Posted by Another Day, Another Lawsuit: This one wants $29 million – MiniB#48
JULY 18 2007 – In yet another attempt by someone else to get their hands into Michael Jackson's pockets, another entity has filed a lawsuit against the singer, his mother Katherine, and others claiming they are owed $29.7 million in "unpaid brokerage fees". Yes, you read correctly. HIS MAMA TOO!
In court documents obtained by MJJR.net, Transitional Investors, a private investment company, claims to have had a part in Jackson refinancing a loan, and that they were supposed to get 9% of the entire transaction value.
The problem is that their alleged connection with Jackson was through Don Stabler and Darien Dash of Precient-fame. If the name "Precient" sounds familiar, it should. Dash owns the company, which apparently held themselves out as representatives of Jackson.
Precient sued Jackson as well, claiming they were owed about $50 million dollars. Jackson, however, says he'd never even heard of Dash and certainly didn't remember signing a commitment to pay them $50 million for anything. Getting back to Transitional, they claim they sent a letter of intent to Jackson through Don Stabler.
The only problem is that Stabler had no authority over Jackson's business and apparently was never granted any kind of authority to get Jackson wrapped up into agreements with other companies.
Is Transactional Investors looking for a settlement too? Could they be banking on Jackson's previous desire in other cases not to get into a protracted legal battle costing millions of dollars in legal fees? Why isn't Stabler or Precient also named as a major defendant too? These are questions yet to be answered.
It's still not quite clear, as of this writing, why Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Maybe Transitional is banking of the fact that Jackson wouldn't want to drag his mother through a lawsuit??
Jackson has turned into a fighter particularly in recent years, so that plan may not work. Jackson has been in legal fights with a slew of people claiming they were promised some ridiculously high fee for doing god-knows-what, and proclaiming to have been given authority to deal on his behalf with god-knows-who.
Those fights include his former accountants, former lawyer, Brent Ayscough, and former advisor Marc Schaffel. Some of Jackson's former business advisors were allegedly so rabid that they reportedly sought to deal with other alleged Jackson-creditors to force the singer into involuntary bankruptcy.
As reported in an earlier MiniBullet, before the trial began there was talk of various shady advisors and business associates who were trying to take over Jackson's finances, siphoning off funds, diverting money to offshore accounts, as well as allegations that accountants and firms were not paying his bills partially in order to wrap him up in litigation.
Back on August 7 2006, Jackson's spokesperson Raymone Bain released a blistering statement speaking to a conspiracy against him to force him into involuntary bankruptcy. According to Bain, Jackson received documents that revealed a "deliberate plan by some former attorneys as well as associates and advisors" to throw Jackson into involuntary bankruptcy. From that statement:
The documents reveal that former attorneys actively solicited other attorneys, vendors and creditors to “join in a petition to place the client in involuntary bankruptcy.” Mr. Jackson who, on June 27, 2006, announced sweeping organizational changes, has instructed his legal team to investigate and file claims against those responsible for conspiracy, bad faith, and self dealing. These efforts may also result in civil and/or criminal charges, where appropriate. (see Conspiracy to Bankrupt Jackson Revealed)
Bain said at the time that Jackson wasn't shocked or surprised by any of this. That lack of surprise may be because Jackson became suspicious those around him were involved in trying to ruin him financially while enriching themselves in the process.
Everything has happened too close together for the events to be total coincidences. In these past few years Jackson has been falsely accused of molestation, sued by Schaffel, Deiter Weisner, Ayscough, Precient, former accountants, and now Transitional Investors.
Each one trying to get their hands on millions of Jackson's dollars; even though some of them are proven liars, proven to have stolen money from him, had never had authority to engage in contractual dealings on Jackson's behalf, or had never even met Jackson before. Jackson has paid a big price to hold on to hugely profitable financial assets including his money, his half of the Sony/ATV catalog and his beautiful 2,700 contiguous acres of prime California land (Neverland). It seems at every turn, there has been someone or some entity trying to figure out a legal way to snatch those assets away from him; assets destined to be inherited by his children and family.
A larger point though is that nobody sues a "broke" man. So the sheer number of people filing lawsuits, and the amounts they're seeking, should be proof enough that some people see Jackson as "The Bank of Michael Jackson". Too bad some of these people appear to be thieves trying to rob it.
-MJEOL