Michael Jackson’s creditor debts and claims at the time of his death in 2009 exceeded $500 million, according to a court filing from the pop superstar’s estate detailing his financial woes toward the end of his life.
Jackson owed tour promoter AEG about $40 million, according to the filing, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court this month and was earlier reported by People magazine. The filing said 65 creditors filed claims against the singer after his death, some of which resulted in lawsuits, and that some of his debt was “accumulating interest at extremely high rates.”
A spokesman for the Jackson estate, which is run by John Branca and John McClain, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The estate filed the court documents as a request to authorize the payment of about $3.5 million to several law firms for their work in the second half of 2018.
In the court filing, the executors say they have written off the estate’s debt and that nearly all of the creditors’ claims and litigation have been resolved.
Jackson earned hundreds of millions of dollars during the 1980s and 1990s as the creator of some of the best-selling albums of all time, along with dazzling concert tours that filled stadiums around the world. He bought the Beatles catalog for $47.5 million in 1985 and later sold it to Sony/ATV Music in exchange for a 50% stake in the company. Sony bought back the stake in the property for $750 million in 2016.
But when Jackson died aged 50, just before he was supposed to embark on a tour called This Is It, he left behind a tangled web of assets and liabilities.
Jackson was famous for his lavish lifestyle and spent money with abandon. He raked in millions of dollars from his Neverland Ranch estate in Southern California and had a penchant for expensive art, jewelry and private jets. It was paying more than $30 million a year in interest payments, a forensic accountant testified during a 2013 wrongful-death trial in which AEG prevailed.
Jackson’s estate is currently in dispute with the IRS following a tax audit. In a separate court filing this year, the estate said the federal agency accused it of undervaluing its assets and said it owed “an additional $700 million in taxes and penalties.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.
