EURweb |
MIJAC TESTIFIES VIA VIDEO TAPE: Singer claims he already paid Schaffel. Also, boy in child molestation case allegedly tormented by his mother.
*A Los Angeles courtroom got a chance to see Michael Jackson Thursday via videotaped testimony that was played in a lawsuit filed against him by F. Marc Schaffel, a former business associate who claims the singer stiffed him out of $3.8 million.
In Jackson’s deposition, taped on Sept. 23, 2005, he responds to charges that Schaffel loaned him hundreds of thousands of dollars several years ago and has yet to be repaid. Schaffel also says he’s still waiting for promised royalties and a salary owed for helping Jackson produce two TV specials and a charity record.
During his opening remarks, Schaffel's attorney, Howard King, made sure the jury knew how he felt about Jackson’s decision not to show up in person. .
"I've wanted Mr. Jackson to be here to tell his story," King said. "He won't be here except by deposition. I had to go to London to take it. He will make a fine presentation. He's finely made up, costumed. You'd think he'd been in front of cameras his whole life." .
Dressed in a plain dark shirt, Jackson said in the tape that he was "sure [Schaffel] got money." King asked Jackson how he could be so sure. "Because he always seemed to be happy," Jackson replied. And King responded: "Money doesn’t buy happiness."
In an effort to show that Jackson wasn’t really on top of his financial dealings with Schaffel, King told the Santa Monica court that he will call a number of the singer’s former associates who will confirm his questionable business practices, including a Florida businessman named Alvin Malnik who allegedly offered his services to Jackson for free.
"Jackson will deny ever borrowing from Malnik, but Malnik will testify that he loaned Jackson $7 million in 2003," King said. "So we have a witness in Mr. Jackson who does not remember getting $7 million three years ago."
King told the court that Schaffel was promised 20 percent of the grosses from two Fox specials Jackson made to clean up his image following an ABC documentary, the videos of which Fox eventually sold for $10 million. Schaffel also originally received a salary of $50,000 a month for his work, King said, but it later dropped to $25,000 for a few months and then stopped coming altogether as Jackson's cash reserve allegedly emptied out. King asked Jackson during the deposition whether he felt that Schaffel was expected to be paid for helping him out.
"I know he wanted something from me, of course," Jackson said on tape. "I do remember these long letters. He wanted me to pay him."
Jackson's attorney, Thomas C. Mundell, told the court Wednesday that the King of Pop severed ties with Schaffel after finding out he used to produce gay porn. On Thursday, King fired back: "Mr. Schaffel has a successful business background and one of these was in the legal adult entertainment business. In 2000 he was done with that and he began to work with Mr. Jackson."
Mundell also argued that it is actually Schaffel who owes Jackson hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that the businessman had fraudulently pocketed Jackson’ money and billed the superstar for expenses after he had ceased to work for him. Mundell also told the court that much of the money Schaffel had so-called "loaned" to Jackson was actually wire transfers from other people, and not Schaffel's own cash.
"The evidence will show Mr. Schaffel should have left well enough alone," he continued. "He could have gotten away with a chunk of money from Michael Jackson...but he sued for several million dollars."
*Elsewhere in MiJac’s universe, the boy who accused him of child molestation is reportedly on the outs with his mother Janet Arviso Jackson, who currently stands accused in Los Angeles of defrauding the government of $8,000 in welfare money.
According to the newspaper, the woman blames her 16-year-old son for last year’s courtroom loss, for the alleged abuse by Michael Jackson and for the welfare fraud charges filed against her.
"His mother barely speaks to him. She won't cook for him. She treats him like dirt, and she won't let him go to counseling to deal with the trauma. She blames him for the whole mess and says she wants to move on," said a source familiar with the boy's plight. "Mentally, he's really messed up right now. He never knows what verbal abuse will be thrown at him when he goes home. She screams at him, 'You allowed him to touch you! You allowed him to do it!' And she blames him for not getting the jury to believe him.”
The boy currently lives under an assumed name in Orange County, Calif.
.jpg)
