Dr. Tohme Tohme has represented himself as:
a Lebanese business man
a Lebanese doctor (there actually is a Lebanese doc. living in the US since 1984 named Jack Tohme)
an orthopedic surgeon from Saudi Arabia
Ambassador at Large for Senegal (the Senegalese embassy in D.C. has never heard of him “we have two Ambassadors at Large and he is not one of them”)
is partners with James Weller & Sig Rogich in TRW Advertising. His credentials on the website list him as Ambassador at Large for Senegal.
According to witnesses, Tohme travels on a Senegalese passport and letter of ambassadorship
Per the Associated Press, Tohme is “a financier with a murky past”
Tohme has also said on occasion that he is a US citizen, raised in LA, although his accented English does not sound like his first language
Tohme has a history of real estate fraud and making threats; according to The Today Show, Tohme “has been fingered in connection with many illicit real estate deals”.
In the 1990's Tohme filed bankruptcy but “fought the court, trying to hold back information”
Brandon “Randy” Phillips is CEO of AEG Live, concert promoter. Randy has a sister named Janet. According to records from ancestry.com Janet Phillips was married to Tohme Tohme from 1972 – 1976. (marriage state file #7307, reg. #289, divorce state file #664652, dissolution case #716055)
In the spring 2008, MJ was facing loosing Neverland to foreclosure. His brother Jermaine introduced him to “Lebanese businessman” Dr. Tohme Tohme (always went by Dr., although there is no record of him ever practicing anywhere in the US & he's never said where he received his education/license) Tohme is friends with &/or was paid a fee by Tom Barrak, owner of Colony Capitol. (USA Today calls them “close friends” other reports are that Tohme worked for Colony while he was working for MJ) Tohme and Barrak meet with MJ in Las Vegas where Barrak is “impressed by Michael's intelligence and focus” (USA Today May 2008). He purchases the mortgage on Neverland. According to Fox News, Tohme was working for Colony Capitol at the time he was President of MJJ Productions, and took no compensation from MJ. (after the death he returned $5.5M to the estate. He alternately said it had been a gift, and that it was money he was holding in secret for MJ to buy a property in Vegas. According to a celebrity real estate site, as of June 29, 2009 Tohme was “contracted to buy a $5.8M mansion in Bel Air”)
In September 2008: Rev. June Gatlin records a phone conversation with MJ (with his permission) in which he clearly states that he does not trust Tohme and that he is afraid of him, that Tohme has cut him off from just about everyone else. (Tohme says he “built a fence” around MJ to protect him.) Rev. Gatlin advises MJ to have Tohme investigated. In another taped conversation he says that he has.
March 31, 2009: Per Fox News “Tohme has taken down his website for TRW Advertising. It's just gone. This was the website on which he claimed to be Ambassador at Large for Senegal.” The site is back now, but no mention of Tohme. Under “current work” are ads for This Is It and Colony Capitol.
In April 2009: Julien's Auction House in Beverly Hills is planning to hold an auction of some of MJ's personal possessions taken from Neverland with Dr. Tohme's authorization. This is apparently news to MJ, who says the items were never intended for sale and were taken from Neverland without his permission. He wants the auction stopped. According to affidavits, Darren Julien, of Julien's Auction House, said that James Weller, (Tohme's partner in TRW) on behalf of Dr. Tohme in his capacity as MJ's business manager, threatened his life if he didn't call off the auction “. . .lives are at stake and there will be bloodshed”. Julien says he has a contract signed by Tohme allowing him to take anything he could sell, even fixtures. According to one report, even MJ's beautiful front gates were to be sold. April 2009, with law enforcement involved, Julien and Tohme issue a joint statement that there will be an exhibit of MJ's things, that keeping them out of the hands of private collectors will give all fans a chance to see them. Julien says that he will return the more personal items to MJ.
May 2009: Julien's Auction House files papers stating that they cannot return property to MJ because Dr. Tohme is also laying claim to it, refusing to sign release papers. As of September 2, 2009 these items have still not been returned to the estate.
In the first week of July 2009, Tohme told several sources “all his stuff is in storage and I am in control of it. . ..hopefully put it on display at Neverland”. Tohme has repeatedly stated that MJ talked often of turning Neverland into a Graceland type attraction “only 10 times as big”. I haven't found any one else saying that. Keep in mind Tohme's friend from Colony Capitol holds the mortgage on Neverland. “Dr. Tohme was charged with one thing, and that was to bring money into Colony Capital.” (Patrick Alacco, NJ promoter ) According to the London Daily Mail, “Barrak and Anschutz had bigger plans for Neverland: a Michael Jackson museum in the style of Graceland, even “Thriller” casinos.”
May 5, 2009: With the help of Frank Dileo MJ fires Tohme. A letter is sent to all MJ business associates that Tohme is no longer authorized to represent him. Despite this, Tohme makes a statement at UCLA on June 25 as though he represents MJ, tells the NY Post “I am his manager” on June 26, stands with Jermaine as he informs us that MJ has died, and two weeks after the death tells NBC news that he is still in charge of all MJ business dealings. He states that he saw MJ two days before he died and that he looked healthy etc., even says he was at rehearsals. At being fired, Tohme goes into a rage and threatens to “bring death and destruction on Michael Jackson and the entire Jackson family”. Geraldo Rivera says this is a cleaned up version of the threat.
Tohme talked MJ out of a 6 month concert series in Las Vegas and into the AEG concerts in London. He convinced MJ that summer in England would be better for the kids than summer in Vegas (per Tohme interview with Contactmusic) The Vegas shows would have paid MJ $100M
From the London Evening Standard, June 26 2009
“Dr Tohme brokered a deal between Jackson and Colony Capital, a private-equity firm run by billionaire Tom Barrack Jr. Philip Anschutz, owner of AEG Live, the US entertainment giant which went on to handle the final tour, then received a call from Mr Barrack, his friend. Randy Phillips, AEG chief executive, said: "I got a call from Dr Tohme, who said Michael was in bad financial straits." Last December, Mr Phillips presented Dr Tohme with his vision. "Phase one would be 10 shows at the O2," he said.”
