Siblings’ Child Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Michael Jackson Dismissed

Four siblings who sued the Michael Jackson estate for sexual assault are facing a setback after a Los Angeles federal judge ruled that their dispute must be resolved in private arbitration. Judge Hernán D. Vera found that a 2019 settlement agreement signed by Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole, and Aldo Cascio will prevent them from litigating their claims in a public court of law. “Although the allegations are horrific,” Judge Vera wrote in his decision, viewed by Pitchfork, “the court is without discretion to do aught but enforce the language of the arbitration clause.”In a statement to Pitchfork, the Cascio’s lawyer, Howard King, wrote: “It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the decision on whether the Cascios were duped into signing an unconscionable agreement with an arbitration clause will be made by an arbitrator rather than a jury of peers. The family had hoped the Court would allow for a public trial over the decades-long molestations of the Cascio siblings by Michael Jackson and the ensuing cover-up by his advisors. Instead, the family will seek justice from the dark confines of a private conference room.” Pitchfork has also reached out to the Jackson estate’s legal rep...