Four siblings who claim they were abused by Michael Jackson have hit a wall in their child sex trafficking lawsuit.
In a 12 August ruling, obtained and reported by Billboard, Judge Hernán D Vera threw out the claims brought by Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio against the King of Pop’s estate.
The federal judge ruled that under the clear terms of a 2019 settlement between the family and the Jackson estate, all related disputes must be handled in confidential arbitration rather than in public court.
“Although the allegations are horrific, the court is without discretion to do aught but enforce the language of the arbitration clause,” wrote Judge Vera.
The Cascio siblings grew up with Jackson and once referred to themselves as his “second family”. While they previously defended the star amid other child sex abuse claims, the family members then alleged in a February lawsuit that the Thriller singer raped and molested them as children over the course of more than a decade.
The Jackson estate strongly denies these claims, which the Cascios first raised in 2019 after the release of the explosive HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
The four siblings, along with a fifth brother, Frank, claimed privately at the time that this documentary “deprogrammed” them. The estate paid them a $3.5 million (£2.6 million) settlement without admitting any wrongdoing.
The Cascios now say that settlement is void and unenforceable because they were coerced into signing it. Judge Vera ruled on Wednesday that those arguments, “while serious”, do not belong in a public courtroom under the terms of the settlement.
