INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Michael Jackson: James Safechuck Joins Amended Lawsuit, Backs Wade Robson’s Claims

By Leigh Egan
Published on: 02:38 PST, Sep 21, 2016

A former child star who previously had his sexual molestation case against Michael Jackson thrown out, filed an amended complaint in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, backing up the claims that choreographer Wade Robson made last week against the superstar singer. On Tuesday, Robson’s legal team announced they were now representing Safechuck as well.

SBS reports that Safechuck, 37, appeared in a Pepsi commercial with Jackson in 1987 when he was just 10-years-old. Jackson and Safechuck got along so well that the “Thriller” singer invited the boy to accompany him during the Bad tour. Safechuck claims that during this time, he was sexually abused by Jackson over 100 times and that the abuse only stopped when he reached puberty. He alleged Jackson wanted nothing more to do with him after he reached a certain age and no longer looked like a young boy.

Safechuck also claimed that Jackson contacted him 2005 and asked him to testify for the defense during the singer’s sexual abuse trial, brought on by Gavin Arvizo and his family. Arvizo claimed Jackson molested him on a number occasions at the Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California. Jackson was ultimately found “not guilty,” but Safechuck alleged that Jackson’s team threatened him after he refused to testify.

Last year, Safechuck’s sexual abuse lawsuit against Jackson, similar to Robson’s previous lawsuit, was thrown out of court after a Los Angeles judge informed them that the statute of limitations had passed. Afterwards, Robson’s law team switched gears and filed an amended complaint against Jackson’s companies, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, accusing them of carrying out “the most sophisticated public child sexual abuse procurement and facilitation organization the world has known.”

According to attorney Vince Finaldi, part of the team representing Safechuck and Robson, Safechuck joined the current lawsuit after backing up the claims Robson made about Jackson’s businesses. Vidaldi stated as follows.

“This case exhibits the same disturbing fact patterns as the case involving Wade Robson, who is also a client of our firm.”

In the amended complaint, Vidali wrote that Jackson’s companies served “dual purposes.” He accused the businesses of luring in young, unsuspecting boys for Jackson, to be groomed for the singer’s alleged sexual interest.

“MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures were held out to the public to be businesses dedicated to creating and distributing multimedia entertainment by Michael Jackson, however, in fact, they actually served dual purposes.”

John Manly, another lawyer in the team representing both Safechuck and Robson, echoed Vidali’s accusations. He stated that the companies not only helped Jackson find children to sexually abuse, but looked the other way after Jackson met with the victims.

“Jackson was a pedophile who consumed children, and in order to do that he needed money and help. What he got from MJJ Productions was a cadre of willing accomplices who looked the other way and allowed him access to children… Michael Jackson used his production companies as a front for the recruitment of young boys to fulfill his unlawful and unnatural sexual urges. This corrupt organization left a trail of victims in its wake who are now demanding justice.”

The amended lawsuit indicates that the plaintiffs are suing the “agents, representatives and/or employees” of the companies for allowing the abuse to continue, by providing compensation, food, lodging, medical care, clothing, and more, during the times they worked for Jackson.

PR Newswire reports that Manly, Stewart & Finaldi is one of California’s leading law firms for children, specifically victims of sexual abuse. They’ve represented hundreds of child sex abuse victims across the nation.

Two Sides To Every Story

Attorneys representing Jackson’s businesses are calling the amended lawsuit “absurd,” and something that doesn’t even a deserve a response. This seems to be the consensus among numerous Jackson fans, as well as online groups who’ve spent countless years delving into the numerous accusations against Jackson.

For instance, although Safechuck claimed that Jackson tossed him aside after he reached puberty, some people pointed out that this wasn’t true, as evidenced by a 1994 photo of Safechuck as a 16-year-old, spending time with Jackson in Budapest.

In 2013, Safechuck’s cousin, Tony Safechuck, took to Twitter and posted that not only was Jackson a “great person,” but that that the rumors of Jackson once paying off children to keep quiet was untrue.

In 2014, estate lawyer Howard Weitzman, attorney for Jackson’s estate, blasted Safechuck’s previous lawsuit, calling it “baseless.”

“This is a person that made his claim five years after Michael died, more than 20 years after the incidents supposedly happened and who has given sworn testimony that Michael never did anything inappropriate to him.”

[Feature Image by Dave Allocca, StarPix/AP Photo]

Share this article: Michael Jackson: James Safechuck Joins Amended Lawsuit, Backs Wade Robson’s Claims
Michael Jackson
More from Inquisitr