The executors of Michael Jackson’s estate fired back at the late pop star’s daughter, Paris Jackson, after she claimed to have “serious” questions about payments, Us Weekly can report.
On June 15, lawyers for John Branca and John McClain, who have run the estate since Michael died in 2009, filed documents in response to Paris’ opposition to certain legal fees they asked to be paid to various firms.
As Us first reported, the fees requested are for work done between July 2018 and December 2018. Paris, 27, said she was “concerned” about the executors granting “premium payments” for “unrecorded attorney time.” Lawyers for the executors argued, “The untimely nature of the objections should lead the court to summarily overrule them.”
The executors’ lawyers said Paris was wrong when she claimed they were only allowed to make partial payments to law firms. They said they were trusted to make decisions because they turned Michael’s estate profitable. The executors claim the estate was “saddled with more than $500 million of debt” when Michael died.
They say their work turned the estate around, which is now worth several billion dollars. The executors said the fees requested were “well deserved and reasonable given the nature and difficulty of the tasks performed.”
The executors point out the “additional compensation” that the estate’s law firms during the time period following the sale of the estate’s minority interest in EMI Publishing for $287 million, “an interest the executors had acquired for the estate in 2012 for a mere $47,500 — a return on the investment of over 6,000 times in a six year period.
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The court has yet to rule on the matter.
As Us previously reported, in her motion, Paris’ lawyer said that during this one period “in 2018, Executors request that the Court approve $625,000 in payments to three law firms for what they say is uncaptured time, without explanation as to why counsel was incapable of recording unbilled time, or why such a failure should not preclude payment.”
Paris’ opposition argued, “Even worse, these payments appear, at least in part, to consist of lavish gratuities bestowed upon already well-compensated counsel.” In addition, Michael’s daughter said she believed the executors had made payments to law firms in full, which she claimed violated the court’s order allowing for only partial payments until the court signed off on fees.
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“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,” Paris’ attorney said.
Paris said she found “several inconsistencies” that called for “close scrutiny of all fees and costs sought in the petition.” Paris asked that the entire $625k in premium payments be denied and the rest of the fees be looked at closely before being approved.
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Paris, along with her brothers Prince and Bigi, are the only beneficiaries of Michael’s estate.
Last year, Katherine and the executors fought for months over the sale of a portion of Michael’s music rights to Sony for an estimated $600 million. The executors demanded the deal they hashed out be approved despite Katherine’s objections. In the end, the court sided with the executors. Paris has yet to speak out publicly about her objections.
