L.A. Still Stuck With Jackson Memorial Tab, but Cops Get Some Cash

Concert promoter donates proceeds from selling suites at Michael Jackson's memorial to L.A. Police Foundation

Let's hear it for the Michael Jackson fans with money to burn.

AEG Live, which staged the lavish July 7 memorial for the King of Pop at Los Angeles' Staples Center, has cut a check for $90,000 to the L.A. Police Foundation—all proceeds from the 18 luxury suites that sold for $5,000 apiece to those who wanted to experience the ceremony in style.

"The check was signed yesterday," AEG spokesman Michael Roth told E! News. "It was messengered and they have now received it."

They did, sure enough.

Karen Wagener, president of the Police Foundation, confirmed that her group had received the money and would be putting it toward a brass memorial wall (price tag: $620,000) that's being constructed at the new LAPD headquarters downtown.

"We made a decision that we didn't want the suites to be empty, and it was a good cause to make a donation on our behalf to the LAPD foundation, and so we decided to charge $5,000 per suite," Roth explained.

So, with AEG giving some suite funds to a good cause, that ought to take the edge off that $1.4 million price tag, right?

Outraged that his fellow local officials set up a website to collect donations while he was on vacation, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said earlier this month that it was the city's responsiblity to pay the hefty memorial tab.

One, because it's classy like that, and two, because most of the $1.4 million cost was spent on crowd control, protection and civilian services at Staples during the event and an increased LAPD presence at other Jackson-affected sites around town during the week leading up to it—all of which accounted for lots of officer overtime.

"This is a world-class city, and we provide fire and police protection, period," Villaraigosa said.

Since then, however, the L.A. City Attorney's Office has launched an investigation into the potentially "criminal aspects" of city government that may have come into play in connection with the memorial, which went off tastefully inside Staples but has led to all sorts of infighting among city councilmembers, some of whom think AEG should pay for the whole thing.

An audit of all city expenses incurred from the memorial—overtime, box lunches, etc.—is expected.

As of yesterday, the City Attorney had also been looking into why the L.A. Police Foundation hadn't received its money yet. But that case looks to be closed now.

—Additional reporting by Whitney English