Michael Jackson‘s estate has been sued for child trafficking by three siblings who claim the musician abused them when they were minors.
The complaint was filed on Friday (February 27) in federal court in Los Angeles by siblings Frank, Dominic, Marie-Nicole, and Aldo Cascio.
It comes a month after they appeared in a Beverly Hills courthouse amid a related effort to void a financial settlement with Jackson’s estate that they described as “an unlawful agreement to silence victims of childhood sexual abuse.”
The judge withheld a final ruling and set a follow-up hearing for March 5.
“Michael Jackson was a serial child predator who, over the course of more than a decade, drugged, raped, and sexually assaulted each of the plaintiffs, beginning when some were as young as seven or eight,” the lawsuit states, per Rolling Stone.
The filing alleges that the abuse occurred over extended periods in multiple locations worldwide, including during visits when Jackson and his children stayed at the siblings’ family home.
The siblings allege that Jackson “groomed and brainwashed” them using his wealth, celebrity status, and network of employees and advisers. The lawsuit claims that Jackson met them through their father, who worked at a luxury hotel Jackson frequently visited.
They claim that Jackson gained the family’s trust with gifts, declarations of affection and sustained attention, before allegedly isolating the children from responsible adults, giving them drugs and alcohol, exposing them to pornography, and then abusing them individually.
Martin Singer, a lawyer for Jackson’s estate, has described the lawsuit as a “desperate money grab”, saying that the siblings “have hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank, who is already being sued in arbitration for civil extortion”.
Singer added: “The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct.
“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,” he said.
The Cascio family previously referred to themselves as Jackson’s “second family” in interviews and were among his defenders during his criminal trial, which ended with an acquittal on charges of child sex abuse in 2005.
After Jackson’s death in 2009, Wade Robson, a choreographer and director, and James Safechuck, a writer, actor, and director, stepped forward with claims that Jackson molested them in the 1980s and 1990s, sometimes during overnight stays at his Neverland Ranch.
Back in 2019, HBO produced Leaving Neverland, a two-part documentary surrounding the allegations from Robson and Safechuck. According to the Cascio siblings, the documentary led them to reckon with and share their experiences as well.
In his statement, Singer said the siblings saw “the estate’s financial success growing” and “threatened to go public with heinous accusations that completely contradicted their previous statements defending Michael unless his estate paid staggering sums of money,” per Rolling Stone.
The new lawsuit, signed by lawyer Howard King on behalf of the siblings, includes claims for child sex trafficking, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, negligent hiring, and fraud. It’s seeking a trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages.
In 1993, Evan Chandler, a dentist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles, accused Jackson of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son Jordan, which he denied. The case was concluded when the two parties reached a financial settlement in 1994.
Jackson’s estate has continuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse made against him.
Last year, Reed slammed an upcoming Michael Jackson biopic as “startlingly disingenuous”, claiming it discredits Robson and Safechuck’s experiences with the singer.
Titled simply Michael, the film is currently scheduled to release in April. It is directed by Antoine Fuqua, with Michael’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson taking on the title role.
The release of the film was delayed due to reports that the final act had to be shot again due to an unsanctioned inclusion of the 1993 Jordan Chandler case.
For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
