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LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's attorney angrily vowed Tuesday to come down hard on anyone who attacks the singer and charged that molestation allegations against him were motivated by money.
"If anybody doesn't think based upon what's
happened so far that the true motivation of these charges and these
allegations is anything but money and the seeking of money, then
they're living in their own Neverland," attorney Mark Geragos said,
referring to the singer's Santa Barbara County estate.
The vigorous defense of Jackson and vow to "land
like a ton of bricks" on anyone who besmirches his reputation or
character followed revelations that he and Jackson were secretly
videotaped while flying on a private jet to Santa Barbara last week for
Jackson's surrender and booking.
Geragos claimed in a lawsuit filed Tuesday
against Santa Monica-based Xtrajet that the charter company covertly
installed two cameras in the plane's cabin.
The cameras "were recording attorney-client
conversations and then somebody had the unmitigated gall to shop those
tapes around to media outlets in order to sell them to the highest
bidder," he said.
"Michael Jackson is not going to be abused.
Michael Jackson is not going to be slammed. He is not going to be a
pinata for every person who has financial motives," Geragos said after
summoning news media to his office building. He refused to take any
questions.
Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara County district
attorney pushed back the anticipated filing of molestation charges
against Jackson to the week of Dec. 15.
The delay will allow development of a Web site
for public posting of court-related information in the case, District
Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon said in a press release.
Sneddon had told a Nov. 19 press conference that
charges would be filed "in a very short period of time." He then
announced that the charges would not be filed until after the
Thanksgiving holiday.
Jackson's attorneys earlier in the day won a
temporary restraining order against XtraJet, barring any release of two
videotapes recorded aboard the private jet.
The tapes' existence came to light when
representatives of XtraJet showed it to several news organizations,
saying they had found two videotapes aboard one of their jets and
wanted to know whether it was legal to distribute or sell them.
The lawsuit said Geragos contacted XtraJet as
soon as he heard about the alleged taping from members of the news
media and was referred to an attorney, Lloyd Kirschbaum. Geragos said
that Kirschbaum called his clients, then got back to Geragos and said
that XtraJet was not going to turn over the tape "but was 'shopping it
around' to see how much money it could get for the tape." Geragos said
he told Kirschbaum that XtraJet violated Jackson's right to privacy.
Geragos claimed at his news conference that the
XtraJet attorney told him Tuesday: "We had a lottery ticket and we
thought we were going to do something with it."
"This is not the lottery," Geragos said. "This is this man's life. This is his family's life. These are scurrilous accusations."
Attorney Brian Kabateck, another Jackson
attorney, said the XtraJet attorney denied in court that the company
placed the cameras in the plane.
The attorney for XtraJet did not immediately return a call for comment.
The temporary injunction issued by Judge David
Yaffe prevents the company from selling the footage until at least Dec.
19, but a hearing on extending the order was scheduled for Dec. 18.
Fox Network viewed the tape on Monday and reported that Jackson looked "calm, often smiling or laughing" during the flight.
The lawsuit claims XtraJet asked Fox to pay a price "in the high six figures."
The temporary restraining order also bars the
company from doing anything with the airplane until "we have a chance
to inspect it and get to the bottom of exactly who did what we believe
was not only a violation of federal criminal law, state penal code and
assortment of California causes of action," Geragos said.
source: SignOnSanDiego
Tagged:Mark Geragos, Xtrajet, Brian Kabateck
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