Michael Jackson estate attorney Marty Singer told USA TODAY the lawsuit is a “desperate” attempt as a “multimillion-dollar payday” by family friends that previously “staunchly defended” the popstar.
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Four siblings who were previously staunch supporters of Michael Jackson have sued his companies and estate for allegedly being sex trafficked as children in the 1990s.
Former Jackson family friends Edward, Dominic and Aldo Cascio, as well as their sister Marie-Nicole Porte, filed a lawsuit in California federal court Feb. 27 alleging Jackson’s employees facilitated and concealed his alleged abuse. They also claim representatives for his estate compelled them to sign an agreement, which allegedly prevents them “from talking about the years of abuse they endured,” under false pretenses.
The lawsuit alleges child sex trafficking, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract and fraud and seeks monetary compensation as well as a determination that the signed agreement can be voided.
Jackson, who died in 2009 at age 50, was “a serial child predator who, over the course of more than a decade, drugged, raped, and sexually assaulted each of the Plaintiffs, beginning when some of them were as young as seven or eight,” their lawsuit states.
It also alleges “Jackson’s years of brainwashing prevented Plaintiffs from seeking help when he was alive and for years afterward, or even comprehending the despicable behavior they endured.” In 2019, the family says, the Jackson estate offered to send “five annual payments of approximately $690,000,” minus a 6% commission for a man who allegedly represented himself as a representative for them but who they claim was working with the estate’s attorney, in exchange for signing an “acquisition and consulting agreement.”
The negotiations allegedly took place after the release of the bombshell HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland.”
“Ignoring threats from the Michael Jackson Estate of financial ruin and faced with the Estate’s false public accusations of extortion and lying, the Cascios have elected to remain silent no longer,” their attorney, Howard King, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY on March 2.
He continued, “Not only do they seek fair compensation for more than a decade of abuse of an entire family, they hope their filing will embolden other victims and enablers to come forth and shake off the shackles of their silence.”
Michael Jackson lawyer claims accusers seek ‘multimillion-dollar payday’
In July 2025, representatives for Jackson’s estate and companies filed a petition against the Cascios – including their brother Frank, who wrote the 2011 memoir “My Friend Michael” and has been accused of extortion by the estate – to compel arbitration out of court. The Cascios pushed back against the move, claiming the arbitration agreement cannot be forced.
In a statement to USA TODAY on March 2, the Jackson estate’s attorney Marty Singer said, “This lawsuit is a desperate money grab by additional members of the Cascio family who have hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank, who is already being sued in arbitration for civil extortion.
“The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct. This new court filing is a transparent forum-shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies.”
The Cascios, Singer said, are seeking “multi-million-dollar payday” as they “threatened to go public with heinous accusations that completely contradicted their previous statements defending Michael unless his Estate paid staggering sums of money.”
The family previously “threatened to make accusations” after the release of “Leaving Neverland,” Singer wrote. As a result, he adds, Jackson’s estate “reluctantly paid the Cascios $2.8 million each over five years to protect Michael’s family as well as future projects important to Michael’s legacy and fans, which were worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Estate for Michael’s beneficiaries.”
Michael Jackson allegedly ‘plied’ children with alcohol, drugs
The Cascios met Jackson through their father, who worked at a hotel where, according to their lawsuit, the “Thriller” singer “frequently stayed.” Jackson, and sometimes his children, spent various holidays with the Cascio family and stayed in their home, according to the lawsuit.
He also allegedly sexually abused, “groomed and brainwashed” each of the children in the ’90s, “without the knowledge of the others or their parents,” per the lawsuit. He allegedly plied the children “with alcohol, marijuana, illegal hard drugs, and with prescription drugs, including Xanax, Vicodin, and Viagra.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Jackson lavished them with gifts, exclusive theme park visits, celebrity meetings and trips that included traveling with him on his Dangerous World Tour and HIStory World Tour.
This “manipulation and psychological and emotional abuse continued until days before Jackson’s death,” the Cascios’ lawsuit says.
The document they were induced to sign was described to them as a “life rights” agreement, but rather it released the Jackson estate “from liability for Jackson’s crimes,” per the lawsuit. Had the family “understood the full meaning of the Document, they would not have signed it.”
The Cascios allege that representatives for Jackson’s estate reached out to them around April 2024 “to increase the estate’s compensation,” and this time, the siblings retained their own legal counsel. After this, they “demanded compensation proportional to Jackson’s crimes and the harm they caused,” their lawsuit states, which prompted the estate to release “false and defamatory statements” about them to the press.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support in English and Spanish via chat and at 800-656-4673.