Money From Cows And Out Of Control Spending: Trial To Highlight Michael Jackson’s Bizarre Finances.

The rapidly fading King of Pop may not be in a California courtroom when a trial on his financial affairs begins next month. But the information about how he spent all the money he made from hit albums like “Thriller” will be.

The moonwalking music mogul is being sued for $3.8 million by a producer named F. Marc Schaffel. He alleges Jackson never repaid loans and expenses incurred when Schaffel helped him make a charity recording and two TV specials designed to bolster his sagging reputation during his child molestation trial.

The case has forced Jackson’s questionable spending into the light of day and the picture it paints isn’t pretty. The producer’s attorneys portray the singer as an incurable spendthrift who washed his money away like bathwater down a drain.

“Jackson carried no credit cards, wrote no checks, carried no ‘walking around money’ and had people attending to his every need,” lawyer Howard King alleges in a pre-trial brief.  “Jackson hired competent advisers to make business decisions then frequently ignored the decisions being made and … incurred expenses without regard to any rational limits or accountability, as though funds were endless….”

The advocate claims Jackson’s public persona of the meek ‘pipsqueak’ is also a sham.
  
“Although the public may perceive Jackson as a soft-spoken artist concerned only about his creative endeavors, the evidence at trial will show that Jackson is a master at manipulating the people around him,” he charges in the statement.

He claims the pop star made promises of lifetime positions for those working for him, only to dismiss them when they tried to control his spending.

In what’s sure to be just the beginning of a war of words, Jackson’s lawyers have fired back, accusing Schaffel of being an ungrateful money grubber and a producer of gay pornography.

“To say that Schaffel is an unsavory character would be an understatement,” Thomas C. Mundell answers in his own filing. “He is a professional swindler and pornographer with a long history of dishonest, immoral and manipulative behavior.”

They claim when Jackson discovered his background, he severed his ties with the man, leading to the lawsuit.

Schaffel’s attorneys then suggested the rock star might not want the plaintiff to testify in court about his sexual leanings and proclivities.

And in what may be the most bizarre detail of all, Jackson testified in a pre-trial hearing that he got most of his spending money from – of all things –  leasing out cows that lived on his Neverland Ranch. 

It’s not yet clear who’s trying to milk who in this proceeding, but more monetary facts are bound to come out when the trial begins on July 26th.

Jackson isn’t expected to attend. He’s left the U.S. apparently for good and has made a new home in Bahrain.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today