Michael Jackson Owed Over $500M at Time of Death, Court Documents Reveal
New court documents have revealed that Michael Jackson owed more than $500 million to various creditors at the time of his death.
Earlier this week, attorney John Branca and A&R executive John McClain, the executors of Jackson’s estate, filed a petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court seeking legal authorization to pay several law firms for their services rendered to the estate from July through December 2018.
The legal files, obtained by Entertainment Weekly, detail the challenging nature of Jackson’s finances before and since his 2009 passing.
“The Executors have faced extraordinarily challenging circumstances,” the petition reads. “Among other issues, at the time of Michael Jackson’s death, Michael Jackson’s most significant assets were subject to more than $500 million of debt and creditors’ claims, with some of the debt accruing interest at extremely high interest rates, and some debt in default.”
Before his death at age 50 from acute propofol intoxication, Jackson had been preparing for his This Is It residency, adding financial strain to his resources.
However, in the years since his death, the executors have extensively turned the estate’s financial situation around. They claim to have “resolved virtually all of the creditors’ claims and litigations and have successfully solidified the MJJ business as a significant entity in the music industry.”
Significant financial gains for the estate included the purchase of a stake in EMI Publishing and the rights to Motown classics, as well as songs by Carole King and Norah Jones, in 2012 for $50,000, followed by their sale to Sony for $300 million in 2018.
Branca and McClain are now seeking legal approval to pay a total of $3 million to various law firms for their services provided during that time.
More recently, the 2022 Tony-winning Broadway show "MJ the Musical" and director Antoine Fuqua’s forthcoming Michael biopic, starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson and "Euphoria" star Coleman Domingo, have also added to the estate’s financial successes.
Last year, a California court of appeals revived a lawsuit from two men who allege Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were boys. Wade Robson and James Safechuck detailed their allegations in the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland."
The pair have been granted a trial jury against Jackson’s estate and corporations, MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc. An attorney for the estate has denied the allegations, expressing disappointment. “Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it,” Jonathan Steinsapir said in an email to The Associated Press. “We remain fully confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which are contrary to all credible evidence and independent corroboration, and which were only first made years after Michael’s death by men motivated solely by money.”
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