According to an August 12 ruling, obtained and reported by Billboard, Judge Hernán D Vera threw out the child sex trafficking lawsuit claims brought by brothers Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio who claim they were abused by Michael Jackson.
Rather than in public court, the federal judge ruled that under the clear terms of a 2019 settlement between the family and the Jackson estate, all related disputes must be handled in confidential arbitration, adding:
“Although the allegations are horrific, the court is without discretion to do aught but enforce the language of the arbitration clause.’
Having once referred to themselves as his “second family,” the Cascio siblings grew up with Jackson and though they previously defended the superstar singer amid other child sex abuse claims, the family members subsequently alleged in a February lawsuit that Michael raped and molested them as children over the course of more than ten years.
The Jackson estate strongly denies these claims, which the Cascios first aised in 2019 after the release of the explosive HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
Along with a fifth brother, Frank, the four siblings claimed at the time that the documentary “deprogrammed” them, and the Jackson estate paid them a $3,5000,000.00 settlement without admitting any wrongdoing.
The Cascios now say that settlement is void and unenforceable because they were coerced into signing it. Judge Vera ruled on Wednesday that those arguments, “while serious”, do not belong in a public courtroom under the terms of the settlement.
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: Daniele Dalledonne from Trento, Italy