catalogue – which at one point included the Beatles’ songs – to Sony for $600 million.
Legal battle
The legal battle has also erupted months before the planned biopic of Jackson, “Michael”, which is due to be released next April.
John Branca, the estate’s co-executor, described the claim as a blatant attempt to cash in on Jackson’s legacy with the accuser knowing that he cannot be sued for libel 15 years after the singer’s death.
The claims of sexual misconduct, which Jackson’s estate have emphatically denied, come at a time when his legacy is now worth an estimated $3 billion.
According to a newly filed arbitration claim, the Jackson estate has accused the man of having fabricated the earlier claims.
The estate, which has reported the affair to the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, is asking the courts to compel the accuser to abide by the terms of the 2020 settlement and issue an injunction banning the publication of the fresh allegations.
For decades the quintet had defended the star’s reputation in print and in television interviews.
In a book, one wrote “Michael had never acted in any way even approximating inappropriate toward us. Michael was being attacked by liars.
“There was nothing ambiguous about the whole thing. These people were after Michael’s money. But he was innocent.”
Cleared when prosecuted
Allegations of inappropriate conduct with children were made against the star as far back as the 1990s, but he was cleared when he was prosecuted in 2005.
Since assuming responsibility for the estate, Mr Branca has worked tirelessly to protect the singer’s reputation.
However, it was sullied by a 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland” on HBO in which two men – Wade Robson and James Safechuck – claimed the star had abused them.
The five men who were involved in the 2020 settlement – described as a “business decision” by the Jackson estate – did not feature in the documentary.
Jackson is one of the most significant figures in the history of pop, having started with the family group, the Jackson 5, before soaring to stardom as a solo artist.
Thriller is still the best-selling album in history 40 years after it was released.
The Jackson estate, which was once heavily in debt, rebounded thanks to an earlier sale of part of his music catalogue and ventures including the Cirque du Soleil.
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