'Jacko's almost broke'

[MORTARDUDE]

the article says he faces 1,000 lawsuits !!! The lawyers will be circling his house like a flock of buzzards and vultures....



http://www.thisislondon.com/news/sho...ening%Standard
Jacko's almost broke'

27 May 2003

Michael Jackson's lavish lifestyle has left him on the brink of bankruptcy, his former financial advisers claim in a lawsuit.


The King of Pop, who was once worth ?350 million, is a "ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment", according to papers filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Union Finance and Investment Corporation alleges the singer owes the firm ?7.2 million in fees and expenses, plus interest.


"For whatever reason, Michael Jackson is not paying his debts," said the company's lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell.

"He has little or no means of income. He lives off a line of credit ... The day of reckoning is near."

The suit alleges that when Union Finance agreed to work for the singer in 1998 to help straighten out his finances, "there was no clue that Jackson's extravagant lifestyle had all but bankrupted him".

The firm said it soon discovered that the star had only two months' worth of available funds.

Jackson's lawyer, Brian Oxman, said he did not believe the 44-year-old singer was near bankruptcy.

"I see no signs of this impending disaster. I cannot say it for 100% sure because nobody knows his financial statements. But I can say it for a reasonable certainty."

Forbes magazine last year estimated that Jackson was earning ?30 million a year at the height of his popularity in the 1980s, and had amassed ?350 million during his career.

The star's 1982 album Thriller sold 26 million copies, but sales of recent CDs have slumped.

His assets still include the Neverland ranch in the hills above Santa Barbara and other homes in southern California and Las Vegas.

He also owns rights to 200 Beatles titles and several Elvis Presley songs.
But Jackson faces more than 1,000 lawsuits, including a ?15 million claim by a California producer over cancelled concerts.

The singer's former manager has also filed a suit for millions of pounds he says he is owed in back pay.

The Union Finance lawsuit against Jackson is due to go to court on June 18.