Paris Jackson is calling out the two men running her late father Michael Jackson’s estate.
The late pop star’s only daughter filed court documents on Tuesday, November 18, claiming the men — who have been paid over $148 million for their work — have “dwarfed” any amount provided to her and her siblings, Us Weekly can report. She also criticized the upcoming biopic approved by the estate.
According to the docs, it appears John Branca, one of the estate executors, used his position as executive producer on the upcoming biopic Michael to cast the “sole A-list actor” in the film, Miles Teller, as himself in the film.
“Undoubtedly, Mr. Branca considers his story to be central to the Michael Jackson story. Nonetheless, it is unclear how this peculiar and presumably costly casting decision will result in commensurate box office receipts,” Paris’ attorney added in the filing. “Worse still, Mr. Branca’s lack of experience producing dramatic feature films may be at the root of reports that the Estate has had to funds tens of millions of dollars in reshoots after the terms of a well-known settlement agreement prevented the production from using substantial amounts of footage already shot.”
(The film reportedly had to be reshot due to the third act involving one of Michael’s accusers, Jordan Chandler. An old settlement agreement allegedly prohibited Michael or his team from talking about Jordan.)
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The lawyer continued, “The prospect of a botched production of a long overdue 3.5 hour biopic in which the Estate has reportedly invested at least some, if not all of the $150 million budget, is troubling, to say the least.” Paris said she has been unable to get answers as to what happened.
Paris said she objected to the recent accounting report and request for legal fees to a third-party law firm brought by the estate executors, Branca and John McClain. As Us first reported, Paris has been fighting the executors over 2018 invoices for months. She is now raising questions about certain payments made in 2021.
Paris’ lawyer told the court, “The lag in reporting between the account year and the filing of this Petition significantly impairs the ability of the beneficiaries or for that matter, the Court, to understand the current administration of the Estate or to meaningfully review the Estate’s activities.”
Her lawyer added, “Executors do not attempt to explain why, despite their extensive claims of managerial skill and the abundant financial resources at their disposal, it has taken them almost five years to make this disclosure. Executors’ delay is particularly problematic here because of the extraordinary discretion afforded to Executors, and also because of the nature of the Estate’s activities, to the extent they are disclosed in this Twelfth Account, raise substantive concerns.
Paris said the 2021 accounting report shows, “that enormous sums of cash remained, and likely continued to remain through the present, uninvested by the Estate. At the same time, Executors appear to have invested in highly speculative and risky entertainment projects in which they have taken prominent roles despite their apparent lack of competency or experience, at least according to press reports.” Paris said two bank accounts had over $464 million in them with little activity.
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In her filing, Paris argued the executors “appear to have completely failed to competently invest cash, while at the same time deploying capital only where it had the potential to compensate them personally, at great risk to the Estate, and at no risk to them.”
She also claimed the accounting report showed that the executors continued, “to pay extra-contractual gifts to law firms long after 2018, including perhaps as much as $750,000 in such gifts during 2021 alone.”
Paris told the court she is “concerned” about the executors’ “persistent lack of transparency with respect to certain large expenses and lack of diligence in timely reporting their activities to the beneficiaries and the Court.”
“These concerns are heightened by Executors’ exercise of an unprecedented amount of discretion in managing the business affairs of the Estate — which appears to have morphed into a private entertainment investment fund managed more for the benefit of Executors and their counsel than its beneficiaries,” Paris lawyer said. “To date, rather than address Paris’ requests for basic information, Executors have engaged in a scorched-earth litigation strategy against her.”
Paris pointed out that in 2021 the executors were paid nearly $8 million in compensation from the estate, “excluding any additional direct or indirect compensation received as a result of, for example, payments to Mr. Branca’s law firm.”
“This is more than double the amount distributed to any beneficiary from the family allowance,” Paris’ lawyer noted. “Simply put, the status quo serves Executors’ and their colleagues’ efforts to line their pocketbooks with risky bets that are not necessarily aligned with the best interests of the Estate. Based on the figures available, Executors have received total compensation of $148,252,657 from the Estate just through the end of 2021, which dwarfs any amount distributed to Paris or her siblings.”
A source close to the estate tells Us, ““This is another misguided attempt by Paris Jackson’s attorneys to provide themselves some cover. The fact is Paris Jackson’s lawyers lost their latest case against the Estate and have been ordered to pay the Estate’s attorneys’ fees. All the beneficiaries are well taken care of by the Estate. This is a weak attempt to change the narrative of their loss.” Paris’ petition objecting to 2018 legal payments was shut down but her legal team said the fight is not over.
As Us previously reported, Branca and McClain dispute Paris’ claims that any payments were improper. They argue the law firm fees were standard for the entertainment industry.
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A lawyer for the executors wrote in court documents, “Few have benefited more from the Executors’ business judgment than [Paris] herself, who has received roughly $65 million from the Estate in benefits. She would have never received that had the executors followed a typical playbook for an Estate like this one in July 2009.”
An attorney for the estate, Jonathan Steinsapir, previously told Us, “The historic turnaround and success of the Estate of Michael Jackson on behalf of his children speaks for itself. The Estate’s executors’ business judgment has generated billions of dollars for Michael’s children, and they have used that same business judgment to determine fair compensation for a world-class legal team that helped them achieve these unprecedented results, while also fighting back against baseless attacks against Michael by opportunists seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of the estate and its beneficiaries.”
The estate lawyer added, “The claims made by this new set of attorneys for [Paris] —who have no meaningful experience representing clients in the entertainment industry — are both baseless and defamatory.”
