Singer sued by TV shop, accountants

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jack...dlines-business

Singer sued by TV shop, accountants

By Alana Semuels, Times Staff Writer
January 5, 2007

Two lawsuits against Michael Jackson might shed light on the pop star's money woes. The suits allege that he owes nearly $1 million to his former accountants and $100,000 to a company that installed TVs in his Neverland ranch.

Both suits relate to Jackson's firing of Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan as his accountants last summer. Jackson also has his own lawsuit pending against the Century City firm in which he alleges it withdrew $2.5 million from his accounts but failed to properly pay his bills.

Jackson owed Video & Audio Center $109,540.85 for the installation of TV equipment, according to Lawrence Segal, attorney for the company. Jackson paid $25,000 in June, and Bernstein Fox promised that the remainder would be paid by Aug. 31.

Before that payment was made, however, Jackson fired Bernstein Fox. After promises were made to pay the sum, Jackson's new representative stopped returning communications, Segal said.

"Payments have been promised for a while," he said. "We were forced to file."

Jackson's new representative cited "bad cash flow" as the reason for the late payments, Segal said. The representative identified by Segal did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The suit filed by Bernstein Fox alleges that Jackson owes it $958,956.56 for managing his accounts — including administering payroll for Jackson's companies and processing medical reimbursement claims for Jackson

Lawsuit witness details Michael Jackson's financial advisers

LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Allan Whitman, Michael Jackson's business manager until early this week, outlined in court Thursday how the singer changed his primary financial adviser repeatedly in recent years.

Whitman was called to the stand as the first witness in the trial of a civil lawsuit by former Jackson associate F. Marc Schaffel, who claims the pop star owes him $3.8 million.

Whitman said his firm was hired in 2003 by two men, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer, who were then in charge of Jackson's enterprises.

"He always had a primary adviser that supervised his business affairs," Whitman said.

Asked to give a chronology of those advisers, Whitman said it began with Wiesner and Konitzer, transferred to an attorney, David LeGrand, and then to Alvin Malnik, a wealthy Florida businessman.

After that, Whitman said, Wiesner and Konitzer returned for a time until Jackson hired Leonard Muhammad, a top figure in the Nation of Islam. Power was then transferred to Jackson's brother Randy, the witness said.

For another period the operation was run by what Whitman called "the Yucaipa people," billionaire Ron Burkle and Steve Mortensen, the top figures at The Yucaipa Cos., an investment company.

Whitman said that when Jackson moved to Bahrain his advisers became "the Bahraini people." He said they included a man named "Achmed" who worked for the prince of Bahrain and Guy Holmes, a British music executive.

"And most recently it went to Raymone Bain," the witness said.

Bain is Jackson's Washington, D.C.-based spokeswoman.

Whitman said he and some other advisers were hired for salaries of $100,000 a month but "not everybody got all of their money at all times. It depended on cash flow."

Whitman, who announced that he had just been fired, testified that he and others are still owed money for their services.

He said, however, that Malnik and Burkle, worked without any fee.