By 2004, Randy was helping to manage Michael's finances. Michael was in the horrific position of defending himself against false child molestation charges and needed someone to trust implicity while he was busy in court.
Feb. 2004 ~ Al Malnik and Charles Koppelman back a $70 million loan payment that is due to Bank of America. This puts MJ at ease until December of 2005. Prior to that, Randy announced to both Malnik and Koppelman that he had found an investment group that would back the entire amount of $270 million to Bank of America. However, at the last minute, Randy announced that the deal had fallen through. Michael was smart enough to go with Malnik and Koppelman or he may have defaulted on his Bank of America loan.
August 2004 ~ Randy, who has taken over the daily operations for Michael, stops the payments to people who have contracts with Michael. Randy stops the payments to both Dieter Wiesner and Mark Schaffel. (Hey I could care less whether Wiesner or Schaffel were paid, but the point is, that Michael had contracts with them to pay, and when Randy stopped the payments, Michael was forced into yet, more lawsuits which cost more money.) Schaffel sued Michael for $4 million later that year.
March 2005 ~ Michael's Neverland operating accounts have run dry. The funds are mysteriously missing. Michael's accountant calls Joe to report this. Rumors fly that since Randy has taken over operations, he has bought himself a penthouse in Miami and has had one of Michael's Bentley's removed from Neverland and placed in the Miami penthouse. Rumors also fly that Michael is furious over the missing money and that Randy is making deals behind Michael's back.
April 2005 ~ Michael has fired Randy and things are very tense between them. Michael also finds out that there are missing funds with regard to the Neverland payroll. A storage unit had not been paid. Michael fixes his finances at the last minute, but he is furious with Randy.
June 2005 ~ Judge Melville gives a gag order to the court. Tom Messereau issues one statement which is supposed to be a blanket statement representative of Michael Jackson. Messereau states that noone but the Mezz is authorized to make any statement regarding Michael Jackson. However, Randy makes a misleading statement causing confusion for fans and grief for Messereau. This is five days before Michael is to be acquitted of all charges.
Lastly, when Michael died at 100 North Carolwood Drive, there were many reports that Randy was there on 6/24 and 6/25. There were reports that Randy was standing in the driveway waiting for the ambulance to come. There were reports that Randy was actually with Michael when he collapsed. Those stories have now disappeared from the internet. Here is one of the articles I could find, this one states that Randy was in the ambulance with Michael: link.
This one states that Randy told Brian Oxman Michael collapsed in his home: link
Yes, we can attribute this to tabloid journalism or the frenzy that occurred after Michael Jackson's death.
Someone once said that the greatest predictor of future behavior is how someone has behaved in the past. I have to wonder if Randy Jackson actually did have Michael's best interests at heart. Judging on his past behavior, I would think others would be wondering the same thing.
Michael's Beautiful Smile
