A child sex trafficking lawsuit against Michael Jackson‘s estate has been thrown out of court.
Four siblings – Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio – accused the late singer of abuse in a lawsuit this February, per Billboard. However, Jackson’s estate strongly denies these accusations.
The Cascios grew up with Jackson and once referred to themselves as his “second family”, according to the outlet.
Despite the family members having previously defended the star against pedophilia claims, the siblings alleged that Jackson raped and molested them as children over the course of more than 10 years.
They first spoke out about the claims in 2019 following the release of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, in which James Safechuck and Wade Robson alleged that Jackson sexually abused them as children. His estate has continually denied these allegations, too.
Now, Judge Hernán D. Vera has thrown the Cascios’ accusations out of a public courtroom. The federal judge explained that, under the terms of a 2019 settlement between the family and Jackson’s estate, all related disputes must go through confidential arbitration.
Vera wrote: “Although the allegations are horrific, the court is without discretion to do aught but enforce the language of the arbitration clause.”
The four members of the Cascio family reportedly claimed privately after Leaving Neverland‘s release that the two-part doc had “deprogrammed” them, as well as their fifth sibling Frank.
Jackson’s estate subsequently paid them a $3.5million settlement, though the estate did not admit to any wrongdoing. But now, the Cascios have claimed that the settlement is void and unenforceable due to them allegedly being coerced into signing it.
Yesterday (Wednesday August 12), Judge Vera acknowledged that the claims in the lawsuit were “serious”, but ruled that they did not belong in a public courtroom under the terms of the settlement.
He wrote: “While plaintiffs are fully within their rights to raise questions about unconscionability, those challenges must be presented later before an arbitrator.”
Similarly, in a separate ruling in March, a different judge said Frank’s signature on the same settlement agreement required arbitration of all further disputes.
The Cascios’ lawyer, Howard King, responded to yesterday’s decision by saying it was “disappointing, but not surprising”. He continued, claiming that the family had been “duped into signing an unconscionable agreement”.
“The family had hoped the court would allow for a public trial over the decades-long molestations of the Cascio siblings by Michael Jackson and the ensuing cover-up by his advisors,” he added.
Referring to the ruling that the decision would now be made by an arbitrator rather than a jury of peers, King said: “Instead, the family will seek justice from the dark confines of a private conference room.”
Martin Singer, a lawyer for Jackson’s estate, previously described the lawsuit as a “desperate money grab”, saying the siblings had “hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank, who is already being sued in arbitration for civil extortion”.
“The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct,” Singer added.
“This new court filing is a transparent forum-shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies.”
The siblings said during a 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that Jackson was “never” inappropriate with them (via Billboard). Frank, meanwhile, wrote in his 2011 memoir, My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship With An Extraordinary Man: “Michael’s love for children was innocent, and it was profoundly misunderstood.”
Earlier this summer, James Safechuck and Wade Robson from Leaving Neverland were given a new trial date for 2028.
Safechuck previously shared a statement in support of child sex abuse survivors amid the release of the Jackson biopic Michael. Dan Reed, who directed Leaving Neverland, claimed this spring that the late singer was “worse than Jeffrey Epstein”, while also questioning why Michael failed to address the abuse allegations.
The film was meant to feature the allegations as part of the storyline, but a clause in a legal settlement meant that the production spent $15million on reshoots. The movie ultimately ended at a different point in Jackson’s life, shifting the narrative tension onto his relationship with his father, Joe (Colman Domingo).
