Michael Jackson’s estate faces lawsuit over sexual abuse allegations

ISTANBUL

Four siblings who were longtime friends of Michael Jackson filed a lawsuit accusing the late pop star of sexually abusing them when they were children, NBC News reported Thursday.

Edward, Dominic, and Aldo Cascio and their sister Marie-Nicole Porte alleged in a US District Court complaint that Jackson abused them over more than a decade when they were children.

The plaintiffs’ attorney said in the federal lawsuit that they are seeking to hold the Michael Jackson estate, its affiliates, and associated individuals accountable for the singer’s alleged abuse and related misconduct.

Attorney Martin Singer, representing the Michael Jackson estate, dismissed the lawsuit as a “desperate money grab,” accusing the plaintiffs of filing it in a new court in an attempt to secure hundreds of millions of dollars.

Singer also said that in a 2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Edward, Frank, and Marie-Nicole Cascio stated that Jackson had never harmed them.

"The Cascios spent decades defending and affirming Michael’s innocence," Singer said. "Notably, these shakedown attempts come more than 15 years after Michael’s death, thus carrying no risk of being sued for defamation. Sadly, in death just as in life, Michael’s talents and success continue to make him a target.”

The lawsuit said the Michael Jackson estate offered the family $690,000 in 2019 as compensation for the alleged abuse, but the plaintiffs signed the agreement without legal counsel and later said they did not fully understand its implications.

Jackson died at age 50 in 2009 from acute propofol intoxication, and his personal physician was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.