One of Michael Jackson’s alleged victims accused the estate executors of attempting to smear and silence him, Us Weekly can exclusively report. The allegation comes months after the executors accused him of a $44 million shakedown.
On October 6, Frank Cascio – who, along with four of his family members, received a settlement from the Jackson estate after raising claims of sexual abuse – responded to Jackson’s estate in court.
Cascio claimed the petition brought by estate executors John Branca and John McClain, along with The Michael Jackson Company, was not made in “good faith.”
He said it was an “attempt by [the executors and the company] to shield themselves and the Estate of Michael Jackson from accountability and public scrutiny.”
“[The executors] seek to weaponize an unlawful agreement to silence victims of childhood sexual abuse, smear and discredit [Cascio and his family members], and preserve Michael Jackson’s carefully protected legacy and the Estate’s reputational and financial interests.”
Cascio’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, argued that the settlement his client signed before he represented him, is unenforceable. “California has made clear that confidentiality and nondisclosure provisions designed to conceal sexual abuse are illegal and against public policy,” the filing read.
Geragos said the settlement, “was to prevent [Cascio and his family] from ever speaking publicly about their experiences with Michael Jackson — precisely the type of restriction the Legislature has deemed unlawful.” Cascio said even if the settlement was valid, he should be allowed to rescind it based on “duress undue influence, and the Estate’s failure to afford them the opportunity to retain counsel or meaningfully consent.”
Cascio’s lawyer said the executors’ accusation that his client is engaging in “civil extortion” is both “baseless and revealing.”
“It is a transparent attempt to deflect attention from [the executors’] own misconduct and to recast legitimate efforts to seek accountability as wrongful,” Geragos added. “[Cascio and his team] have at all times acted responsibly and in good faith, endeavoring to address deeply serious matters through lawful and appropriate means.”
Michael Jackson Ron Wolfson/WireImage
Geragos said Cascio and his family had intimate contact with Jackson from the early 1980s until at least 2009.
In his filing, Gergaos claimed, “This abusive contact occurred over a span of decades and involved hundreds of instances. Each of the Cascio children were groomed, brainwashed, and severely manipulated to believe that each was uniquely ‘special’ to Michael and that their relationship with him was exclusive.”
“This deliberate emotional manipulation was designed to secure each family member’s loyalty and ensure their silence, making them feel indebted to Michael and isolated from any source of protection or perspective,” Cascio’s lawyer alleged. “Through years of psychological conditioning, Michael cultivated dependence and fear in the young Cascios, making [Cascio and his family members] believe they had no choice but to comply and no safe way to break free.”
“The effects of this conditioning persisted into adulthood, leaving Respondents with a deeply ingrained belief that speaking out would constitute betrayal — a dynamic the Estate has continued to exploit in its dealings with them,” the filing said.
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Cascio’s lawyer said after the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, where Wade Robson and James Safechuck accused Jackson of abusing them as children, Cascio and his family members shared experiences of their alleged abuse with each other for the first time.
Geragos said around the same time, “the Estate orchestrated a secret settlement process in an effort to silence [Cascio and his family members]. The psychological control and dependency instilled in the Cascios during their youth made them particularly vulnerable during their contact with the Estate’s representatives.”
Cascio’s lawyer said the estate rushed a settlement that was disguised as a “life rights” agreement.
“This sham characterization was a last-minute device calculated to mislead [Cascio and his family members], the probate court, and the Estate’s beneficiaries, and constituted a bad faith misrepresentation designed to conceal the true nature of the deal and deprive them of knowledge of the settlement,” the paperwork alleged.
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“To further this scheme, the Estate caused the creation of various new corporations through which payments would be funneled to the five Cascio children,” Geragos added while claiming the estate “discouraged” the Cascios from seeking “independent legal advice.”
“The Agreement is styled as a ‘life rights’ agreement that makes no mention of [Cascio and his family members’] sexual abuse claims,” Geragos added. “By framing the document as concerning ‘life rights’ — a term commonly associated with entertainment and biographical storytelling — [the executors] concealed the true purpose and effect of the Agreement: the permanent waiver and release of [Cascio and his family members’]’ claims arising from Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse.”
The legal drama began on July 9 after Branca and McClain, and The Michael Jackson Company sued Cascio.
Branca and McClain, in their roles as estate executors, claimed Cascio had attempted a $213 million civil extortion scheme against the estate.
Wade Robson Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire
The executors claimed Cascio had spoken positively about his relationship with Jackson for decades. Per the suit, Cascio was one of Jackson’s most vocal defenders during his criminal trials over child molestation charges and denied ever seeing the singer abuse children.
In the filing, the executors also pointed out that Cascio wrote a book in 2011 titled My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship with an Extraordinary Man, which they call a 300+ page tribute to Jackson that “both honors and defends him over the 25 years that Frank knew him.”
“However, after Michael’s death and the financial success of The Estate of Michael Jackson, [Cascio] and his cohorts threatened that unless they were paid substantial sums of money, they would repudiate their ardent defense of Michael and would instead go public with accusations that were completely contrary to their steadfast proclamations of his innocence,” the executors’ filing read. “It was a shakedown.”
The executors said Cascio saw an opportunity to make money after the release of Leaving Neverland.
In 2020, The Michael Jackson company “reluctantly” entered into a confidential deal with Cascio. Per the agreement, Cascio and his family members received payments over the course of five years. The executors said the deal was reached to prevent Jackson’s children from hearing “further false allegations” and to protect Jackson’s legacy.
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After the deal was paid out, the executors claimed Cascio’s then-lawyer demanded Cascio be paid hundreds of millions, $213 million to be exact, or he would file a “bogus lawsuit containing outlandish accusations against Michael that are completely contrary to their prior statements supporting and defending Michael. The executors refused to comply with the demand.”
The petition said Cascio recently decided to hire a new lawyer, Geragos. The executors point out that Geragos has also defended Jackson in the press over the years.
Jackson’s team demanded the dispute be heard in arbitration, which they claimed was a provision in the 2020 deal.
The court docs claimed Cascio lowered his demand to $44 million once Geragos took over the case.
