He has certainly made a lot of bad decisions. Two cases brought huge notoriety:
• In 1993 Jordan Chandler (13) accused Jackson of sexually abusing him. His father Evan Chandler (a screenwriter and dentist) aggressively pursued the case. He was recorded bragging to friends that however the case ended, he would come out a winner: he would either get a big payday from Jackson or he would ruin Jackson’s career. I have heard the tape when he discussed this. Jordan Chandler refused to testify and the criminal case came to an end, but Jackson was sued in a civil proceeding by Evan Chandler. To make the case and all the media circus surrounding it go away, Jackson’s insurance company paid around $20 million to Evan Chandler; the case was closed. After Jackson’s death, Jordan Chandler recanted, saying his father put him up to the whole thing, “I never meant to lie and destroy Michael Jackson but my father made me to tell the lies…. Now for the first time I can't bare to lie anymore. Michael Jackson didn't do anything to me, all was my father's lies to escape from being poor.” Evan Chandler would later commit suicide.
• in 2005 a mother and son accused Jackson of molesting her son (a cancer victim). During the trail it was revealed that the mother had a history of shake downs for money. She previously enjoyed a $152,000 settlement from J.C. Penney when she accused the store security guards of roughing up the family when they were caught shoplifting. During the trial she was exposed for racking up welfare benefits after winning the settlement (fraud). During the trial the mother claimed that while her son was being molested, she and her son were held against their will on Jackson’s estate, yet during this same time:
-- she was going on shopping sprees paid for by Jackson
-- she was going to luxury spas for body wax on Jackson’s dime
-- her kids had an orthodontist appointments paid for by Jackson
The mom claimed it was all against her will and that if she didn’t go along with it, Jackson’s henchmen would cause her family to “disappear” by making them float away in hot air balloon! She literally testified to this. The jury didn’t buy it; Jackson was found not guilty. His attorney framed the family as a collection of con artists out for a big payday who had become embittered because Jackson had scaled back on the jetset lifestyle he had previously bankrolled for them.
Even at my level I see so called “friends”, hangers on, and losers angling for money, gifts, loans, and anything else they can get for free. They want to borrow one of my vehicles or stay in one of my properties for free…. One woman asked me to buy clothes for her kids, to buy her a laptop, a printer, an uber ride from across the state, a car, cash, loans, etc. I hear similar reports from physician friends of mine. I cannot imagine what it is like at the level of celebrity wealth.
I do not believe Jackson is innocent of everything everywhere, but I do not believe either of the accusers in the above two cases. They were simply out for money.
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