Michael Jackson's Alleged Victims Seek to Open Sealed Records Featuring Nude Photos of Late Star Ahead of New Trial

Mar. 15, 2025

Michael Jackson.Photo:KMazur/WireImage

KMazur/WireImage

Michael Jackson’s production company is trying to prevent the late pop star’s accusersWade RobsonandJames Safechuckfrom getting access to his police records.

Michael Jackson performs live on stage at the Sydney Cricket Ground during his ‘HIStory’ world concert tour in November 1996 in Sydney.Peter Carrette Archive/Getty

Peter Carrette Archive/Getty

The suit claims that since July 2018 multiple subpoenas from Robson, 41, and Safechuck, 46, for the records — who were featured in the bombshell four-hour HBO documentaryLeaving Neverlandand claimed Jackson sexually molested them when they were children — have been “quashed.”

Robson and Safechuck are currently suing his production company claiming the singer’s staff is liable for allowing his alleged abuse of them.

In late February, Robson, a choreographer and director, and Safechuck, a director, writer and actor, won the right to combine their lawsuits against Jackson’s companies into one case, with the goal ofgoing to trial early next year— ahead of the April 2025 release of the Antoine Fuqua-directedMichaelbiopic,Rolling Stonereported.

“They want the Michael Jackson biopic to come out before the trial. That’s what I think,” the duo’s lawyerJohn C. Carpentertold the outlet. “These corporations that facilitated the abuse in the first place, they’re rewriting the history.”

PerRolling Stone, an attorney for Jackson’s companies said during the hearing “that her clients plan to waive a three-year speedy trial rule because she believes the case won’t be ready for jurors until after December 2026.”

Both Robson and Safechuck sued MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures for negligence, breach of duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress in separate lawsuits in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The trial court dismissed both cases because the complaint missed the statute of limitations since California Law required the suits to be filed before they turned 26.

At the time they filed, Robson and Safechuck were 30 and 36, respectively. But in October 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law giving those who allege childhood sexual abuse longer to file lawsuits — but their cases were dismissed again in April 2021. A judge ruled that Michael Jackson’s companies had no legal obligation to protect boys from sexual abuse.

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Wade Robson; James Safechuck.Peter Kramer/NBC; HBO

To be compensated, Robson and Safechuck need to prove that Jackson sexually assaulted them and that his corporations who employed his staff were complicit in the alleged abuse.

When news broke about Robson and Safechuck’s case going to court over their abuse allegations, Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney for the Estate of Michael Jackson, said in a statement: “We are disappointed with the Court’s decision. Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it. We remain fully confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which are contrary to all credible evidence and independent corroboration, and which were only first made years after Michael’s death. We trust that the truth will ultimately prevail with Michael’s vindication yet again. Michael Jackson himself said, ‘lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons.'”

A source close to the Jackson Estate exclusively told PEOPLE: “The Estate will likely ask the California Supreme Court to review the decision, and a settlement is not on the table.”

source: people.com