Michael Jackson's debts and creditor claims totaled more than $500 million at the time of his death in 2009, according to court documents filed by the pop superstar's estate that provide details of the singer's final financial woes.
According to a filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court this month and previously reported by People magazine, Jackson owes tour promoter AEG about $40 million. According to the filing, 65 creditors have filed claims against the singer since his death, some of which have resulted in lawsuits, and some of his debts are “accumulating interest at very high rates.”
Representatives of the Jackson estate, officiated by John Branca and John McClain, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The estate filed court papers in the second half of 2018 asking for permission to pay about $3.5 million to several law firms.
In papers filed with the court, the executors said the estate's debts had been paid off and nearly all creditor claims and lawsuits had been resolved.
Jackson made hundreds of millions of dollars as the creator of the best-selling albums of all time, along with a dazzling concert tour that filled stadiums around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. He purchased the Beatles’ song catalog in 1985 for $47.5 million, later selling it to Sony/ATV Music in exchange for a 50 percent stake in the company. Sony bought the property back in 2016 for $750 million.
But Jackson died at age 50, just before the start of his This Is It tour, leaving behind a tangled web of assets and liabilities.
Jackson was known for his extravagant lifestyle and spending money recklessly. He ran up millions of dollars in debt on his Neverland Ranch estate in Southern California and loved expensive art, jewelry, and private jets. He was paying more than $30 million in interest each year, a forensic accountant testified in a 2013 wrongful death trial that AEG won.
The Jackson estate is currently in a dispute with the IRS following a tax audit. In separate court filings this year, the estate accused the federal agency of undervaluing its assets and said it owes “an additional $700 million in taxes and penalties.”
Kirsten Noyes Contributed to the research.