The Cascio brothers wanted a public hearing to keep putting pressure on the Estate, also using the media to continue publicly damaging Michael’s image, hoping the Estate would eventually cave and agree to a settlement. That was their all-or-nothing move. But they don’t have any chance left.
The mere act of making those allegations violated the previous agreement, under which they had already received $20 million — which was huge. The Estate had agreed to pay that amount for the rights to adapt Frank’s book. But it was probably also a pretext to ensure they wouldn’t turn against Michael the way Robson and Safechuck did. That’s why they made them sign a clause not only forbidding them from ever mentioning that deal, but also committing them to never damage Michael’s image.
Now that the money is gone, they tried a last-ditch move. But now they’ll have to compensate the Estate and pay their lawyers, who, in my opinion, probably played along by taking the risk of working for a while on credit, hoping to hit the jackpot.
But I believe what the Cascios will have to pay corresponds to the damages owed to the Estate. In absolute terms, it is probably higher than the $20 million the Estate paid for that script deal based on Frank’s book. But I think it will end up being less than that. What is certain is that it will still be beyond their current financial means.
If it’s true that Frank was shopping a mini-series based on his book and the Estate was planning a biopic, it would make sense that they would want to get ”life rights” to their name and character to be able to possibly use them in a future project. Could have also meant that they wanted to squash the mini-series, at least for now, in favor of the biopic. If the Cascios would’ve played it right and would’ve been patient instead of greedy, they could’ve made money afterwards by doing TV interviews. I mean imagine the interest after the biopic and especially if they were included in a possible sequel, or if the Estate would’ve went on to do the mini-series after the biopic?! The interest in them could’ve been huge and they could’ve done the rounds as MJ’s friends and made tons of money from interviews etc.. But, as it is with greed…now they will just be known as grifters and as the family that betrayed Michael in the worst kind of way.
I think after Leaving Neverland, they probably thought that MJ’s reputation will be gone, and since the fake songs didn’t work out, and since MJ isn’t here any longer…they probably accepted the money to get SOMETHING out of their MJ connection when they still can. I doubt they were making any allegations then, probably just accepted because they thought they can’t sell their MJ connection any longer.
But then when they saw that MJ is actually bigger than ever and everyone loves him and Leaving Neverland did nothing, they probably got mad because they realized they got ”just” $3 million each and wanted to get more. Or realized that since Michael was as popular as ever, they could’ve sold the rights for much more maybe. And when they couldn’t, they were pissed and thought they are cleaver and threaten to go public with allegations because they figured the Estate would SURELY pay right away, and then it backfired and everyone figured out it’s them who are being greedy, and they were probably pissed off that their plan didn’t work and then decided to go through with their extortion plan.
But they basically handed the Estate proof of extortion on a silver platter. I mean, they said that if they won’t get paid, they will go public. What better proof to present in court for the Estate than showing that since they didn’t get paid and since the Estate enforced the arbitration clause that would require it to be handled quietly…they went on to file a public child trafficking lawsuit to make it public. I mean that is just perfect proof of doing exactly what you were threatening to do unless you get paid.
I can’t see how any judge would let that slide. It is literally proof of executing your threat. And as I said, Geragos was just involved in a $20 million extortion attempt against Nike, so that will not help the Cascios in front of a judge either. Plus the fact that he used to be MJ’s defense lawyer, like I said, it ruvs a lot of people the wrong way because it’s very problemstic ethics wise. And tge Cascios saying they were made to ”hide” from Geragos and Geragos corroborating it…just to get him out of the attorney-client privilege and making him able to represent the Cascios…Come on!
Anyone can see through that.
Especially since Geragos and the Cascios are in an attorney-client relationship, so the Estate couldn’t even question them about it because both would just say ”Can’t answer, attorney-client privilege”. But that what they are doing in regards to that too should be very transparent to any judge. I mean, the judges aren’t stupid.
If the judge is someone who holds ethics in high regards, he will not be a willing to participate in Geragos’s ganes and will not be taking it lightly and is going to be extra vigilant. And the Cascio’s extortion game and sudden flip is SO apparent that I can’t see any judge with any sense of ethics and justice going along with it!! So I’m hoping the judge who will decide will be one who has high morals and high regard for ethics and justice.
Someone who won’t support all this bullshit and extortion attempts!
