They Were Michael Jackson’s ‘Second Family.’ Now They Say He Abused Them.
In December 2010, Oprah Winfrey invited Dominic and Connie Cascio and three of their 5 youngsters onto her discuss present to debate Michael Jackson.
The pop star and Dominic, a supervisor of a Manhattan lodge the place Mr. Jackson usually stayed, had change into good buddies. For greater than twenty years, Mr. Jackson had eaten on the Cascios’ New Jersey house, introduced them to his Neverland Ranch, took them alongside on excursions around the globe and celebrated with them on holidays.
The Cascios had change into, as they usually stated, Mr. Jackson’s “second family.”
So a yr and a half after Mr. Jackson’s death, the household got here ahead to speak to Oprah at size about their particular relationship — and likewise to defend their good friend from the ugly sexual abuse accusations that had lengthy trailed him.
“Were there ever any improprieties with you and Michael Jackson?” Ms. Winfrey requested the Cascio siblings, Eddie, Frank and Marie Nicole, who have been now adults, at the interview.
They responded in unison: “Never.” They every shook their heads.
Their good friend Michael, Eddie asserted, “was a target.”
More than 15 years later, the Cascios now say that was a lie. All 5 of the Cascio youngsters say they have been groomed to guard Mr. Jackson and have become, as they name it, his “soldiers” — the entrance line of his protection.
Four of the 5 siblings now say in a lawsuit and in an interview with The New York Times that, the truth is, Mr. Jackson had repeatedly sexually assaulted every of them. (The fifth sibling instructed The Times he was abused, however for authorized causes, his legal professionals say he can not be a part of his siblings’ go well with.)
Some of the siblings say they acknowledged at an early age that Mr. Jackson’s conduct was flawed however felt too overwhelmed by his movie star and indicators of affection to return ahead publicly, or to 1 one other. Others say they didn’t acknowledge that what had occurred to them was abusive till they watched a 2019 documentary containing allegations by two men who stated Mr. Jackson had molested them.
Aldo, now 35, stated he was round 7 and in mattress with Mr. Jackson in the future, enjoying a Game Boy, when Mr. Jackson started giving him oral intercourse. He stated the intercourse acts continued for years, and he finally turned conscious that what he was enduring was flawed. But he stated he so satisfied himself that he might by no means disclose it that he got here to consider: “I’m just going to live to die.”
Court paperwork say the abuse occurred at quite a lot of locations, together with Mr. Jackson’s house, on journeys and through tour stops. Just days earlier than the pop star died in 2009, Aldo stated, Mr. Jackson requested they go to “Disneyland” — which he described as a coded request for intercourse.
Mr. Jackson and, since his loss of life, the Jackson property have persistently denied all allegations that the pop star molested youngsters. Marty Singer, a lawyer for the property, characterised the lawsuit as “a desperate money grab.”
“The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct,” Mr. Singer stated in an announcement. “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.”
Debate over the reality of Mr. Jackson’s life has been revived not simply by the lawsuit, but additionally by a biopic, “Michael,” set to debut on Friday. The movie, which is anticipated to have a sequel and was produced in partnership with the property, ends in 1988, earlier than the primary of the allegations surfaced.
Years earlier than submitting their lawsuit, the Cascio siblings instructed the property that, really, that they had been abused by Mr. Jackson. But the events reached an settlement in 2020 and the siblings acquired, in whole, roughly $16 million in funds over 5 years. The accusations have been by no means aired. In the property’s view, Mr. Jackson’s household averted being confronted by extra “false allegations.”
But the funds resulted in 2025 because the siblings have been searching for extra compensation, and negotiations turned strained. Now what was as soon as a quiet dispute has erupted into bitter litigation.
Four Siblings, Now Plaintiffs
In an interview this month, the Cascio siblings suing the Jackson property every supplied grim particulars of what they are saying they endured.
Marie Nicole Porte, now 37, stated she was 12 the primary time Mr. Jackson abused her inside her household house, the place he stayed for months following the Sept. 11 assaults. Mr. Jackson, she stated, would have her unfold her legs and generally masturbated whereas her bare.
Dominic, 39, stated he was on a visit to Euro Disney with Mr. Jackson when he was about 8 years previous when the pop star started having them lie nude in mattress collectively. In later encounters, he stated, Mr. Jackson would have him suck and manipulate his nipples whereas Mr. Jackson masturbated.
The Cascio household’s relationship with Mr. Jackson led its members, by their accounts, right into a world of intently guarded secrets and techniques. None of the kids instructed their mother and father or each other what was occurring, they stated. When their mother and father did ask about their relationship with Jackson, the kids stated they denied that something untoward had occurred.
The mother and father, Connie and Dominic, declined to be interviewed via the household’s lawyer, Howard King. But in a previous interview they described a mixture of emotions — betrayal, regret and accountability — for what their youngsters say they encountered.
“I should have known, and I didn’t,” Connie told GB News final month. “Honestly, God knows, I didn’t.”
Why did the kids keep quiet? Several stated that Mr. Jackson confused to them that their relationship with him was particular, the one one prefer it, and that if anybody came upon, his life — and their lives, too — can be destroyed.
“We were brainwashed, we were groomed,” stated Eddie, who stated that Mr. Jackson, whom he described as “the biggest star in the world,” taught the siblings to defend the popstar towards the allegations.
But the siblings stated that in 2019, after they watched the “Leaving Neverland” documentary about Mr. Jackson, they have been struck by how intently the allegations of kid abuse within the movie matched their very own experiences.
Aldo was the primary to method his household to say he had been abused. A number of days later, Dominic, the son, stated he instructed Eddie that Aldo was telling the reality — as a result of it had occurred to him. Eddie stated he then additionally got here ahead. And lastly Marie Nicole.
“I felt like he took my manhood away,” Eddie, 43, stated within the interview, starting to cry. He stated he had sexual encounters with Mr. Jackson into maturity. But after they started, he stated his penis was so small that Mr. Jackson held it utilizing solely three fingers.
The Cascio siblings started assembly with representatives of the property in 2019, in response to courtroom paperwork. And finally, after they shared “explicit details about Jackson’s abuse,” the courtroom papers say, the property finally agreed to pay every plaintiff what the household known as “the wholly inadequate sum of five annual payments of approximately $690,000.” Lawyers for the property say in their very own submitting that it “reluctantly” entered into the settlement “to prevent Michael’s family, particularly his children, from having to be subjected to any further false allegations.”
But because the funds have been nearing their finish in 2024, the property says in courtroom papers that one of many siblings, Frank, via his lawyer, had demanded that he and his brothers and sister be paid $213 million extra, and that he had threatened to file a “bogus public lawsuit.”
Frank stated in an interview that he too was abused. But as a result of he’s concerned in an arbitration continuing with the property over the unique settlement and different issues, his lawyer stated Frank was barred from being a celebration to the federal lawsuit filed by his siblings.
Mr. Singer stated that all the siblings have been concerned within the pending arbitration continuing and that their lawsuit is an effort to attempt to evade their obligation, below the prior settlement, to arbitrate any disputes. The property plans to ask the courtroom to dismiss the federal case or to place it on maintain whereas the arbitration goes ahead.
Asked to deal with the particular accusations leveled by every of the siblings, Mr. Singer stated: “The Cascios are the epitome of unreliable sources. Their stories have repeatedly shifted and changed to suit whatever their current agenda happens to be.”
Bringing Home a Pop Star
When Mr. Jackson stayed on the Helmsley Palace in Manhattan within the Eighties, it was Dominic Cascio, the final supervisor of the towers and the suites, who took care of him. Their friendship constructed to the purpose the place one evening, Jackson confirmed up at their house in Hawthorne, N.J.
Frank later recounted the night in a fawning ebook, “My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship With an Extraordinary Man,” by which he repeatedly denied that Mr. Jackson ever acted inappropriately with youngsters. “My brother and I sprang out of bed to greet him,” Frank wrote of himself and Eddie.
Mr. Jackson would go to the house many extra instances, serving to their mom clear and having fun with her turkey dinners, Frank wrote. The Cascios sat on the facet of the stage at Mr. Jackson’s live shows. They had a sleepover at F.A.O. Schwarz. Mr. Jackson lined these bills and the household put in a cellphone line at their house only for him.
By 1993, the Cascios had begun to go to with Mr. Jackson at Neverland, his property in Santa Barbara County that was outfitted with a movie show, a zoo and even amusement park rides. Frank and Eddie have been later permitted to go alone, Frank wrote in his ebook.
“He made us feel like he was everything: a friend, father, like every sort of emotional support,” Eddie stated within the interview. “And he was.”
When Mr. Jackson was accused of molestation by the household of a 13-year-old boy within the Nineteen Nineties, Frank recalled in his ebook how, he, Eddie and their father flew to affix him on tour in Tel Aviv in an indication of assist. When their father needed to return house, he allowed his sons to remain. Eddie says now that it was the time when Mr. Jackson first started to molest him.
A yr later, in 1994, Mr. Jackson reached a roughly $23 million civil settlement with the boy’s household that had accused him of molestation. Mr. Jackson denied any wrongdoing.
A decade after that, prosecutors in Santa Barbara County brought charges against Mr. Jackson that included a number of new counts of kid molesting and serving alcohol to minors. “All bullshit,” Frank wrote. “These people were after Michael’s money.”
Frank recalled within the ebook that he went on “20/20” and “Good Morning America” to defend Mr. Jackson. The remainder of the household flew to California to testify on the singer’s behalf, the siblings stated, however as soon as they bought there, they have been instructed they weren’t wanted.
Following a 14-week trial, Mr. Jackson was acquitted by a jury.
After Mr. Jackson died, a few of the Cascios profited from their relationships with him. In addition to revenues from his ebook, Frank sold Jackson memorabilia. Eddie offered the rights to three songs known as the “Cascio tracks” that have been stated to have been recorded within the basement of the Cascios’ house in 2007.
The demos have been included by Sony Music in an album launched after Mr. Jackson’s loss of life. But their authenticity got here below scrutiny, and Sony Music eliminated the tracks in 2022 amid a courtroom battle. It resulted in a settlement with the defendants, together with Sony, the Jackson property and Eddie, in response to courtroom paperwork.
Sony and the property didn’t concede that the songs had been sung by an impersonator, as had been contended, however stated that eradicating them was “the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all.”
When the siblings noticed the “Leaving Neverland” documentary, they have been instantly “deprogrammed,” their lawsuit says — pressured to confront the fact of their experiences with Mr. Jackson. Released by HBO in 2019, the movie centered on the accounts of two males — Wade Robson and James Safechuck — who got here ahead with separate lawsuits a number of years after Mr. Jackson’s loss of life that accused him of getting abused them as youngsters.
The Jackson estate denied all the allegations and sued the community. Court paperwork present that the case was dismissed in 2024 after what a spokesman for HBO described as an amicable decision. Civil instances for each Mr. Robson and Mr. Safechuck are ongoing in Los Angeles.
After the documentary’s launch, the Cascios say in courtroom papers that representatives of the property sought them out, falsely representing that they have been attempting to assist get them truthful compensation “for the suffering Jackson had caused.” This, they stated, led to the settlement settlement that concerned the annual funds.
The Cascio lawsuit says that two years in the past, the property’s representatives started discussing the opportunity of extra compensation and “further arrangements to ensure plaintiffs’ continued silence.”
But the lawsuit says that, after the siblings employed legal professionals and demanded extra compensation, the property and its representatives began leaking “false and defamatory statements” saying that the property was being blackmailed by the siblings.
The property’s courtroom filings current a starkly completely different narrative. They paint the Cascios as opportunists who’re searching for to extort the property by mendacity about Mr. Jackson’s alleged abuse. The siblings are stated to have used the detrimental publicity of “Leaving Neverland” as a gap to “repudiate their prior support of Michael and manufacture false and specious allegations against him unless they were paid money.”
The Cascios say that, really, their objectives now are about greater than cash — they’re about telling the reality about Mr. Jackson to the world and to some they maintain shut.
Like Eddie’s daughter, who’s 16 and was born simply months after Mr. Jackson’s loss of life. For years, she too lived below the impression that the pop star had been an amazing good friend to the household.
After all, her center title is “Michael.”
Kitty Bennett and Georgia Gee contributed analysis.
