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Topics: Michael Jackson, Money, Celebrity, News, Music
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Michael Jackson, Money, Celebrity, News, Music
Two men who have accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them as children are seeking an astonishing figure as a form of settlement.
Wade Robson and James Safechuck, known for featuring on the 2019 bombshell documentary Leaving Neverland, filed respective lawsuits against Jackson's businesses MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures in 2013 and 2014, but the cases went on to be dismissed.
Why? Because a judge ruled that it wasn't the businesses' responsibility to protect them. However, in an unexpected turn of events, a court decided to revive the cases in 2023.
California's court of appeals ruled at the time that 'a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse'.
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It had been unknown just how much Robson and Safechuck have been seeking in damages in connection to their allegations about Jackson, but new court documents have seemingly revealed that they're wanting a whopping nine-figure sum.
John Branca and John McClain, the two men in charge of Jackson's estate, shared the information in documents related to the singer's daughter, Paris Jackson, who has accused the two lawyers of 'skimming money' from her late father's estate.
Paris is one of the beneficiaries of Jackson's estate, alongside her two brothers and her grandmother, and expressed concerns earlier this year about some of the so-called 'premium payments' being paid by her father's estate.
According to The Independent, Paris raised questions about the approval of $625,000 in payments to three law firms dating back to a six-month period of 2018.
Now, in court documents filed on September 15, Branca and McClain explained that they've spent a lot amount of money to employ various law firms that helped with the estate, which included attorneys fighting Robson and Safechuck’s lawsuits.
Per US Weekly, they allege that if Paris gets her wish of halting such payments then 'the Estate would likely have to default in [Robson and Safechuck’s lawsuit], where numerous depositions, discovery matters, and other matters are scheduled to take place over the next several months, and where [Robson and Safechuck] are seeking $400 million'.
They added: "It would be disastrous for the Estate to default in this case.”
McClain and Branca also say that the work done by the lawyers hired by Jackson's estate 'has taken an Estate mired in almost half a billion dollars of debt to a multi-billion dollar powerhouse'.