When Michael Jackson moved into a mansion in Beverly Hills in 2004 owned by Chinese painter Ding Shaoguang, he was escorted by dozens of people.
Some Chinese workers working at the mansion recalled that Jackson was really treated like a king.
Actually at that time, Jackson was forced to move out of his 14. 6 million U.S. dollars home at Neverland after the court sealed his mansion after being prosecuted for child molestation. He rented Ding's 40,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills with a monthly payment of 75,000 dollars.
But after six months, Jackson stopped paying Ding any rent. Troubled with the lawsuit, Jackson was in deep financial crisis. Three months later, Jackson was still unable to pay for the rent. He was asked to move out of Ding's mansion.
That vividly echoed Jackson's life in his remaining years: he lived like a king but in millions of debt.
It is speculated that the Kind of Pop died of tremendous financial pressure. He had to make money to pay for the huge debt and was busy practicing his July performances before his death.
As a pop star, making money seemed too easy for him, and he spent too much. Too many people tried to get money from him and too many lawsuits had troubled him.
As the King of Pop, Jackson was a billion-dollar brand creating the best selling album of all time.
In 1981, the moon-walking pop star drove the growth of music videos, vaulting cable channel MTV into the popular mainstream. In 1982 his hit "Thriller" became the second best-selling U.S. album of all time.
Five years later, "Bad" sold 22 million copies.
In 1991, he signed a 65 million-dollar recording deal with Sony.
In 1986, The Walt Disney Co. opened a 3-D movie at its parks called "Captain EO."
In 1985, Jackson's 47.5 million-dollar acquisition of ATV Music was considered as one of his shrewdest deals at the height of his fame. ATV Music owned the copyright to songs written by the Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The catalog provided Jackson a steady stream of income and the ability to afford a lavish lifestyle.
In 1988 he spent 14.6 million dollars to purchase a 2,500-acre Neverland ranch nestled in the hills of Santa Barbara County's wine country in California. No one knows how much money he had spent in that ranch. He built that ranch into a family zoo with animals like tigers, giraffes, orangutans, reptiles, monkeys and other exotic creatures.
He also adopted many children and let them stay in his ranch to enjoy a fantasy life.
Everyone knew that Jackson was rich, and many people wished to get a share of his wealth through all means. To file lawsuits against him was one of the ways to get rich quickly.
In 1993, he was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy. But that was just the beginning of a series of lawsuits he would have to fight for.
According to his publicist at that time, Michael Levine, this represented the beginning of the walk-down of Jackson on a tragic path, financially, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and legally.
He settled with the boy's family. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. But that encouraged more lawsuits against him.
Al Khalifa, 33, claimed he gave Jackson millions of dollars to help shore up his finances, cut an album, write an autobiography and subsidize his lifestyle, including more than 300,000 dollars for a "motivational guru." The lawsuit was settled last year for an undisclosed amount.
Jackson's nightmare came in 2003, when he was arrested on charges that he molested another 13-year-old boy. He was forced to leave his Neverland ranch and moved to a mansion rented from Ding in Beverly Hills.
It was estimated that Jackson spent millions of dollars to defend for himself. Although the case finally ended with an acquittal, he was driven to the bottom of financial crisis.
Even before his 2003 lawsuit, Jackson began to borrow large sums of money. A lawsuit filed by Union Finance & Investment Corp. sought 12 million dollars in unpaid fees and expenses.
A forensic accountant once testified in court that Jackson was spending 20 million to 30 million dollars more than he earned per year. He had a cash crisis for a long time.
Last year, Jackson faced foreclosure on his Neverland ranch. Billionaire Thomas Barrack, chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm Colony Capital LLC, agreed to bail out the singer. He purchased Jackson's Neverland ranch for 22 million dollars just before the fairyland destination would have been sold at an auction to cover Jackson's debt.
The King of Pop was actually a poor man with the estimated debt at the time of his death at 400 million dollars.
But Jackson's children would benefit from his songs after his death. As the world mourns this pop king, his songs were sold very well throughout the world. His children would have no worry about the 400 million-dollar debt. They would be rich with Jackson's songs which would be popular for many years to come.
Then, another round of fight for the wealth would begin. This time the children's grandmother, two of the three children's mother and the children's babysitter are expected to fight for the right of custody of Jackson's three children.
(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2009)
