Posted on 11/28/2003 8:06:36 AM PST by demlosers
LOS ANGELES - When he surrendered to the Santa Barbara, Calif., sheriff last week, Michael Jackson resembled an aging Joan Crawford, pale, frail and weighing 120 pounds.
His financial well-being appears equally fragile. With each successive record costing more and earning less than the last, he is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain his lavish lifestyle.
By any measure, Jackson, 45, must be considered wealthy. But according to his close advisers, industry friends and court records, he is also an extravagant spender whose wealth is being consumed by an appetite for monkeys, Ferris wheels and surgery.
A lawsuit against Jackson said he is tethered to a boulder of debt, totaling near $200 million, which comes due in several years. Moreover, there are at least four liens on his 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch, and even the state of California laid claim to the property to force Jackson to pay his taxes. Most of his assets are from his half ownership of the Beatles catalog, valued conservatively at $272 million, which he has used to secure some loans.
The pop star has at times mortgaged the royalties to other songs he owns to raise cash. And he is also the subject of hundreds of lawsuits. Defending himself against charges that he molested a 12-year-old boy, which he has called "big lies," could cost him millions.
So troubled are his finances, his advisers tried to limit his spending to $1 million a month this summer, said a person apprised of Jackson's situation who spoke on condition of anonymity. It is unclear whether Jackson himself paid the $3 million bail when he was booked last week on charges that could send him to prison for 10 years or more.
Nevertheless, Jackson is convinced, people who know him say, that the next record will earn enough to pay off his creditors and rescue his ragged reputation.
"He wants to be as relevant now as he was when he was 5 years old, as he was when he was 20," said Bobby Colomby, the former drummer of the rock band Blood, Sweat and Tears who has known Jackson since he was a young performer and was an executive producer of the Jackson family's Destiny album. "But in the process, he got lost," Colomby said. "He probably thinks, 'This press is good. I'll go to court and win and be on top again.' "
In Living with Michael Jackson, a documentary broadcast this year, Jackson told interviewer Martin Bashir he was worth more than $1 billion. As if to prove his point, the singer is shown in the documentary spending an estimated $6 million on garish furnishings and paintings during a shopping spree.
But according to the person apprised of Jackson's finances, Jackson returned the merchandise days later. Management at the shop, Regis Gallerie, declined to comment. Stuart Backerman, Jackson's spokesman, called the story fantasy.
According to court records, some of Jackson's expenditures in 2000 include $200,000 for "Neverland Rides," $15,000 to a dermatologist, Arnold Klein, $380,728 for insurance and, in 2001, $75.62 to maintain a Slurpee machine.
Jackson was looking to put Neverland on the market this year, said a real estate agent familiar with the deal. He was asking for $50 million but there were no takers. "A Ferris wheel," said the real estate agent, "it's very difficult to put a replacement value on that."
Liens are held against the house by both Sony Music, in connection with a loan, and by a German concert promoter, who claims Jackson reneged on a string of charity concerts. The state of California dropped its lien in February after Jackson paid back taxes, according to the secretary of state.
Then there are the lawsuits. In 1993 he settled for millions with a 13-year-old boy who claimed Jackson sexually molested him. This January, the art auction house Sotheby's sued Jackson for $1.6 million for backing out on the purchase of two 19th-century French paintings.
In March, he was ordered to pay $5.3 million to a concert promoter who said Jackson had reneged on a deal to perform at charity concerts. And three months later Jackson settled for an undisclosed sum with his former financial adviser, Myung-Ho Lee, who said he had not been paid for his services.
"We could get in line for Neverland, but there is a long line ahead of us," said Pierce O'Donnell, who represented Lee and agreed to the settlement fearing Jackson would be bankrupt in 18 months.
Oh, to have that kind of money problems. 8P
It will never replace Atkins.
Poor baby. Hope he doesn't mind leftovers.
I wish I could limit my spending to only $1M/month ;-)
Gee, I'd kinda like a Slurpee machine. This seems like the wisest expenditure in the list.
Dr. Klein's getting hazard pay.
That's just highway robbery.
Lean On Me by Bill Withers
Sometimes in our lives , we all have pain , we all have sorrow .
But if we are wise , we know that there's always tomorrow .
Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend .
I'll help you carry on, for it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.
Please swallow your pride , if have things you need to borrow .
For no one can fill those needs that you won't let show .
You just call on me brother when you need a hand .
We all need somebody to lean on.
(REPEAT AND FADE )
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