Michael Jackson’s Estate Settles Year-Long Lawsuit With Former Manager
Just one month before the 10th anniversary of his death, Michael Jackson’s estate settled a year-long lawsuit with one of the King of Pop’s ex-managers, Tohme R. Tohme, a financier and Los Angeles native of Lebanese descent.
Although the settlement amount is private, the National Post reports that Tohme was seeking almost $20 million from the Jackson estate to pay for commission generated from deals that he set up with Jackson before his death, but that only began producing funds afterward.
Judge Mark A. Young dismissed the portion of the lawsuit in which Tohme sought profits from Jackson’s concert film, This Is It. And while the Jackson estate claims that Tohme’s contract ended after the singer’s death, it acknowledged that he was entitled to some income.
“The estate acknowledges his efforts on Michael’s behalf,” a joint statement read.
Tohme is often referred to as a “mystery man” to those close to Jackson, which no doubt shed suspicion on his lawsuit. But he claims this mystery stems from his desire to be “private man,” and claims that he felt an immediate bond with Jackson when the two met and remained close until his death.
“I saw how kind he was and what a wonderful human being,” he said.
“I saw him with his children and I had never seen a better father. … I decided to do what I could to help him.”
A settlement has been reached between Michael Jackson's estate and a former manager who contended he was owed a piece of the superstar's assets. https://t.co/6S8u8RnSlf
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) May 23, 2019
Jackson is the subject of a controversial HBO and Channel 4 documentary, Leaving Neverland, which outlines the accusations of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who claim that the “Smooth Criminal” singer abused them from the ages of 10 and 7, respectively.
As The Inquisitr reported, Jackson’s former bodyguard, Matt Fiddes, is standing up for the singer’s innocence and recently revealed a clip on Instagram from an upcoming documentary, Michael Jackson: Chase The Truth. Fiddes believes the film will “ruin” the career of Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed.
In one of his defenses of the singer, Fiddes suggested that Jackson was “never alone when traveling with his friends/family/nannies in tow,” and also said that the singer’s alleged secret room for abusing children was actually a panic room.
Regardless, Reed claims that he did all the necessary legwork and research to ensure that Robson and Safechuck’s accusations where truthful.
“I listened very carefully to days and days and days of interview, then we went and did about 18 months of research and checked everything we could and tried to poke holes in Wade and James’ accounts.”
