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Jacksons suspicious advisers

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

May 13, 2005

Michael Jackson Thursday returns to the Santa Barbara County courtroom after a break in his child molestation trial in Santa Maria, Calif. (AFP/Getty Images Photo / May 12, 2005)

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Pop star Michael Jackson had $10 million in unpaid bills but only "tens of thousands of dollars" in cash in early 2003, and associates were making bad decisions on his behalf and trying to take control of his wealth, a former lawyer testified Thursday as defense attorneys in Jackson's child molestation and conspiracy trial continued efforts to portray the entertainer as an innocent dupe of greedy hangers-on.

So dire was the financial situation that the ex-lawyer, David G. LeGrand, said he wrote Jackson a letter warning him that he was spending $20 million more a year than he was bringing in and would be on the verge of bankruptcy if things did not change.

"He was highly illiquid," LeGrand said. At the same time, LeGrand testified that he was fending off efforts by two close associates of Jackson to take control of the star's finances and had become suspicious of the duo within weeks of being hired at the start of 2003.

Under cross-examination, prosecutors presented documentation designed to show that Jackson was far craftier than his defense team would have jurors believe -- a financial statement the prosecution said indicates he was hiding about $3 million in proceeds to avoid detection by banks that had loaned him money. Those proceeds were the result of a televised appearance Jackson had done to counter bad publicity after the February 2003 airing of "Living With Michael Jackson," the documentary that sparked the criminal case.

LeGrand's testimony followed more than two hours of the airing of outtakes from the documentary, which defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. showed to jurors to bolster his claim that Jackson was "hoodwinked" by a filmmaker determined to get dirt on Jackson. The documentary became notorious for Jackson's admission in it that he liked sharing his bed with children, but the outtakes included extensive comments from Jackson that his love for children is innocent.

LeGrand, who was hired to help in a subsequent suit against the filmmaker, said Jackson had been promised he would be able to check the documentary before it aired but was never given the chance. As he was involved in that suit, LeGrand said, he came to know two of Jackson's top advisers and that they presented him with a business plan they hoped to implement.

"I was suspicious of their motives, and some of their statements didn't quite seem to add up," said LeGrand, describing the business plan as "somewhat disturbing. It seemed amateurish. I already had concerns. ... This document simply reinforced those concerns."

LeGrand added that he already had noticed in reviewing Jackson's financial situation that $965,000 appeared to have been diverted by the associates. When he pressed for an explanation about the missing money, LeGrand said, he was fired.