Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (110 page)

Even though he lived in exile in Bahrain, the lawsuits against Michael
continued. The most bizarre and most high-profile of the lot was filed in Los
Angeles by Marc Schaffel. It offered additional embarrassing insights into
Michael's private life, much of which had already been laid bare during the
Arvizo case.

Michael had long been known for his "odd couple" relationships, and
none was more exotic than his hookup with a gay porn producer, Marc
Schaffel. Their link originated in October of 2001 for a performance of "What
More Can I Give?" at the United We Stand charity concert for victims and survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Performing in Washington, DC, 27 artists joined
together onstage for the observance, including
such big names as Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias,
Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Justin
Timberlake. The event raised $3 million.

Tom Sneddon:
District Attorney

"What More Can I Give?" was available for
paid download on the Internet and a video was
shot of it. However, the single was never commercially released as had been planned. Michael
blamed Sony's Tommy Mottola, his favorite target, for the single's cancellation. But the release
may have had more to do with Michael's
involvement with Schaffel. Later a catalogue featuring the song, "What More Can I Give?: Michael Jackson and Friends,"
was released instead.

"What More Can I Give?" was expensive to produce but was cancelled by
Sony when its executive producer, Schaffel, was revealed to have a background in gay porn. As Michael tried to distance himself from Schaffel, various corporations, including McDonald's, claimed only minimal involvement
in having sponsored the song.

Michael's involvement with Schaffel-not only in association with the
charity recording, but in other projects as well-came to light during the
autumn of 2005 when Schaffel sued Michael, threatening to "tell all" in court.
In the producer's suit, he claimed that Michael owed him $800,000 for producing two TV specials in 2003 and $2.3 million for personal loans he'd made
to the star during the previous two years.

In his lawsuit, Schaffel alleged that he had been promised twenty percent
of the gross returns on the TV specials he produced and which had been aired
on Fox in rebuttal to the damaging Bashir TV documentary of 2003. The Fox
specials produced by Schaffel were sold to a British TV station for $10.6 million. Schaffel's documentaries of Michael were flattering portraits. Schaffel
went on to claim that the pop star had used them to repair some of the damage to his reputation caused by the Bashir TV show.

Michael's attorney countersued on October 18, 2005, claiming that
Schaffel had failed to pay costs related to the production of the charity song,
"What More Can I Give?" The
producer was also charged with
keeping $250,000 worth of
sculptures and paintings that
belonged to Michael. Michael's
lawyer, Brent Ayscough, also
claimed that the porn producer
had tried to get a lien placed on
Neverland. In all, Michael
charged that Schaffel owed him
$600,000.

MJ in a burqa with one of his sons

Michael had "divorced"
himself from Schaffel after
learning about the producer's
previous background in gay
porn. In testimony that was
videotaped Michael never
appeared in court himself-the
pop star said that he had been shown a film directed by Schaffel, depicting "two guys naked from head to
toe. Schaffel was telling them what to do with each other. They were touching
their penises." After seeing the film, Michael claimed that he wanted to distance himself from Schaffel and his X-rated movies because "I'm no fan of
gay porn."

Michael's videotaped deposition was shown to jurors in July of 2006. "I
just thought this association with Schaffel wouldn't vibe with the charitable
work I've done," Michael claimed in his testimony. "I wanted to be diplomatic about it. I didn't want to embarrass him."

In the video, Michael claimed, "I'm sure he got money," referring to
Schaffel. When asked how he could be so sure, Michael said, "Because he
always seemed to be happy." The lawyer responded, "Money doesn't buy happiness."

In court, Schaffel countered by dishing the dirt on Michael, claiming that
he flew to Brazil on several occasions to try to adopt boys for Michael. In his
testimony, he charged that these "boy searches" occurred twice a year between
1999 and 2001. "1 would go between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Mr.
Jackson definitely wanted to adopt some boys."

In other testimony, Schaffel charged that in addition to the "adopt
scheme," he flew to Buenos Aires to pay $300,000 in "hush money" to prevent another child molestation scandal. It was alleged at the time that a Ruby
Martinez and her son, David, had "knowledge of past abuse allegations
against Jackson dating back to the 90s."

Schaffel initially sued for $3.8 million but his claims were eventually cut
by his attorney to $1.4 million before his client actually appeared in court.

In all, Schaffel claimed that he'd paid out $8.9 million for Michael since
2001 but had been repaid only $6.3 million. He also stated that he wanted to
get paid while Michael might still have the cash "because he's a ticking financial time bomb." In Schaffel's suit, he alleged that
all payments to him stopped once Randy Jackson
took control of Michael's finances in June of 2004.

Marc Schaffel

In his complaint, Schaffel alleged that the
pop star's need to borrow money "accelerated
when Jackson's increasingly more frequent and
excessive use of drugs and alcohol impelled him
into irrational demands for large amounts of money
and extravagant possessions." On an interview
with ABC News on Good Morning America,
Schaffel speculated that Michael's dependency on
painkillers and pain medication led him to "call me
in the middle of the night seeking loans for one of his spending sprees."

"When Michael would be on drugs, he would call me at two, three, or four
in the morning. Very distorted. And he would say, `Oh, can you give me
$70,000 tomorrow? There's this table I saw. I gotta have it for my living
room. "'

Schaffel even brought Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor into his trial.
He claimed that Michael asked him to raise $1 million to pay Brando for
appearing in a music video and on stage at Madison Square Garden. Schaffel
said he was also asked for $600,000 as a loan to buy Elizabeth Taylor a piece
of jewelry in exchange for her appearing on Michael's behalf. That exact
appearance by Dame Elizabeth was not specified.

Schaffel's own appearance on ABC led to more speculation that Michael
was indeed "buying the friendship" of Elizabeth, as had been alleged so many
times in the past. Schaffel also claimed that he'd lent Michael at least
$100,000 to finance shopping sprees and help him make payments on a RollsRoyce Phantom and a Bentley Arnage.

There were more claims. In 2001, after the September 11 attacks in New
York, Michael called the producer wanting half a million dollars in cash for
access to an underground shelter to protect "my loved ones," which the public learned in this case was Elizabeth and Marlon Brando, not the Jackson
family members who were also in New York at the time.

Attacking back, Michael's spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, denied the
ABC show, calling Schaffel's remarks "slanderous" and claiming he could not
be trusted because of his close ties with the porn industry.

During the Schaffel trial, a tantalizing tidbit emerged. In a raid on
Neverland preceding the Gavin Arvizo trial, sheriff's deputies also raided the
Calabasas, California home of Schaffel. The speculation was that the gay porn
producer had videos that he'd taken of Michael in sexual situations with
young boys. The confiscated items were loaded into a police van for investigation, but "no smoking gun" was found. A lot of gay porn was discovered,
but none featuring Michael.

At the actual Arvizo trial, Schaffel was named as one of the un-indicted
"co-conspirators," who had "tried to quiet" Gavin Arvizo and his family.

The jury in the Schaffel/Jackson trial listened to phone messages Michael
left for the producer. In one such message, jurors heard the very high-pitched
voice of Michael saying, "I like you. I love you . . . I really want us to be
friends and conquer the business world together."

Attorney Thomas Mundell, representing Michael, put up a vigorous
defense, at one point claiming that Schaffel pocketed $400,000 from a
Japanese company for rights to the charity record and that he used the funds
as a down payment on a house.

Mundell also read to jurors a voice mail message from Michael to
Schaffel. "Marc, please, please never let me down. I have been betrayed so
much by people. Be my loyal, loyal friend." In conclusion, Mundell went on
to say, "Members of the jury, Marc Schaffel was not Mr. Jackson's loyal
friend. I ask you to send him from this courtroom with nothing."

The battling attorneys were bitter in their closing words to the jury,
Schaffel's lawyer, Howard King, called Michael a "cagey, calculating witness" who took advantage of the producer. The pop star's attorney, Mundell,
countered that Michael was the "victim of financial manipulation" by a former associate. "I resent that Mr. Schaffel is portrayed as some sort of parasite
hanging on to Mr. Jackson," King said angrily.

Mundell shot back: "I don't see the evil, conniving puppet master he saw.
I see the gentle, easily influenced artist who pays little attention to business
matters."

In July of 2006 a jury of twelve, equally divided among men and women,
deliberated for nine hours after hearing ten days of testimony. In their verdict,
they granted Schaffel $900,000, citing Michael's breach of contract with the
producer. The jury also granted Schaffel $300,000 for his out-of-pocket
expenses in flying to Buenos Aires to offer hush money to a family with dirt
on the pop star. But in a split verdict, they also awarded Michael $200,000
believing that Schaffel skimmed that amount from the proceeds of the unreleased charity recording of "What More Can I Give?"

In November of 2005, in the midst of the Marc Schaffel brouhaha, a new
eruption occurred when Michael faced headlines accusing him of antiSemitism. These were old charges first aired in 1995 when he released the
song, "They Don't Care About Us," in which he referred to Jews as "kikes."

A Jackson family attorney, Brian Oxman, responded that anti-Semitic
messages, which were later broadcast on TV, were actually "telephone conversations recorded without permission." The phone messages were recorded in
2003 but not leaked to the press until 2005.

Michael's words were broadcast on ABC's Good Morning America. In the
recording, Michael states that Jews rob performers of their money. His exact
words were, "They suck them like leeches." The message was left for Dieter
Wiesner, who had filed a $64 million lawsuit against Michael, claiming fraud
and breach of contract. Wiesner, as Michael's former business advisor, was
one of the un-indicted "co-conspirators" involved in Michael's child molestation trial.