Copyright Us Weekly
Paris Jackson’s patience seems to be wearing thin for the two men in charge of running her late father Michael Jackson’s estate, Us Weekly can report. Sources close to Paris, 27, told Puck that the only daughter of the late legendary pop star is becoming increasingly frustrated with estate executors, John Branca and John McClain. Branca and McClain have been in power since Michael died in 2009 at the age of 50. Puck reporter Eriq Gardner wrote that insiders claimed Paris was “concerned that a system designed to protect an artist’s legacy has been bent over time toward preserving its own power.” As Us first reported, Paris and her legal team have made their feelings about the executors known in court. She compared Branca and McClain to “The Wizard of Oz” as she opposed their request for certain fees to be paid to third-party law firms for work done on the estate. In court documents, Paris complained that the executors submitted the request for fees years after the work was completed, which makes it hard to determine certain things. She also took issue with $625,000 in “lavish gratuities” paid to certain law firms. Specifically, Paris is fighting the executor’s request for fees related to work done in 2018. Paris said that “at a minimum, [certain] gratuities, and counsel’s preposterous declarations in support of them, raise red flags.” “As painful as it is to say in print, the present records suggest a group of closely-knit, highly-compensated lawyers is exploiting the executors’ lack of oversight to skim money from the Estate, in plain view,” Paris’ attorney said. Attorney Jonathan Steinsapir, one of the lawyers who represents the Estate of Michael Jackson, fired back at Paris’ allegations. “The historic turnaround and success of the Estate of Michael Jackson on behalf of his children speaks for itself,” Steinsapir previously told Us. “The Estate’s executors’ business judgment has generated billions of dollars for Michael’s children, and they have used that same business judgment to determine fair compensation for a world-class legal team that helped them achieve these unprecedented results, while also fighting back against baseless attacks against Michael by opportunists seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of the estate and its beneficiaries.” The estate lawyer continued, “The claims made by this new set of attorneys for [Paris] — who have no meaningful experience representing clients in the entertainment industry — are both baseless and defamatory.” “We are confident that the Court will reject them outright and will again approve the estate’s accountings as it has done numerous times over the last sixteen years,” he ended. The executors argued all of the payments to outside legal counsel was necessary and none of the payments were excessive. They pointed out the estate secured a deal worth $281 million in 2018, the same year Paris raised issues about. In a separate filing, the executors argued Paris should be happy with their work. Their lawyer noted, “Few have benefited more from the Executors’ business judgment than [Paris] herself, who has received roughly $65 million from the Estate in benefits. She would have never received that had the executors followed a typical playbook for an Estate like this one in July 2009.” For years, the executors have been dealing with an issue with the IRS, which has prevented them from transferring all of Jackson’s assets to a trust. Paris previously said believes the assets should be moved as quickly as possible which would allow the beneficiaries, which include Paris and her brothers Prince and Bigi, to receive their distributions. Puck reported that even when the assets are transferred, Branca and McClain will still be in charge. Gardner reported, “The biggest difference is that they’ll operate with even less oversight: no court accountings, no judicial approvals, no public filings.” As Us previously reported, the executors are also battling a man named Frank Cascio, and Cascio’s family, in court. The executors claim Cascio, who was a long-time friend of Michael and defended him against allegations for years, came to them in 2019 and threatened to make claims against the late pop star. The estate said it reluctantly entered into a deal with Cascio and his family who received payments over several years. The executors claimed Casico threatened to make public claims after the payments were finished. Cascio’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, argued the settlement is unenforceable. He claimed the estate drafted the settlement to make it appear as if they were purchasing the “life rights” of Cascio and his siblings.
