Michael Jackson’s estate says one of his accusers is threatening to reveal new child abuse allegations against the late star if she is not paid $213 million.
The estate’s administrators have launched legal proceedings at the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, alleging that the accuser is threatening to uncover new allegations against the King of Pop ahead of an upcoming biopic.
The man and four other people had told Jackson’s estate in 2019 that they could air allegations that the superstar acted inappropriately toward some of them when they were children, the outlet reported. Financial time.
A year later, the estate reached a nearly $20 million settlement with the accusers, who agreed to defend the singer’s reputation. But Jackson’s estate now claims the man fabricated the allegations against the singer and is seeking an additional $213 million in a new settlement.
In their filing, Jackson’s estate managers are asking that the accuser be held to the 2020 settlement and barred from disclosing claims he agreed to keep secret.
Michael Jackson’s estate has claimed that one of his accusers is threatening to reveal new child abuse allegations against the late star if she is not paid $213 million.
Jackson’s estate was $500 million in debt when the singer died in 2009, but has since amassed more than $3 billion.
The beneficiaries are Jackson’s three adult children, his mother and several charities.
Jackson’s will left his longtime aide, John Branca, as one of the trustees of his wealth and legacy.
Branca told the Financial Times that the estate reached a settlement with the five accusers in 2020 as a “business decision” after the HBO documentary featuring Jackson’s accusers caused further wounds to the singer’s legacy.
The accusers involved in the 2020 settlement did not participate in Leaving Neverland.
Michael Jackson’s children (from left) Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson. They are beneficiaries of the star’s estate, along with their grandmother and several charities.
Jackson’s will left his assistant John Branca as one of the administrators of his wealth and legacy.
“We survived Leaving Neverland, but I’m not sure we could have done so with those additional accusations,” he said.
Branca added that his lawyers told him: “You have no choice. If these people come forward and make these accusations, then Michael is finished, his legacy is finished, the business is finished.”
Accusers of Jackson’s Leaving Neverland have branded the upcoming film, titled Michael, “propaganda” and an attempt to erase child abuse allegations against the star.
John Carpenter, who represents Jackson’s accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck, previously told DailyMail.com that the Jackson clan was trying to “demonise the victims” to protect the singer’s image rather than face the truth.
Robson and Safechuck are suing two companies Jackson owned and controlled before his death in 2009 at age 50.
The case could go to trial in Los Angeles before or even at the same time as the release of the new biopic about Jackson, titled “Michael,” in April next year.
Wade Robson (left) and James Safechuck (right) appeared in the harrowing 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland and detailed their allegations of abuse against Jackson.
The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and backed by Jackson’s estate, will star Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, as the King of Pop.
But it has already proved controversial, with drafts of the script suggesting it will gloss over Jackson’s alleged abuse of underage boys.
Robson, a choreographer and director now 46, says Jackson began sexually abusing him in 1990, when he was seven, during a visit to Neverland, the singer’s former ranch outside Los Angeles.
Safechuck, a writer and director now 40, says he was just 10 when Jackson began abusing him, and their first encounter took place in Paris in 1988.