Jacko nearly snookered by brother and 'advisor'

By Stone Martindale Jun 17, 2007, 20:20 GMT

Michael Jackson - New York, NY © Wild1 / Photorazzi

The Daily News received copies of court transcripts from the Michael Jackson federal lawsuit schedule for next week.  It reveals a less than sophisticated web of bad advice and confusion around the embattled pop singer, who has seen better days.

The records show that Jackson claims his brother and a financial advisor "pal" tried to cheat him out of fortune during his molestation trial and "only the wise counsel of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and billionaire Ron Burkle saved him," according to the Daily News.

The Daily News revealed that the pages of testimony show that it "even fingered a man close to Randy Jackson as a key villain."

"It's full of sharks, charlatans and imposters," Jackson said in testimony taken last summer in Paris.

"Because there's a lot of money involved, there's a bunch of schmucks in there," Jackson said. "It's the entertainment world, full of thieves and crooks. That's not new. Everybody knows that."

The Daily News reports that Jackson was "pressured to sign off on a multimillion-dollar financing deal by Don Stabler, an associate brought in by brother Randy, his go-to guy on financial matters during much of his career."

Describing Stabler: "He reminded me of people that live in mid-America like Indiana," Jackson testified.

Luckily Jackson had turned to more reliable financial advisors, namely the billionaire friend of former President Bill Clinton for financial help, Ron Burkle.  Burkle brought in Jesse Jackson.

The Daily News details the tug of war that ensued between Burkle, Jackson and Stable.

"[Stabler] said, 'What's the problem? You're not down, you're with the Jews now. You're not down with blacks anymore,'" Jackson testified.

"It was unkind," Jackson added. "It was mean. It was meanspirited. It was nasty. Simply because he couldn't get me to sign something that he wanted me to sign."

The next time Jackson saw Stabler "he wanted to take my head off." And his brother Randy wasn't too happy, either.

Randy allegedly had amassed a huge American Express bill of over $700K, and wanted to be paid back.

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