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FT article: Michael Jackson estate says accuser is trying to extract $213mn

zinniabooklover said:
Could be this?

From the FT article:

"The demands came nine months after the estate finalised terms for the $600mn sale of a 50 per cent stake in Jackson’s music catalogue to Sony, valuing the total package at $1.2bn."
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Isn't probable that the agreement terms is conditionned by the deals made by Estate.

Maybe the Cascios had an offer to appear in a tv shows and want the risk to breach the contract. They had an offer that can cover the breach.
 
1nn5 said:
Isn't probable that the agreement terms is conditionned by the deals made by Estate.
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I take your point. But here's the next sentence after the bit I posted:

"The accuser’s lawyer asked the estate if it had disclosed his claim to Sony ..."

1nn5 said:
Maybe the Cascios had an offer to appear in a tv shows and want the risk to breach the contract. They had an offer that can cover the breach.
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Tbh, my head is in a spin trying to make sense of it all. I've read the FT article a million times (feels like) and I'm still struggling to wrap my head around it.
 
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zinniabooklover said:
I take your point. Here's the next sentence after the bit I posted:

"The accuser’s lawyer asked the estate if it had disclosed his claim to Sony ..."


Tbh, my head is in a spin trying to make sense of it all. I've read the FT article a million times (feels like) and I'm still struggling to wrap my head around it.
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It seems to me based on the sources we have

1. MJ estate approached cascios for assistance in the midst of leaving Neverland
2. Cascio said how about we dig the knife in too, pay us or we’ll make some claims.
3. The estate were advised to go ahead with forming a deal because broadway was looking unlikely and mgm were threatening to pull the cirque show after LN. Deal done Jan 2020
4. When the last payment of 500,000 was due in Jan 2024, the Cascio lawyer asked for 213m more because of the recent catalogue sale
5. Estate said no chance this is extortion and here we are today. Civil extortion claim filed & they are on the attack
 
innuendo141 said:
But to the average joe, this looks like the Estate are trying to suppress allegations of abuse. Hell, even I am trying to get my head around the wording of this.
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Thats not what happened though. The estate didn't suppress anything. There was nothing stopping them from joining wade and James media tour if they just wanted to tell their story.

They are the ones who went and threatened the estate in order to get money.

The estate are the victims in this.
 
IhateTheMedia said:
The point is, they allegedly per the document Can never report their claims to any third party, i would assume this means the mainstream press or tabloids, or any other source.

​

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They willingly entered into this agreement.

The estate had no power to stop them from going on Oprah and lying on Michael

They are the ones who involved the estate by making threats,

It's extortion and I hope the estate pursues legal action and puts them behind bars.
 
Blues_Away2023 said:
This makes me fucking sick. Literally feeling sick in my stomach with this news.

It does feel like another huge extortion attempt to gain millions upon millions but…….. why the fuck would they pay out hush money in 2020?

Paying 20 million is a massive amount by any standards.

Who else has been paid to be quiet throughout the years?

Who’s next? Brett Barnes? It will never stop until one of these days there is real evidence against Michael.
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Its not hush money, they technically purchased the life rights to the cacios.

They could and should make a movie about frank's book and put his own words on the screen to expose him once and for all.
 
Nite Line said:
To the public, it may look like Branca is trying to silence them before they can go public with their accusations. Not a good look, I must say.
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They "silenced" themselves. Nobody forced them to demand money and sign any agreement
 
dam2040 said:
It seems to me based on the sources we have

1. MJ estate approached cascios for assistance in the midst of leaving Neverland
2. Cascio said how about we dig the knife in too, pay us or we’ll make some claims.
3. The estate were advised to go ahead with forming a deal because broadway was looking unlikely and mgm were threatening to pull the cirque show after LN. Deal done Jan 2020
4. When the last payment of 500,000 was due in Jan 2024, the Cascio lawyer asked for 213m more because of the recent catalogue sale
5. Estate said no chance this is extortion and here we are today. Civil extortion claim filed & they are on the attack
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Just to add to this, the world was expecting more accusers in 2019. So now we learn that instead of publicly backing up the 2 Leaving Neverland accusers and approaching authorities with their own detailed allegations they decided to blackmail the Estate for their own gain. This is not something that will go down well with the general public.

Allow me to be Devil's Advocate for a moment. Let's say that the 2 LN guys WERE telling the truth. For more accusers to come forward and to back them up regarding abuse would have been the final knockout blow and eventual "justice for the victims". Instead, the LN accusers are now learning that there were allegedly MORE accusers who decided to blackmail the Estate privately rather than go via any legal route (possibly because of the road blocks that the LN 2 had been facing at the time) and aid their crusade against their abuser...

How many circles of deceit are crossing into each other here?! We have Wade Robson who could have single handedly handed MJ on a plate to authorities in 2005 on the stand. He did not do so. Again in 2019, the Cascios could have handed MJ on a plate to the LN2 but they did not do so. Whatever the priority is for these accusers, justice and accountability is NOT it!

This is an absolute mess from all sides. The Estate paying off the Cascios is probably the biggest issue for me, but I do think that after the smoke has settled the big question will be why this all came to be. For example - were the Estate aware of any possibility of accusations back in 2010 when the Michael album was made? Did the Cascios threaten to go public with X, Y or Z hence the Estate allowing 3 undeniably fake songs to be allowed on an official release? Or, did the relationship only sour when the Estate said they could not proceed with any more of their material based on the negative reception of their songs? I can't remember when the 3 songs were removed from circulation, but does the time line match up?

There are so many questions here, but I guess we know literally nothing aside from what was in that article(s). But one thing I'm certain of, is that justice is not the priority or motivation here. The next few days will be interesting.
 
innuendo141 said:
[...] I can't remember when the 3 songs were removed from circulation, but does the time line match up?
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Summer of 2022

The Cascio Tracks Have Been REMOVED!!!

Isn't Porte kept on BVs?
www.mjjcommunity.com www.mjjcommunity.com

innuendo141 said:
There are so many questions here, but I guess we know literally nothing aside from what was in that article(s). But one thing I'm certain of, is that justice is not the priority or motivation here. The next few days will be interesting.
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(y)
 
I can't imagine what it must have been like for Michael to deal with this bullshit every day. Who needs enemies when you have "friends". How can these people do this to him? I cannot believe how horrible people can be. Especially to do it to a person that is dead. It is beyond disgusting
 
luis98 said:
I can't imagine what it must have been like for Michael to deal with this bullshit every day. Who needs enemies when you have "friends". How can these people do this to him? I cannot believe how horrible people can be. Especially to do it to a person that is dead. It is beyond disgusting
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Allegedly Michael had to deal with over 1000 lawsuits, that's what i read somewhere a long time ago
 
Just want to point out, this is pretty close to what it would have been like had Michael had paid EC immediately in '93. Settling was the smart move here but unfortunately this really is a lose-lose situation looks-wise, but it's better that they handled their claims ASAP rather then let them go public, because that would have, as everyone is saying, been the nail in the coffin.

But:

Given that the estate is 100% on the offensive now and putting this stuff out there for all to see, highlighting that it is extortion, I suspect this isn't as bad as we're thinking. The transparency is going to resonate with people, especially judges & a jury.

To play devil's advocate here. Say *hypothetically* that this family or some of their members did experience some form of inappropriate behavior at the hands of MJ, why would they choose silence and a quick couple million over joining in with WR and JS to call for victims to come forward and "cancel" MJ, giving more credibility to victims? The fact is that the estate was able to essentially "buy" their life story rights of alleged misconduct. This is the ringer indicating the false nature of their claims. Who would sell the rights to their story of abuse to the estate of the alleged abuser? And then come back and ask for triple the money? That's the kind of stuff that a judge is gonna see. It's the same pattern as everyone else.

Branca airing this out at the same time as they are dealing with the WR & JS suit is gonna help in the long-run to display how lied on Michael's name is for profit. It's going to help the "everyone wants a piece of the MJ money, and know the easiest way to get it" narrative that I suspect the estate is trying to set up.

Plus, if they can hold off on any further publication of these claims until after the biopic, it could help sway public opinion on these cases.

That all said, the wording of the article at a glance doesn't do great pr for the "paid off victims" thing, but I don't think they would have publicized this information unless they felt it was the right move. And say what you will about Branca and the estate release-wise, but as far as their business decisions, they have made some pretty smart decisions ($3b in 15 years is an average of roughly $200m a year). So for that reason I am a little at ease with all this. Obviously the media is going to pick-up and run this through the roof, but I think it will all work out.

I will say, I'm a little nervous about a LN2 getting put out a lot quicker, sooner, and with more claims. Hopefully the verdict for the WR & JS case blocks that in some way.

Random, Have we ruled out Blanca Francia's family? IMO the Cascios makes the most sense, but I would be unsurprised if this was the Francias again.
 
FMJP said:
Random, Have we ruled out Blanca Francia's family? IMO the Cascios makes the most sense, but I would be unsurprised if this was the Francias again.
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It can't be Blanca Francia, because it says the Estate asked them to defend Michael when Leaving Neverland was released, so it has to be someone who had been defending Michael up until then.
 
etoile 37 said:
It can't be Blanca Francia, because it says the Estate asked them to defend Michael when Leaving Neverland was released, so it has to be someone who had been defending Michael up until then.
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The worst period has already ended (2019-2020) i'm no longer that worried anymore, if they were going to come forward and stab the sword in Michael's back that would have been the time. Now in 2024 approaching 2025 no damage can be done.
 
IhateTheMedia said:
The worst period has already ended (2019-2020) i'm no longer that worried anymore, if they were going to come forward and stab the sword in Michael's back that would have been the time. Now in 2024 approaching 2025 no damage can be done.
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Completely disagree.

I feel very strongly that this settlement, which went completely unreported for five years, could do more damage to MJ’s career than anything that has come before, LN included. The estate paying accusers into silence will invite more hate than any of the “he said, she said” nonsense we’ve been accustomed to at this point.
 
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