Michael Jackson is suing his former Los Angeles-based accountants, accusing them of withdrawing some $2.5 million annually from his bank accounts and then not properly paying his bills.
The lawsuit was filed by Jackson and his MJJ Productions Inc. company before the weekend in Los Angeles Superior Court against Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan LLP, alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages and for an accounting of money the defendants received for services.
According to court documents dated Dec. 21, Jackson hired the Los Angeles-based firm in 2003 -- a year before he was indicted on child molestation charges -- for bookkeeping, opening bank accounts and filing personal, corporate and real estate taxes. The suit alleges that the accounting firm then entered into contracts on Jackson’s behalf without the pop singer’s permission, while continually failing to keep him apprised of his financial affairs.
Jackson reportedly reached a deal with creditors earlier this year to refinance more than $200 million in debt in a gamut to avoid bankruptcy, and has remained largely out of the public eye -- dividing his time mostly between Ireland and Bahrain -- since his June 2005 acquittal on the sexual misconduct charges.
