SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Prosecutors on Tuesday produced an accountant to back their allegation that Michael Jackson was sinking into a multimillion-dollar financial hole, an abyss that would have grown even deeper if he lost control of his young accuser's family.
A certified public accountant told jurors at Jackson's child-molestation trial in Santa Barbara County Superior Court that the 46-year-old pop star consistently spends $20 million to $30 million a year more than he brings in. To fill the gap, Jackson has borrowed excessively, J. Duross O'Bryan said. He estimated that the singer's debt in 2003 totaled $224 million.
The testimony was meant to support the prosecution theory that a British TV documentary in 2003 plunged Jackson into a struggle for survival. His globally telecast admission that he enjoyed nonsexual sleepovers with young boys imperiled his already fragile finances, making him desperate for the family's appearance in a gushing rebuttal video, according to prosecutors.
To secure the family's cooperation, prosecutors say, Jackson conspired to hold the family captive on his Neverland ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley. Jackson allegedly began molesting the eldest son, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, the night after the video was taped. The family's comments were not included in the video that eventually aired on the Fox network.
Nearing the end of their case, prosecutors also put a Santa Barbara County sheriff's detective on the witness stand to undercut last week's testimony from Jackson's ex-wife Deborah Rowe, who unexpectedly spoke glowingly about the singer. The officer, Sgt. Steve Robel, testified that Rowe described Jackson last year as a "sociopath" who viewed their two children as possessions.
On the witness stand, Rowe portrayed Jackson as a good father and his associates as "opportunistic vultures" who manipulated the pop star.
On cross-examination of O'Bryan, Jackson attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. suggested that the accountant was grossly exaggerating Jackson's difficulties. After all, Mesereau said, Jackson is half-owner of the Sony-ATV music catalog, a collection featuring songs by the Beatles and hundreds of other artists that has an estimated value of $1 billion.
However, that asset isn't all that it seems, O'Bryan testified. He said Jackson has been steadily borrowing against his holdings in the catalog and has not paid his share of Sony's continuing investment in it. Even if it fetched $1 billion, the accountant testified, Jackson's take would come to "probably a couple hundred of million dollars" after he reimbursed Sony.
