Jackson Accuser A Liar?
"Celebrity Justice" has learned that the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser solicited charitable contributions for the boy's medical care when all of the bills were covered by insurance.
Jackson has been charged with sexually abusing the woman's teenage son at his Neverland ranch two years ago. Now, there are new accusations swirling around the alleged victim's mother and a scam that she may have pulled off.
"About four years ago, this boy had cancer," Harvey Levin, the executive producer of "Celebrity Justice," tells The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. "The mother went to a local newspaper in the L.A. area and said, 'Look, we are going under. We have medical bills that are $12,000 a pop for chemo; we need money.'"
The story was written and close to $1,000 was given to the accuser's family. However, the editor of the paper later learned that the boy's medical bills had already been paid for in full by his father's insurance.
"It is a 100 percent coverage. Not a cent had to be paid," Levin says and explains since the beginning, the paper saw some red flags:
The mother tried to to have the money sent to her home in her name. And when the newspaper asked her to set up a trust fund, it was later found out that the mother set up a bank account in her name (so she could withdraw money from it) and not a trust fund, Levin explains.
The big red flag happened when the reporter went to the house at Thanksgiving with food. "The mother looked down and said, 'Well, that's nice, but I'd rather have the money,'" Levin says.
After the mother got the money from the article, she went back to the paper, complaining she still needed more financial help.
"That's when the editor had a really bad gut," Levin says. "When the molestation charges were filed three years later and the editor realized that it was this kid, the editor actually sent a copy of the article to Mark Geragos, who was representing Jackson at the time."
But it was only recently that the new defense team called both the writer and the editor to discuss the matter.
Since it was a small community paper and the money came in within the first three weeks, Levin points out, about $750 was withdrawn almost immediately without any accountability. "We don't know what it was spent on. I'm told, by somebody connected to the mother, it was not misspent but we don't know what it was spent on," Levin says.
This information may have some impact on Michael Jackson's molestation case, Levin explains, "This is not going to be a case about physical evidence proving or disproving something. It's going to be credibility. The defense has been arguing for a long time that these kids - the accuser and his younger brother - were manipulated by the mother. That's their theory. This is a case about greed."
Levin points out the paper's editor and writer of the article could take the stand to impeach the mother's credibility.
The accuser's mother has been under scrutiny before, most notably for accusing JC Penny mall security guards of physically mistreating her and her family when the family was under suspicion of theft. The family originally sued for $3 million before settling for $137,000 in that case.
As to how this information will impact the jury pool, Levin says, "There are all sorts of factors that go into it and how you view celebrities, how you feel about people who don't have a conventional lifestyle, so this will be one of many factors I think that play into it. But it's really interesting because the prosecution could turn this and say: look, pedophiles - and I'm not saying Michael Jackson is or isn't one - pedophiles prey on dysfunctional families and you have a dysfunctional family and that would process their point. Whether the jury buys it is another point."
Michael Jackson faces 10 charges relating to claims he sexually abused the teenager at his Neverland ranch two years ago. Jury selection is set to begin Jan. 31.