The Michael Jackson estate says a 2020 settlement requires private arbitration, arguing that four siblings’ child sex-trafficking lawsuit is an extortion-driven “shakedown” for an extra $213 million. The Cascio siblings and their lawyer deny threats and say th
A lawsuit tied to Michael Jackson’s past landed in court with an abrupt fight over where it should be heard: public or private.
Four siblings—Edward Cascio. Dominic Cascio. Marie-Nicole Porte. and Aldo Cascio—who say they were sexually abused by Jackson as children. have sued the late singer’s estate for alleged child sex trafficking. The estate. however. is pushing to keep the case out of public court. arguing that a mandatory arbitration clause requires the dispute to move through private arbitration.
In a motion to keep the proceedings confidential, the estate cites a 2020 settlement with the siblings. Court documents say the agreement “provides that all future disputes arising out of or related to the Agreement must be resolved in arbitration.” The estate’s filing argues the siblings’ current suit violates those terms.
The estate frames the lawsuit as pressure for more money. It alleges that the Cascio siblings engaged in a “shakedown” by demanding “payment of a staggering $213 Million” despite each sibling receiving nearly $700. 000 per year as part of the prior settlement. The filing also claims the siblings and their attorney, Howard E. King. made “extortionate threats. ” saying they “would file a bogus public lawsuit containing outlandish accusations against Michael” if they were not paid the additional sum.
King and the siblings deny those claims.
In their opposition. King calls the allegations that he and the siblings made any threats “categorically false.” The complaint—filed in February and obtained through court records cited by the motion—alleges that representatives for Jackson’s estate reached out to them around April 2024 “to increase the estate’s compensation.” It says that’s when their counsel “demanded compensation proportional to Jackson’s crimes and the harm they caused.”.
The estate’s argument doesn’t end at procedure. It also contends that the siblings’ current claims contradict earlier positions they held. The filing says the public lawsuit violates “binding and mandatory confidential arbitration provisions. ” and it alleges the claims conflict with the siblings’ previous statements supporting and defending Michael. It points to how. in the past. the Cascios referred to the Jacksons as their “second family” and long denied allegations of the artist’s sexual misconduct. including in a 2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
For their part, the siblings argue they weren’t acting freely when they supported Jackson. In their opposition to the estate’s motion to keep the matter private, the siblings say they were “groomed, brainwashed, and severely manipulated” by Jackson.
The dispute is also about the 2020 deal itself.
In the lawsuit, the siblings seek monetary compensation and ask that the prior agreement be revoked. They claim they were pressured to sign the contract preventing them “from talking about the years of abuse they endured” under false pretenses. and King argues the agreement is “void and unconscionable.”.
Jackson estate attorney Marty Singer rejected the accusations in a statement made on March 2. He described the lawsuit as a “desperate money grab by additional members of the Cascio family who have hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank. who is already being sued in arbitration for civil extortion.”.
One paragraph in their filings connects the core fight: the estate says arbitration is mandatory because of the 2020 settlement’s confidential provisions. while the siblings argue the settlement shouldn’t control the outcome at all—contending it was signed under false pretenses and that the harm they describe was never something they consented to remain silent about.
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