Neverland Auctioner Told To Beat It

The premise is simple enough: After years of living a lifestyle beyond even a King of Pop’s income, Jackson agreed to auction 2,000 items from his Neverland Ranch in April. Some pieces of Jackson memorabilia, like several jewel-encrusted gloves, a black fedora, costumes he wore on tour during the ‘80s and two MTV Music Video Awards, are on display at New York City’s Hard Rock Café in Times Square.

The auction house preps, fans count their available cash, and Jackson sees the light at the end of his tunnel of debt. What could go wrong?

For starters, how about Jackson filing a lawsuit against the auction house? Add that to reports of threats allegedly made to auction officials by members of the Jackson camp, and you get the gist of the latest crisis on Planet MJ.

Jackson filed suit against Julien’s Auctions earlier this month, claiming he never gave permission for the auction house to sell several “priceless and irreplaceable” objects.

Now Julien’s has answered with a court filing of its own, saying Jackson’s people have involved with auction plans for months. That is, until Jackson’s people did an abrupt 180 turn last month. According to head of the auction house, that’s when the threats began.

In a sworn statement filed in a Los Angeles court by Julien’s president Darren Julien, during a February 9 meeting with Jackson representatives, an employee of Jackson’s warned several of the auction house’s employees would be in danger “from Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam,” if they didn’t scrub the auction.

Furthermore, the employee claimed the warning came straight from Jackson and his manager, Dr. Tohme Tohme.

“He told us that Dr. Tohme and Michael Jackson wanted to give the message to us ‘that our lives are at stake and there will be bloodshed,’” said Julien, noting that he didn’t believe the threat was real, if only because both sides had agreed to let some of Jackson’s property continue on a publicity tour.

Julien also said Jackson’s people had supervised the removal of objects from Neverland for months, and that members of Jackson’s camp were involved in publicity, approving auction catalogs and agreeing that five percent of the proceeds will be donated to charity.

However, MJJ Productions attorney Alan Gutman, said Julien was “desperate to divert attention from his own misconduct.” The lawyer also accused Julien of making “scurrilous attacks.”

“Unfortunately, in the course of this case, Mr. Julien has not felt constrained by the truth while trying to capture the spotlight for the auction or himself with sensationalistic and fictionalized references to supposed threats that never occurred or baseless speculation about potential sales of Neverland,” Gutman told the Associated Press.

Gutman claims the consignment agreement, which has Jackson giving up his right to take any items back, is illegal and unenforceable under California law. But you gotta ponder why Gutman, as an MJJ Productions lawyer, is just now getting around to claiming the contract is legally worthless. Isn’t he supposed to read these things before the deal is sealed?

But despite the legal bickering, the auction, which is expected to fetch up to $20 million, is still on for April 21. That is, according to Julien. However, there’ll be a day in court to discuss the matter a bit earlier – April 3.

While Julien described Jackson’s lawsuit as “upsetting,” he said he still plans to give Jackson a ‘first-class auction.”

“There will never be another artist or celebrity like Michael Jackson,” Julien said. “He has the most dedicated fans of anyone we have ever worked with.”

Click here for the Associated Press article.