Michael Jackson estate calls abuse claims a ‘desperate money grab’

The Michael Jackson estate is dismissing renewed sexual abuse allegations from the Cascio family — a New Jersey family long considered the late pop star’s “second family” — as a “desperate money grab,” even as the siblings detailed their accusations in a televised interview that aired days after the blockbuster release of the Jackson biopic.

Eddie, Dominic, Aldo and Marie-Nicole Cascio appeared on “60 Minutes Australia” Sunday night, alleging that Jackson groomed and sexually abused them over a 25-year period. The interview came just days after the Lionsgate biopic “Michael” — starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson — earned between $95 million and $100 million in its U.S. opening weekend.

The siblings had previously filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles in February 2026, with the complaint describing Jackson as “a serial child predator who, over the course of more than a decade, drugged, raped and sexually assaulted each of the Plaintiffs, beginning when some of them were as young as seven or eight.”

The family met Jackson in the mid-1980s when he befriended their father, hotel manager Dominic Cascio Sr., and Jackson reportedly showered the New Jersey family with gifts, private jets and his undivided attention. In their televised appearance, the siblings described a gradual escalation from warm affection to what they say became sexual abuse.

Dominic Cascio told the program that Jackson characterized certain acts as expressions of love. Eddie Cascio, now 43, said Jackson began sexual activities with him during the 1993 “Dangerous” tour, when he was 11 years old. Marie-Nicole alleged she too was abused, saying Jackson convinced her that nudity with an adult male was normal. The family also told the program that Jackson plied them with a drink he called “Jesus juice,” which they say was laced with prescription drugs to make the children more compliant.

The siblings said they had long defended Jackson publicly — appearing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2010 to deny any improprieties — but that watching HBO’s 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland” helped them recognize and process what they say had happened to them.

The legal history between the family and the estate is complicated. The plaintiffs acknowledged receiving $3.45 million apiece under a 2020 agreement with the Jackson estate, though they allege they were misled into signing it. According to the family, the estate had offered five annual payments of approximately $690,000 each as part of what was presented to them as an “acquisition and consulting agreement,” reached in the wake of “Leaving Neverland.”

The lawsuit names the Jackson estate and its co-executors John Branca and John McLain, as well as private investigator Herman Weisberg, alleging that lawyers affiliated with Jackson falsely presented themselves to the Cascio family as representing their interests during the 2019 settlement negotiations. The estate contends the 2020 agreement contains a binding arbitration clause that bars the siblings from pursuing a public lawsuit and has moved to compel arbitration. A Beverly Hills court hearing on that motion took place in January 2026, with a judge declining to issue an immediate ruling. The family’s attorney, Mark Geragos, has called the original settlement “unlawful,” arguing the siblings felt coerced into signing it.

Estate attorney Marty Singer has forcefully rejected the abuse allegations themselves. In a statement to “60 Minutes Australia,” Mr. Singer said the lawsuit was “a desperate money grab” and noted that “these shakedown attempts come more than 15 years after Michael’s death, thus carrying no risk of being sued for defamation,” while citing the family’s own decades-long defense of Jackson as evidence against the new claims.

The Cascio siblings, for their part, said they came forward to encourage other potential victims. “Because at the end of the day, he was the monster, not us,” Eddie said on the program.