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Michael Jackson's X-Files
Conspiracy theories, Michael Jackson has had a few.
The latest has the erstwhile King of Pop being led into "involuntary bankruptcy" by a cabal of ex-lawyers. Per the Jackson camp, the alleged plot "could be one of the biggest conspiracies in entertainment history."
Jackson previously advanced the theory that record companies conspired against black artists, including himself. And he once reputedly argued that Jews conspired against rich people in order to make poor people out of them.
Presently, Jackson claims unnamed former lawyers plotted with "other attorneys, vendors and creditors" to put him in the red.
When asked Tuesday why the unnamed ex-lawyers would want to bankrupt Jackson, a performer accused more than once by members of his far-flung legal team of skipping out on their bills, spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain said: "That's the $64,000 question."
Jackson, who turns 48 on Aug. 29, learned of the alleged plot last week, Bain said. The singer was said to be "neither shocked or surprised."
Civil and criminal actions have been threatened, though none yet apparently taken.
There was no word on what entertainment-history conspiracies the latest alleged Jackson conspiracy was being compared to, thus inspiring the qualification "one of the biggest."
"There are a host of them based on...record contracts, negotiations," Bain said, declining to name names.
Michael Shermer, editor and publisher of Skeptic, applied his magazine's outlook to Jackson's claim.
"A conspiracy theory is a last resort when they have no evidence," Shermer said. "It's kind of the end of the line."
Bain maintained repeatedly that Jackson has documentation supporting his claim. And she said she didn't use the "C" word lightly.
"[I took it] very seriously," Bain said. "I'm using [the word conspiracy] based on what it is--an active and aggressive and willful attempt to force Michael Jackson into bankruptcy."
In April, Jackson staved off bankruptcy by refinancing a loan, and, in the process, reportedly giving up some of his share in the vaunted Beatles song catalog.
As Jackson's finances and hit-making ways have faltered, the singer hasn't been shy in assigning blame. In 2002, he publicly denounced record companies, in general, and then-Sony Music exec Tommy Mottola, in specific, accusing the latter of being racist and "very, very devilish."
In 2005, ABC News obtained a voice-mail message in which a man believed to be Jackson was heard accusing "the Jews" of being "like leeches" ("they suck"), and conspiring to take down "the most popular person in the world."
Jackson has been accused of conspiracy himself. At last year's child-molestation trial, the onetime King of Pop stood accused of plotting to send his alleged victim and the boy's family on a forced excursion to Brazil. Jackson was acquitted of all charges.
On Tuesday, opening arguments were heard in Los Angeles in another Jackson case, this one a civil matter involving the entertainer and the concert promoter who has been tangling with Jackson for years over a pair of canceled New Year's Eve concerts.
Jackson, who now splits his time between Bahrain and Europe, was not in court, City News Service said. The pilots of the roving black helicopters presumably were bummed.
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