- Four siblings of the Cascio family are suing Michael Jackson’s estate, accusing the singer of sexual abuse.
- They say Jackson brainwashed them as children and used them as “soldiers” to defend him in public.
- The estate’s lawyer dismisses the lawsuit as a “desperate attempt to get money.”
There were already difficult times during the King of Pop’s lifetime Allegations against Michael Jackson (1958–2009). Another serious lawsuit was filed earlier this year. Four siblings from the Cascio family, which once presented itself as the “second family” of the late world star, accused the singer of sexual abuse before. In an interview with the New York Times, they explain why they remained silent for so long.
The four siblings and a fifth sibling, who says they are not part of the lawsuit for legal reasons, tell the newspaper that they were groomed to protect Jackson in public. They speak of themselves as a kind of “soldiers” who formed the front line in the King of Pop’s defense. Both in the lawsuit and in the conversation, the siblings report alleged abuse of Jackson.
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They are said to have been “brainwashed”.
Several of the five siblings recognized early on that Jackson’s alleged behavior was wrong, but they felt too overwhelmed to talk about it among themselves or publicly. The siblings even denied any attacks on their parents. Others only recognized abusive patterns after watching the documentary “Leaving Neverland,” published in 2019, in which two men made similar allegations against Jackson. The lawsuit states that they were “deprogrammed.”
“We were brainwashed, we were groomed,” says Eddie, now 43. He claims Jackson taught the children to protect him against accusations. The singer emphasized to several of the children at the time that they had a special relationship and that if anyone found out about it, both his and her life would be destroyed.
Attorney maintains Jackson’s innocence
According to the report, the siblings had been in contact with the estate several years before the lawsuit was filed. In 2020, there was an agreement according to which they received payments of approximately $16 million over a period of five years. Payments will have stopped in 2025. The siblings demanded additional compensation, which was not forthcoming.
Michael Jackson and later his estate have always denied all allegations. Marty Singer, the attorney for the Jackson estate, described the lawsuit in a statement as a “desperate attempt to get money.” The family “has staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years and affirmed his innocence of inappropriate behavior.”
The new lawsuit is a tactic as part of a plan “to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies.” In court documents, the estate says the siblings used negative publicity from “Leaving Neverland” as an excuse to “retract their previous support for Michael and make false and specious accusations against him unless they were paid for it.”
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Leonie Projer (pro), born in 1997, is deputy head of the People department. She gained her first journalistic experiences at Tele M1 and “ArgoviaToday”.
