Michael Jackson’s Estate Sued for Child Trafficking by 4 Siblings Who Claim the Late Pop Star Abused Them

Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio alleged that Jackson “groomed and brainwashed” them

Michael Jackson in 2005. Credit :

Carlo Allegri/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

Four adult siblings are suing the estate of Michael Jackson for child sex trafficking, claiming that the late musician abused them when they were minors
Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio alleged that Jackson “groomed and brainwashed” them and transported them around the world
A lawyer for Jackson’s estate criticized the filing, calling it a “transparent forum-shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies”

Four adult siblings are suing the estate of Michael Jackson for child sex trafficking, claiming that the late musician abused them when they were minors.

In a complaint filed on Friday, Feb. 27, and obtained by PEOPLE, siblings Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio alleged that Jackson — who died in 2009 at age 50 — “groomed and brainwashed” them using his wealth, celebrity status and network of employees and advisers.

The suit states that Jackson met the Cascio siblings through their father, who worked at a luxury hotel Jackson visited multiple times. The siblings allege that after he gained the family’s trust by offering them gifts, affection and attention, the musician allegedly isolated them from many adults, gave them drugs and alcohol, exposed them to pornography and individually abused them.

“Michael Jackson was 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 were as young as seven or eight,” the 23-page suit states. “The filing alleges that the abuse occurred over extended periods in multiple locations worldwide, including during visits when Jackson and his children stayed at the siblings’ family home.”

Michael Jackson in 1996.

Phil Dent/Redferns

In a statement provided to PEOPLE, attorney Marty Singer, who represents the Jackson estate, called the lawsuit “a desperate money grab by additional members of the Cascio family who have hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank, who is already being sued in arbitration for civil extortion.”

“The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct. This new court filing is a transparent forum-shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies,” Singer said in part.

“Statements by the Cascios, including those appearing in dozens of passages throughout Frank Cascio’s 2011 book, as well as in interviews with Oprah Winfrey and others, directly contradict what is being alleged now,” Singer continued. “Throughout, the Cascios consistently and repeatedly asserted that Michael never harmed any of them or anyone else. With the Estate’s financial success growing, the Cascios, through two different attorneys, threatened to go public with heinous accusations that completely contradicted their previous statements defending Michael unless his Estate paid staggering sums of money.”

The complaint was filed one month after the four Cascio siblings appeared in a Beverly Hills, Calif., courthouse for a related financial settlement with Jackson’s estate that they described as “an unlawful agreement to silence victims of childhood sexual abuse.” A follow-up hearing is set for Thursday, March 5.

In an interview published by the Daily Mail on Saturday, Feb. 28, Aldo Cascio, now 35 — along with parents Dominic and Connie and sister Marie-Nicole — opened up about the alleged sexual abuse, which Aldo said began when he was 7 years old.

“I was just sitting on the bed with him during the day, and I was just playing my Game Boy,” Aldo said. “And I remember he just went to me and pulled down my shorts.”

“It didn’t stun me or anything. I remember being like, just keep playing my Game Boy, and he took down my shorts and started performing oral sex and I was still… I didn’t ask him anything,” he continued, sharing that Jackson told him afterwards that the act was how he expressed love. “This was Michael. I know Michael, I know he loves me, and I love him.”

Michael Jackson at the 2003 Radio Music Awards.

M. Caulfield/WireImage

The family recounted how they met Jackson in 1984, when Dominic was working as manager of the Helmsley Palace in New York, where the musician often stayed. They eventually grew close, and Dominic introduced Jackson to his wife and children.

“Michael said, ‘I want to surprise the kids,’ ” Dominic recalled. “He arrived at their house, and Connie says he wanted to see the kids’ rooms… He told jokes to the kids… he was so kind. We didn’t think about it.”

“He would train me to say no to any authority and the police,” Aldo alleged of Jackson. “If anyone asked, ‘Are you doing this?’ you would say no. He would say that people think this is wrong, but they’re wrong. This is real, this is love, but these people think it’s wrong and I could get into trouble — they’ll want to kill me… he would make me ‘Promise you love me and that you’ll protect me’… And so you felt responsible for helping him in any way.”

Aldo also alleged that Jackson took Xanax in front of him and gave him some.

“He was a big drinker, and so the real him was this creepy monster that you felt responsible for,” he claimed.

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Marie-Nicole also told the outlet that Jackson stayed with the family for four months following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 — and then he began abusing her, too.

“He talked about how it’s very normal for men and women to be naked,” she claimed. “He asked me to take off my clothes. So, I did what he said.”

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In the complaint, Edward alleged that he was sexually assaulted by Jackson during interstate and international travel, including stops on the singer’s Dangerous World Tour and visits to Elizabeth Taylor’s Switzerland home and Elton John’s U.K. residence, as well as Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in California.

Dominic claimed he was abused by Jackson in Florida, New Jersey, New York, France and South Africa — including during the pop star’s HIStory World Tour — at Neverland Ranch and at the Cascio family’s New Jersey home. Aldo alleged he was assaulted during international travel, at Neverland Ranch, in New York, at the family’s home and more, while Marie-Nicole claimed she was also assaulted at Neverland Ranch, at their home, in New York, Las Vegas and Florida. The filing also alleges that Jackson attempted to assault Marie-Nicole in Bahrain.

“Since middle school, it introduced me to hell and my demons,” Aldo said of the alleged abuse. “I realized that I might want to end my life one day.”

When he learned about Jackson’s death in 2009 — only three days after he last spoke to the late music star — Aldo said he felt “relief.”

“I also had to act sad. I knew that I had to play this double role,” he remembered. “Why did he do this to me? I hated him and knew I couldn’t free myself of it. I had to live my whole life alone with this, and it was hell.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.