Michael Jackson is being sued for $3 million (£1.6 million) by a businessman who alleges that he is owed for unpaid loans and producing fees.
Filed in Los Angeles, Marc Schaffel’s case claims that he was a key figure in producing two TV specials in which the star hit back at the controversial Martin Bashir documentary.
Schaffel also says that Michael Jackson owes him money for the singer’s “spending sprees” in which he bought jewellery for Elizabeth Taylor, a cash advance to “pay Marlon Brando to appear at Michael Jackson’s concert” and other expenses.
According to BBC News the businessman worked with the star on two Fox television specials. The programmes aired as a defence to an earlier documentary which saw Michael Jackson interviewed by Bashir in the singer’s Neverland ranch.
Michael Jackson claimed in his programmes that the documentary was misleading and unfair and that he had been betrayed by Bashir.
Schaffel also worked with Michael Jackson on ’What More Can I Do’ – a charity single recorded by a number of US stars to aid the victims and survivors of the events of September 11.
However, it was later discovered that Schaffel had directed pornographic videos and recording was held in limbo. Schaffel admitted that he had worked in the porn industry but that he had cut all ties with it before working on the charity single.