Michael Jackson claims he was nearly swindled out of his fortune during his kiddie-sex trial and only the wise counsel of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and billionaire Ron Burkle saved him.
The behind-the-scenes battle over the pop star’s finances is detailed in a sworn deposition he gave for a federal lawsuit scheduled to go to trial this week.
There is a possibility that Jackson himself might even be called to testify.
The seven hours of transcripts obtained by the Daily News reveal that the agitated entertainer was convinced his money woes were fueled by a cadre of disloyal advisers who stole from him while he was busy fighting criminal charges.
The Gloved One even fingered a man close to his older brother Randy as a key villain.
It was an ordeal that left Jackson bitter about the industry in which he’s spent his entire life.
“It’s full of sharks, charlatans and imposters,” he said in testimony taken last summer in Paris.
“Because there’s a lot of money involved, there’s a bunch of schmucks in there,” Jackson said. “It’s the entertainment world, full of thieves and crooks. That’s not new. Everybody knows that.”
A Santa Maria, Calif., jury acquitted him of child molestation charges in June 2005, after which he retreated into the seclusion of his Neverland ranch.
But during breaks in the trial, Jackson says he was being pressured to sign off on a multimillion-dollar financing deal by Don Stabler, an associate brought in by brother Randy, his go-to guy on financial matters during much of his career.
Jackson initially took a liking to Stabler after Randy introduced them.
“He reminded me of people that live in mid-America like Indiana,” Jackson testified.
Stabler was persistent, at one point during the trial sending a message through one of Jackson’s Nation of Islam security guards that questioned the singer’s faithfulness to his African-American heritage.
It was a sore point for someone who has denied he purposely lightened his skin.
By then, Jackson had turned to Burkle, the billionaire pal of former President Bill Clinton, for financial help. Burkle brought in Jesse Jackson, who’s known Michael Jackson since his Jackson 5 days, to help with the consultation.
Burkle was calling him on the cell phone during bathroom breaks, warning him not to sign anything, Michael Jackson said.
Stabler wasn’t happy, Jackson said.
“[Stabler] said, ‘What’s the problem? You’re not down, you’re with the Jews now. You’re not down with blacks anymore,'” Jackson testified.
“It was unkind,” Jackson added. “It was mean. It was meanspirited. It was nasty. Simply because he couldn’t get me to sign something that he wanted me to sign.”
The next time Jackson saw Stabler “he wanted to take my head off.” And his brother Randy wasn’t too happy, either.
Randy later claimed that Jackson and his staff had run up a $700,000 bill on his American Express card during the trial, which Jackson said he would repay.
It wasn’t the first time that Stabler teamed with Randy in trying to get him to sign off on a deal, Jackson claimed.
At a meeting in a bungalow at the Neverland ranch, Jackson said he had his mother at his side when he fought off another proposal.
“And I vehemently told them, ‘No, I am not signing this,'” Jackson recalled. “And I just remember how angry, the intensity of the anger in the room. And so they marched out.”
Jackson made his comments when he was grilled by lawyers for the Hackensack, N.J., finance company that is suing the singer in Manhattan Federal Court. The firm, Prescient Acquisition, is owned by businessman Darien Dash, who claims Jackson stiffed his company out of $48 million.
According to Dash’s lawyer Steven Altman, Dash was due the money for helping Jackson refinance a $272 million bank loan and secure $573 million in financing to buy out Sony’s half of the Beatles’ song catalogue that Jackson co-owned.
But Jackson claimed he’s never heard of Dash, a cousin of hip-hop impresario Damon Dash, and doesn’t remember signing any agreement.
