The son of an Arab monarch has taken the King of Pop to court, charging that Michael Jackson took US$7 million as an advance on an album and an autobiography that he never produced.
Lawyers for Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa say their client paid Jackson expenses as an advance on the book and joint recording project with the sheikh, who is an amateur songwriter. Jackson claims the money was a gift.
Al Khalifa, 33, is due to testify at London’s Royal Courts of Justice today. Jackson’s lawyer Robert Englehart said he was seeking permission to have Jackson testify by video link from Los Angeles.
A lawyer for Al Khalifa said the royal first spoke to Jackson, 50, by telephone while the singer was on trial in California following his 2003 arrest on child molestation charges.
Attorney Bankim Thanki said that Al Khalifa wanted to work with Jackson on rebuilding his career.
Jackson’s finances fell apart after his arrest and he was desperately short of cash.
Al Khalifa’s first payment, for US$35,000, went toward paying the utility bills at Neverland, Jackson’s 1,000 hectare ranch and miniature amusement park in California, Thanki said.
When Jackson was found innocent of the molestation charges in June 2005, Al Khalifa footed US$2.2 million in legal bills, the lawyer said.
Al Khalifa said he believed the money would be repaid once Jackson’s career recovered from the damaging trial.
“I saw the payment as an investment in Michael’s potential,” the sheikh said in a statement read out by his lawyer in court. “He said he would pay me back ... through our work together.”
Al Khalifa moved Jackson and his entourage to Bahrain almost immediately after the trial, setting up a recording studio for him in Manama, giving him US$500,000 in cash to subsidize his lifestyle and US$350,000 European vacation in February 2006, Thanki said.
The singer stayed nearly a year in Bahrain, but the relationship soured when Jackson repudiated a business deal Thanki said they had agreed to.
Jackson’s lawyers say the pair never entered a valid agreement and that Al Khalifa’s money was given freely.
Jackson still appears to be in difficult financial straits. Last week, he was forced to give up the deed on Neverland.
The trial is being held in London because the parties had agreed to take any disputes over their deal to an English court, Al Khalifa’s representatives said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese