Ok, the more days go by the weirder it seems to me.. I think I am strongly inclined to believe the so-called conspiratorial theories..
The picture is strange, to say the least:
Michael has this debt secured against the catalogue that he co-owns with Sony, with Sony putting its hopes all these years on him not being able to clear it, so that she gets the whole of the catalogue. As things turned out for MJ this year, it seems that by the end of 2009 not only he would escape the need to sell his share of it, but would probably have paid off his debt too –therefore Sony hopes to obtain the whole of the catalogue would fade for good.
At the same time, it seems to be common knowledge (from what is inferred by the segment below) that if something happens to him like that which actually did happen, Sony gets the whole of the catalogue instantly, so that the MJ Trust aand his heirs don’t have to go along with all of his debts..
Doesn’t it look like perfect timing –you know for whom..?
This is a segment from yesterday’s Larry King. Look at what RF answers to precisely this question about the debt, -and then someone tell me if this is not scandalously strange or not..:
KING: How much money does he owe?
FRIEDMAN: I think he owes about $400 million. This is how it breaks down. He owes $325 million dollar, $350 million dollar loan secured by his interest in the company called Sony-ATV Music, which owns the Beatles catalog.
KING: So that he could sell and wipe that out.
FRIEDMAN: You know, everybody wanted him to sell it for the whole time is had it, so that he'd have some money. And he refused to do it because he knew that was his leverage.
KING: Will it work now?
FRIEDMAN: Yes. Now, I think, I'm not a lawyer, you are, but I think the situation is that to settle the estate -- they have to sell it to Sony, by the way. That's the deal. Sony is--
KING: So that would get him out?
FRIEDMAN: That would get him out and give him a nice piece of change besides.