Here's Dieter's take on this - from his book (translated by Google, sorry, no time to do better):
In January 2003, Tommy Mottola was fired from his post as director of Sony. It was an ignominious withdrawal. Employees of the firm took him right out of his own office, and then out of the building and escorted out to the very street.
Of course, I realized that a new collaboration with Sony was almost impossible, especially because Michael did not want it anymore. But he was still bound by the contract. Therefore, in November of the same year, a greatest hits album «Number Ones» was released with a new song One More Chance, written by a successful music producer R.Kelly. Later, it was planned to shoot a music video of this song. But when Sony wished to provide the same stage set which had been used for Smooth Criminal for shooting, Michael was disappointed. He received consents for the shooting from some of the luxurious hotels in Las Vegas, primarily from the «Green Valley». They were willing to pay huge sums to Michael, just to have their destination chosen for filming. But according to the agreement, Michael had to fulfill the requirements imposed by Sony.
Then, in January 2003, Michael received a mail from LA, marked "strictly confidential, in person." It was a letter from his accountant who worked with John Branca, Michael's lawyer. It arrived on January 27 late in the evening in Miami Oriental hotel in Florida.
All these years that I spent with Michael, during travel, I usually occupied a room next to his suite. But as he was often active at night, listening to music or composing, I began sometimes to do otherwise. In rare cases, I took a room on the floor below, just to sleep. That was what I did that night in Miami Oriental, when Michael received the letter that shook him so badly.
As I learned later, at about five o'clock in the morning he ran through the corridors on his floor, looking for me. Dressed in a blue dressing gown and surgical cap, he knocked on all the doors in a row and asked for me. In the end, he found me. Still not really awake, I let him in, and we sat down on my bed.
He started crying from deep disappointment, and then handed me the letter. I marked down the time on the envelope, 5:40, and began to read. I could not believe my eyes and could only shake my head. My drowsiness vanished, and I noticed that Michael was watching me as I read, waiting for my help. His accountant wrote:
Unthinkable. They reproached his lifestyle. Superstar, whom had earned them millions. This had to be the first, this was something new. So disrespectful.
For normal people, of course, the price for the suites might seem astronomical. But at the top of the show business, it was nothing compared to the amounts that an artist like Michael Jackson makes over the years. They were unhappy even with travel spending of the employees - an inevitable expense item for any superstar.
Because of this reproach, Michael felt that he was pressured financially. It scared him and forced him into performing which he - as was well known - hated and resisted. (Performances meant selling his talent for television shows and concerts in Las Vegas - so that their income source does not dry out, and the money flowed nicely, and all was well again - that's what they imagined!
We had come to Miami to arrange a presentation of a charity project. Michael wanted to help children with cancer, collect donations for them. He auctioned off his personal belongings, such as handwritten lyrics, and revenue was supposed to aid organizations and various clinics.
Michael was especially struck by this letter because it was written by people with whom he had worked closely. And now they literally put a gun to his head. He was deeply shocked.
I tried to calm Michael, but he was very angry. He cried. I opened the balcony door to let in some fresh air, and again sat down beside him and hugged him. I put the letter with envelope on the table as far from us as possible. He kept looking at them, as if he could not believe that they existed.
That letter, to him, symbolized the ruthlessness of the music business. People who wrote it wanted to induce him to a certain behavior. The letter, received by Michael on January 27, 2003, was the beginning of a certain process, which would later make him agree to 50 This Is It concerts. Michael was supposed to start making profit for the system again, as he called it, regardless of the circumstances. He knew that money always went first.
Michael long ago experienced financial difficulties, primarily because of contracts that were drawn against him. He wasn't earning as much money as he had used to, but he never thought that he was bankrupt. He was too ashamed to admit it publicly. Michael decided to start all over again. He wanted to show them all what he was capable of - in a whole new way.
We sat on the bed in my room. The sun already rose outside. My attempts to reassure Michael gradually came to fruition, I even thought that I saw some relief in his eyes. Michael wanted to get away from Sony and promised me from that moment to look only forward. I was able to quietly take him back to his room, where he lied down exhausted and slept all morning.
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Michael decided to change the "system" - in the beginning of February 2003, he wrote a letter of cancellation of employment to all former employees and distributed it first by fax and then by mail and in person, right from Miami. One of the major recipients was Michael's former quarterback John Branca.
With this message in February 2003, Michael's former attorney John Branca was dismissed immediately:
Similar letters went to his former employees Barry Siegel and Brian Wolf. To Trudy Green, who was his music manager, and Howard Kaufman, director of marketing, he wrote:
