Michael Jackson’s Estate & His Ex-Manager Settle Lawsuit Over Claims Late Singer Owed Him Commission 

Michael Jackson 

Michael Jackson’s Estate & His Ex-Manager Settle Lawsuit Over Claims Late Singer Owed Him Commission

Michael Jackson’s estate has finally settled an ongoing lawsuit with his former manager, Tohme R. Tohme, nearly ten years after his death. The legal disagreement sparked over Jackson’s assets. Tohme, who was the late singer’s manager during the last year of his life, requested almost $20 million from Jackson’s estate. He filed the lawsuit in 2012 with claims that he was owed 15% commission for deals regarding Jackson after his shocking passing.

Jackson’s estate argued that Tohme’s working relationship with Jackson ended with the singer passed away, so he was only owed the income he helped Jackson receive when he was alive. Tohme also asked for a portion of the money from the This Is It concert documentary that premiered four months Jackson died. But Judge Mark A. Young dismissed that part of the lawsuit.

Tohme also said he was owed a finder’s fee after he helped Jackson get a loan to rescue his Neverland ranch from foreclosure back in 2008. That’s also when Jackson asked Tohme to be his manager.

While the terms of the agreement are sealed, a joint statement from both sides said,

“The estate acknowledges his efforts on Michael’s behalf.”

Tohme spoke on Jackson shortly after he died and said,

“For the last year and a half I was the closest person to Michael Jackson. I hate the words ‘mystery man. I’m a private man. A lot of people like the media and I don’t. I’m a self-made man. I’m in the world of finance. I saw how kind he was and what a wonderful human being. I saw him with his children and I had never seen a better father. … I decided to do what I could to help him.”

Jackson died in his home on June 25, 2009.