Maybe when all these court cases go away... he can go back to making some music!!!


Jacko Defuses "Time Bomb" Suit
Wed Jun 11, 8:10 PM ET
By Marcus Errico

Michael is not broke. He apparently has enough cash to make a potentially embarrassing legal battle go poof.

The singer has settled a suit with a former financial adviser who claimed the Gloved One's bank account is running on fumes.

The settlement, announced late Wednesday afternoon, derails a tiff that threatened to make Jackson's finances--or lack thereof--a matter of public record and comes just a week before the trial was scheduled to begin. Predictably, details of the deal are being kept mum, according to a Los Angeles Superior Court spokesperson.

Jackson was targeted by South Korean-based bean counter Myung-Ho Lee of Union Finance and Investment Corp., who said the singer owed some $12 million in unpaid fees and expenses. The suit asserted Jackson was "a ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment." A lawyer for Lee claimed Jackson had virtually no means of income, was clueless when it came to balancing his checkbook and was simply living off a line of credit.

According to the suit, the entertainer hired Union Finance in 1998 to straighten out his books. He paid the company about $3 million for the work, but Lee said that wasn't enough.

Jackson countersued the advisor accusing him of cheating him out of money. The singer also asked the judge to toss the case, saying Lee and his company were not legally licensed investment advisers in California. But when it looked like the judge was going to let the case move forward, Jackson apparently opened up his checkbook.

That seems to be his new strategy when it comes to the courts. Since winding up on the losing end of $5.3 million verdict over scuttled millennium concerts, Jackson has settled a suit with Sotheby's for non-payment for two paintings and now this case.

But the King of Litigation is by no means off the dockets.

Just yesterday he was back in Indianapolis giving a deposition in a copyright lawsuit that alleges Jackson and fellow members of the Jackson 5 ripped off the work of a 1960s-era Gary, Indiana, group, Ripples & Waves, on the sibling supergroup's 1996 album, Pre-History: The Lost Steeltown Recordings.

Jackson was supposed to be questioned in the case last month but suffered an anxiety attack ("He doesn't like lawsuits," his attorney told the Associated Press) and wound up in a hospital instead. Per the Indianapolis Star, Jacko was "extremely comfortable" during Tuesday's testimony.

The singer is also suing his old Jackson 5 home, Motown, now part of the Universal Music Group, accusing the label of cheating him out of royalties.

Wednesday's settlement news comes just as Daily Variety reports Jackson has hired a new business adviser. Veteran music biz insider Charles Koppelman will reportedly help Jackson make more money from his publishing holdings (including the Beatles catalog), as well as albums and concerts. Koppelman will begin by assisting on Jackson's next album, a follow-up to the underwhelming Invincible.

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Muuusssiiiccc... Michael, work on the muuusssiiiccc! Enough farting around!!!

A great album and a world tour and then he can hang up those white socks. No more of this court bs.

He might be getting back to music this year.

from hitsdailydouble.com

Charles Koppelman is King of Pop’s Newest Advisor

As expected, Michael Jackson has announced that veteran music industry exec Charles Koppelman is his latest career advisor.
The pairing, which has been rumored for several weeks, brings the CAK Entertainment CEO and former EMI/Capitol honcho into Jackson’s inner circle for the purpose of advising him on “a variety of new and exciting music and business ventures.”

One of those ventures may include bringing a new Jackson release or releases to market before the end of the year, the announcement said.

Koppelman will also reportedly direct Jackson’s publishing holdings, which include a stake in Sony ATV Music.

“I am thrilled to be working with a man like Charles Koppelman,” Jackson said in a statement. “His genius is known throughout the music and business world and I am sure
our work together will break new ground.”

Koppelman, whose music-biz career spans 40 years, got his start working for Don Kirshner and went on to form SBK Entertainment and SBK records before becoming head of the EMI/Capitol group in North America. He subsequently formed his own company, CAK Entertainment.

how does a man rumored to be bankrupt continually manage to settle these suits?


sheesh.

How the fuck can he be bankrupt. This is the biggest selling artist of the last 20 years. More tabloid shit me reckons.