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Lawsuit: Michael Jackson Near Bankruptcy
AP via Yahoo ^ | 5/23/03 | LINDA DEUTSCH

Posted on 05/23/2003 5:33:27 PM PDT by Brett66

Lawsuit: Michael Jackson Near Bankruptcy
2 hours, 57 minutes ago
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson (news), the King of Pop who amassed a half-billion-dollar fortune over the past 20 years, is saddled with debt and teetering near bankruptcy, his former financial advisers say in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, set for trial June 18, claims Jackson's extravagant spending has created "a ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment."

Union Finance and Investment Corp. of South Korea (news - web sites) filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming Jackson owes the firm $12 million in fees and expenses, plus interest. Jackson previously paid the firm $3 million, the firm said. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.

Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, said he does not believe the 44-year-old singer is near bankruptcy.

"I see no signs of this impending disaster," Oxman said. "I cannot say it for 100 percent sure because nobody knows his financial statements. But I can say it for a reasonable certainty."

Oxman also said that Union Finance has been paid for its work.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2002 by Union Finance, described as one of South Korea's leading financial advisory firms. Jackson hired Union Finance in 1998 to help straighten out his finances, according to the lawsuit.

"When they were retained, plaintiffs believed that Jackson was incredibly wealthy," the lawsuit states. "At the time plaintiffs agreed to work for Jackson, there was no clue that Jackson's extravagant lifestyle had all but bankrupted him."

The firm said it soon discovered that Jackson had only two months' worth of available funds.

Union Finance's lawyer said that he stands by the allegations in the year-old lawsuit and that he took Jackson's deposition last week in Beverly Hills.

"For whatever reason, Michael Jackson is not paying his debts," said Pierce O'Donnell, a leading entertainment finance lawyer. "He has little or no means of income. He lives off a line of credit."

He added: "The day of reckoning is near."

Forbes magazine last year estimated that Jackson was earning $50 million a year at the height of his popularity in the 1980s and '90s and had amassed $500 million over his career. Forbes estimated Jackson has $200 million in debts but a net worth of $350 million.

Jackson's 1982 album "Thriller," which has sold 26 million copies, is second behind the Eagles' first greatest hits album in all-time sales in the United States. But sales of recent Jackson albums have sagged.

Jackson's assets include his Neverland ranch in the hills above Santa Barbara and homes in Southern California and Las Vegas. Most of Jackson's assets are in musical holdings worth an estimated $450 million, including 200 Beatles titles and songs recorded by Elvis Presley (news), Forbes reported.

He is a voracious spender. In 2002, he racked up a $100,000 hotel bill on a brief trip to New York, according to Forbes.

Union Finance said it helped Jackson obtain $200 million in loans through Bank of America between 1998 and 2000. In his deposition last week, Jackson said he didn't know how much he owed on the loans, O'Donnell said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: entertainment; jackson; pederast
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1 posted on 05/23/2003 5:33:27 PM PDT by Brett66
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To: Brett66
This guy's career is flaming out in an ever more spectacular series of catastrophic explosions. He's gone from the "king of pop" to the "master of disaster". Too bad the disaster in question is his personal life.
2 posted on 05/23/2003 5:36:19 PM PDT by Billy_bob_bob ("He who will not reason is a bigot;He who cannot is a fool;He who dares not is a slave." W. Drummond)
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To: Brett66
Good. Maybe now Paul McCartney can buy back the rights to the Beatles' songs.
3 posted on 05/23/2003 5:38:17 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty" not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Brett66
Is there a psychological term for "money-induced dementia"?
4 posted on 05/23/2003 5:53:51 PM PDT by IronJack
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Brett66
Anyone making that kind of money and losing it all is unbelieveable! All that money and now where is it?
6 posted on 05/23/2003 5:59:43 PM PDT by cubreporter
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To: FreedomCalls
Good. Maybe now Paul McCartney can buy back the rights to the Beatles' songs.

My thoughts exactly. But the way this whole escapade has gone over the years, I bet Yoko ends up buying them, out bidding Paul just for spite.

7 posted on 05/23/2003 6:00:18 PM PDT by Michael.SF. ('Any government that robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on Paul's vote' - G. B. Shaw (mod.))
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To: cubreporter
From what I saw in that TV special he did some months ago, it appears he goes into the most expensive stores he find, buys half the inventory, then has the stuff warehoused away, never seeing it again.
8 posted on 05/23/2003 6:41:10 PM PDT by Welsh Rabbit
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To: cubreporter
It probably takes more effort to run a bank balance like that into the red, but it's probably much harder to salvage it. No one wants to hear him sing anymore.
9 posted on 05/23/2003 6:41:26 PM PDT by ChemistCat (Disney won't see another cent of our money.)
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To: ChemistCat
He should sell off his assests, pay off his debts, downsize, and move to France. Seriously the folks in Europe fawn all over him and they don't seem to care if he is a child molestor. I volunteer to manage the downsizing, for a fee of course. Before this is over, he'll beg for second or third billing in oldie shows in the US.
10 posted on 05/23/2003 6:47:00 PM PDT by breakem
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To: Michael.SF.
I bet Yoko ends up buying them, out bidding Paul just for spite.

Paul would win any bidding war.

11 posted on 05/23/2003 6:49:12 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: Brett66
Well, if he'd stop buying 8 million dollar gaudy vases at overpriced Vegas pawnshops, he might not be in this mess.
12 posted on 05/23/2003 6:51:44 PM PDT by shred
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To: Brett66
Freako Jacko broke?

Pulheze say it ain't so! :)

13 posted on 05/23/2003 6:54:38 PM PDT by LibKill (MOAB, the greatest advance in Foreign Relations since the cat-o'-nine-tails!)
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To: cubreporter
Anyone making that kind of money and losing it all is unbelieveable! All that money and now where is it?

Isn't it funny how it is that the folks who p!ss money away the best always seem to be liberals, who never pass up an opportunity to lecture the rest of us on how only the government is wise enough to spend our money?

14 posted on 05/23/2003 6:59:07 PM PDT by CFC__VRWC
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To: LibKill
So many boys..
So many Lawyers...
Such little money
15 posted on 05/23/2003 6:59:34 PM PDT by Skip Ripley
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To: cubreporter
"Anyone making that kind of money and losing it all is unbelieveable! All that money and now where is it?"

He put it all in stock: Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing, and Walmart. He only had $25,000 in Walmart, however.

16 posted on 05/23/2003 7:00:56 PM PDT by HighWheeler (Death and taxes are inevitable, but at least death doesn't get worse every year.)
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To: Brett66
He'll wind up like "The Donald" - his creditors can't afford fo him to go bankrupt.
17 posted on 05/23/2003 7:03:47 PM PDT by mombonn (Have you prayed for our President yet today?)
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To: Brett66
Buying those young boys can be very expensive according to the weird pedophile that we have here.
18 posted on 05/23/2003 7:09:58 PM PDT by FreePaul
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To: Billy_bob_bob
Maybe he can open a day-care center ;-)
19 posted on 05/23/2003 7:10:35 PM PDT by eeman
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To: Brett66
I hope this doesn't cause him to lose face.
20 posted on 05/23/2003 7:12:30 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
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