Paris Jackson launched a new attack on the two men running her late father Michael Jackson’s estate — and compared them to the “Wizard of Oz” as she fights them over money, Us Weekly can exclusively report. In response, the executors revealed the estate has spent over $65 million on Paris.
On Friday, October 3, Paris, 27, filed court docs as part of her opposition to the estate executors’ request to pay fees for third-party law firms.
Paris’ lawyer said the “executors admit making six-figure, extra-contractual payments in 2018, and they likely paid millions more in undisclosed gifts over the past seven years.”
“That conduct, born of comfort and arrogance, is indefensible, and Executors have done nothing to indicate otherwise,” her lawyer added. “Instead, like the Wizard of Oz, they demand that the Court trust them blindly, refusing to let anyone look behind the curtain.”
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The motion added, “Executors’ only attempt to justify these payments consists of a conclusory assertion that the payment of gratuities to music lawyers is ‘not uncommon.’”
Paris’ lawyer said the executors make “no attempt to establish the veracity of this self-serving assertion, no attempt to justify the amount of any payment, and never address their payments for purportedly unbilled work.” Michael’s daughter said the executors had no right to fight her petition, especially since all of her evidence was found in the executors’ own court filings.
In her motion, she said she has the right to ask questions in the case. “Indeed, it should be obvious that Executors are not immune from criticism based on misconduct disclosed in their filings,” her lawyer noted. She accuses them of filing a recent motion to stall discovery (where she would be allowed to demand certain documents and information).
Paris said the executors did not have the authority to make the “extra-contractual gifts” and “did not calculate the 2018 gifts based on any metric” and initially failed to disclose the gifts in their initial filings. “This record would be highly problematic even if the extra-contractual payments could, theoretically, be justified, and they cannot,” her lawyer said.
Paris said her questions are valid. She asked that the executors’ request to shut down her petition be denied immediately.
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In response, the estate said it spent over $65 million on bills for Paris.
On Thursday, October 9, the estate executors, John Branca and John McClain, revealed how much Paris has received in benefits since her dad died in 2009 at the age of 50.
“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.”
As Us first reported, Paris said she had serious questions about the requested amounts, claiming the amounts due changed on various invoices for work done in 2018. She also accused the executors of paying law firms massive bonuses, which she feels should not have been authorized. The executors, who regularly file accounting reports in court, asked a judge to shut Paris down and claimed their expenses were proper and necessary to keep the estate running.
In their filing, the executors argued Paris’ “argument that the payment of about $600,000 in bonuses (that would be returned if not approved) in a year where the Estate earned almost $300 million would justify dramatically impeding the Executors’ ability to operate the Estate’s businesses is hardly worth responding to further.”
A lawyer for the executors noted, “The Executors welcome review of their actions. They always have. And why wouldn’t they? In the Court’s own words, the executors’ business judgment has taken an estate that ‘started out as nothing but debt and substantial ongoing obligations’ and ‘turned [it] into a $2 billion estate’—an estate that is now ’a powerhouse and a force in the music business today.’”
A judge has yet to rule.
As Us first reported, Paris slammed the executors in court docs filed in August. “As painful as it is to say in print, the present records suggest a group of closely-knit, highly-compensated lawyers is exploiting executors’ lack of oversight to skim money from the Estate, in plain view,” Paris’ lawyer alleged.
In another filing, Paris’ team said “These irregular payments raise serious and substantial questions about the Executors’ ability to effectively supervise counsel by, at minimum … and refraining from wasteful, six-figure gift-giving to themselves and their colleagues.”
The executors have scoffed at Paris’ suggestions.
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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.”
“We are confident that the Court will reject them outright and will again approve the estate’s accountings as it has done numerous times over the last sixteen years,” Steinsapir ended.
Branca and McClain have been the executors behind Michael’s estate since the pop star’s death in 2009 at the age of 50.
Paris and her brothers, Prince Jackson and Bigi Jackson, are the beneficiaries of Michael’s estate. The late entertainer’s mother, Katherine Jackson, is also taken care of by the estate, per Michael’s requests.
