The estate of Michael Jackson has filed a lawsuit against Frank Cascio, a former close friend of the legendary artist, alleging that he attempted to extort more than $200 million by “threatening to leak damaging claims.”
The Blast reports that on Tuesday (June 8), the petition was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court “seeking to compel Cascio into arbitration, citing breach of contract and civil extortion.”
“Mr. Cascio was part of Michael’s life for over 30 years, publicly defending him and calling himself family,” a spokesperson for the estate said in a statement.
“Now, years after Michael’s death, he is seeking to profit from claims he once rejected as false.”
According to a 2020 confidentiality agreement, Cascio and his attorney Mark Geragos, who once represented Jackson, allegedly threatened to make public statements that the estate calls “false and defamatory,” if they weren’t paid an enormous settlement
Per the filing, Cascio changed his stance on Jackson’s innocence.
“The negotiation with Respondents morphed into a shakedown in which Frank and his cohorts each demanded substantial amounts of money, otherwise they threatened to concoct false allegations against Michael which were the opposite of their prior glowing statements about Michael they had made in his defense over the prior decades,” the petition stated. “And they were free to do this because there is no protection against defamation for a deceased person.”
In My Friend Michael, Cascio wrote about Jackson’s love of children and how it was understood.
“All the years that I was close to him, I saw nothing that raised any red flags, not as a child and not as an adult. Michael may have been eccentric, but that didn’t make him criminal,” he added in his book. “I want to be precise and clear, on the record, so that everyone can read and understand: Michael’s love for children was innocent,” he wrote.