SANTA MARIA, California - Michael Jackson is faced with a "crushing" personal debt of more than 275 million dollars that is due at the end of this year, prosecutors claimed in documents seen Friday.
The debt and the new danger posed to his flagging business empire by an explosive television documentary spurred Jackson into hatching a plot to kidnap his child molestation accuser and the boy`s family and keep them prisoner, prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss said.
"I am informed that the defendant Michael Jackson was facing a dire financial crisis at the time of the charged offenses," Auchincloss wrote in a request to have the superstar`s financial records subpoenaed at his child sex trial.
"I am also informed and believe that Michael Jackson faces a crushing amount of personal debt mounting to well over 275 million dollars which will be due and payable in December of this year," he said in the document dated February 23, 2005.
The prosecutor said the broadcast of British journalist Martin Bashir`s documentary "Living with Michael Jackson" in February of 2003 sent Jackson and his business associates into a panic over the effect it could have on his finances.
The documentary led to the child molestation investigation into Jackson`s relationship with a 13-year-old cancer patient who later accused him of abuse, triggering is trial that is now underway in California.
"The footage showed Jackson holding hands and snuggling with this boy on a couch as he talked about his preference for having young children sleep in his bed," Auchincloss said.
The airing of the film prompted Jackson to abduct the boy and his family and hold them prisoner at his Neverland Ranch until they made a video rebutting any suggestion of improper conduct with the youngster, prosecutors say.
Jackson "was motivated by his financial crisis to do whatever necessary to preserve his public image. The preservation of his image was directly linked to the preservation of his financial empire," the prosecutor wrote.
Jackson made the best selling album of all time, "Thriller" in 1987 and is the icon of a generation, but his career has waned considerably over recent years.
03/04/2005 18:11 GMT