Michael Jackson's Former Defender Accused of Extortion After Allegedly Threatening to Make Damaging New Claims About the Late Singer

The King of Pop may be gone, but the battles over his legacy rage on — this time with one of Michael Jackson’s former closest confidants at the center of a jaw-dropping legal firestorm.

More than a decade after Jackson’s sudden death, and years after damning abuse allegations resurfaced in HBO’s 2019 docuseries Leaving Neverland, his estate is now accusing longtime friend and former music manager Frank Cascio of engineering an elaborate and calculated scheme to cash in on the controversy.

In court papers filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by PEOPLE, Jackson’s estate identified the accused as Cascio, a longtime associate of the singer who once managed aspects of his career and penned a 2011 memoir, My Friend Michael, defending the star’s reputation.

Jackson’s estate escalated its legal battle against the former confidant of the late pop icon, accusing him of fabricating explosive child abuse allegations in an alleged $213 million extortion attempt, according to the filing.

Despite years of publicly defending Jackson against abuse allegations, the estate claims Cascio betrayed a man he once called a “brother, mentor and friend,” as written in his memoir — all in pursuit of a hefty payday.

Cascio reiterated that defense publicly — in appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Primetime Live and The Wendy Williams Show — always positioning himself as a defender of Jackson’s controversial legacy. But according to the estate, that loyalty flipped dramatically when public sentiment began to shift following the debut of Leaving Neverland, the harrowing documentary in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck accused Jackson of sexually abusing them as children.

Both men continue to pursue civil cases against the estate, which maintains their claims are untrue and financially motivated.

The petition, which seeks to compel arbitration, marks the estate’s first response to what it characterizes as a brazen extortion attempt. It alleges that Cascio and his legal team, now led by celebrity attorney Mark Geragos who formerly represented Jackson, have repeatedly threatened to file a public lawsuit about alleged abuse claims unless the estate meets escalating monetary demands.

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Cascio is alleged to have first initiated what the estate calls a “shakedown” at the Sunset Marquis hotel swimming pool in the wake of Leaving Neverland, which reignited longstanding allegations that Jackson sexually abused Robson and Safechuck.

According to the filing, Cascio — who had known Jackson since childhood and remained close to him for decades — reversed his longstanding public stance in which he “passionately and unequivocally” defended Jackson’s innocence.

“The negotiation with Respondents morphed into a shakedown in which Frank and his cohorts each demanded substantial amounts of money, otherwise they threatened to concoct false allegations against Michael which were the opposite of their prior glowing statements about Michael they had made in his defense over the prior decades,” the petition claims. “And they were free to do this because there is no protection against defamation for a deceased person.”

In My Friend Michael, Cascio had written that Jackson’s affection for children was innocent and deeply misunderstood.

“All the years that I was close to him, I saw nothing that raised any red flags, not as a child and not as an adult. Michael may have been eccentric, but that didn’t make him criminal,” he added in his book. “I want to be precise and clear, on the record, so that everyone can read and understand: Michael’s love for children was innocent,” he wrote.

The estate claims that in January 2020, it “reluctantly” agreed to a confidential settlement with Cascio totaling $3.3 million, explicitly stating no admission of wrongdoing. “Accordingly, in order to prevent Michael’s family members, particularly his children from having to deal with any further false allegations against Michael, and to protect Michael’s valuable legacy, in 2020 MJC reluctantly entered into the Agreement with Respondents,” the petition states.

That settlement included a binding arbitration clause to resolve any future disputes privately. However, the estate alleges Cascio violated that agreement last year by threatening public legal action unless he was paid an additional $213 million. The current petition accuses Cascio and his associates of breaching that arbitration agreement by continuing to press public threats, now reportedly lowered to a $44 million demand.

“To enforce their rights under the agreement,” the estate writes, “Petitioners hereby seek an order compelling Respondents to resolve any and all of their specious alleged claims… in accordance with the express provisions of the Agreement.”

Attorney Mark Geragos did not respond to requests for comment.

Since Jackson’s death in 2009, his estate has fiercely guarded his legacy, battling in courtrooms and the public arena against ongoing allegations of abuse. Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges in a high-profile 2005 criminal trial, and never faced legal liability for any related claims during his lifetime.

Yet the shadow of those allegations has never fully receded. After the airing of the bombshell documentary featured wrenching testimony from Robson and Safechuck, Jackson’s estate — which sued HBO over the film — has consistently maintained that all such allegations are false, characterizing the documentary as a “one-sided hit job.” The case against HBO was settled confidentially, and the film has since been removed from the network’s platforms.

The estate’s latest legal salvo underscores its ongoing strategy: aggressively confronting those it believes are attempting to profit from Jackson’s inability to defend himself. In the absence of legal protections for the deceased under defamation law, the estate has relied on breach-of-contract and arbitration claims to shield Jackson’s posthumous reputation.

Since the singer’s death, his estate has generated more than $3 billion in revenue, making him one of the most lucrative deceased celebrities in history — and, his representatives argue, an irresistible target for opportunistic accusers.

Whether the court will compel Cascio to settle the matter behind closed doors remains to be seen. For now, the legal legacy of one of pop music’s most controversial figures continues to play out in courtrooms over the years.