The BILLION dollar shopping spree that killed Michael Jackson... and his secret 蓄える／店 disguises 明らかにする／漏らすd

By Randall Sullivan

Published: 22:30 BST, 17 November 2012 | Updated: 07:55 BST, 19 November 2012

Michael Jackson had seemingly 安全な・保証するd his 未来 by 1991 when, in the wake of his Dangerous album, he 調印するd the most lucrative 記録，記録的な／記録するing 契約 in the history of the entertainment 産業.

によれば his 記録，記録的な／記録する company Sony, that one 取引，協定 alone could 結局 have been 価値（がある） $1?billion to the singer.

At the age of 33, Michael Jackson was 豊富な almost beyond imagining. He was watching his fortune grow, keeping a constant 注目する，もくろむ on cash flow, and 支払う／賃金ing の近くに attention to accounting 声明s.?

Don't stop 'til you get enough: Michael Jackson shopping at Hamleys toy 蓄える／店 in London in 1996

Dressing up: Michael Jackson dressed in a ski mask and jumpsuit for a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す of 小売 therapy in 2004, left, and covering his 直面する on a shopping trip in Melrose, Los Angeles, California, in 2007, 権利

He had shrewdly acquired a 目録 of songs, 含むing the music of The Beatles 同様に as his own 攻撃する，衝突するs, and that 目録 was 二塁打ing in value 毎年, spinning off millions in 収入s.

Beneath the breathy 発言する／表明する and 停止（させる）ing manner, he was as good a 実業家 as any artist who had ever lived. ‘Part of him may be a ten-year-old, with all the enthusiasm that 暗示するs,’ his lawyer John Branca once said. ‘But the other part is a 60-year-old genius.’

Yet the Michael Jackson who 存在するd after August 1993 was a different man. That same year, he had begun to use pills and injectio ns to fight his insomnia after he paid more than $18?million to settle （人命などを）奪う，主張するs of child 性の molestation brought by the family of Jordan Chandler. And in the years に引き続いて, shopping and spending became as 中毒の for Michael as any opiate.

By the 中央の-Nineties, his 逮捕する 価値（がある） was 概算の to be as high as $1?billion. Millions were still 注ぐing in each year ? but now even more was 注ぐing out. Those who worked for him 述べるd seeing Jackson leaf through a magazine and order every 選び出す／独身 製品 advertised in it.?

Ve iled: Michael Jackson pictured shopping in an Arab 女性（の） 衣装 in Bahrain in 2006 with one of his children, left, and visiting a toy shop with his children in Beverly Hills in May 2009, 権利

Rehearsals: Michael Jackson rehearsing at the 中心的要素s 中心 in LA for his planned shows at the O2 in London

近づくing middle age, he seemed irresistibly drawn to 事業／計画（する）s that much of the public 設立する laughable. In 1996, he 発表するd a ‘family values’ 全世界の entertainment empire whose 事業／計画（する）s 含むd 計画（する）s to create a 主題-park home for all British cows afflicted with mad cow 病気. Soon after, the singer showed up in Warsaw, where he 発表するd a $500?million World Of Childhood amusement park, to be built with the co-操作／手術 of the ポーランドの（人） 政府.

In 1998, he 報道によれば became the first 顧客 to place an order for a $75,000 per 瓶／封じ込める ‘限られた／立憲的な 版’ perfume 存在 licensed as ‘the ultimate symbol of indulgence’. It would be sold in a flask made from platinum, gold and diamonds, 一括d in a walnut box that could be opened only with a gold, diamond, and ruby 重要な. Jackson placed a deposit on two 瓶／封じ込めるs: one for himself, one for his dear friend Elizabeth Tay lor.

Out of 支配（する）／統制する: Michael Jackson shopping with his wife Lisa Marie Presley in the 中央の-nineties

The に引き続いて year, he paid $1.54?million at auction for the Oscar that 生産者 David O. Selznick received for Gone With The 勝利，勝つd. いっそう少なく than a year later, Beverly Hills jeweller David Orgell 告訴するd Jackson for 非，不，無-支払い（額） on a $1.9?million Vacheron watch. The singer tried to return the timepiece but Orgell said it was scratched. They settled in 2001. The very next day, Jackson used the Vacheron as collateral on a 貸付金 from Bank of America.

By the turn of the millennium, he was spending about $8?million a year just on travel and antiques. At his Neverland ranch, it was costing the 星／主役にする $4?million per 年 to keep staff ? from carpenters to snake handlers ? on the payroll. When he flew to London for a 週末 of shopping, he would 雇う a 私的な jet to carry an 側近 and rent an entire 床に打ち倒す of a five-星／主役にする hotel to house them.

Of course, Jackson looked at money a little 異なって from most people. His friend and 商売／仕事 partner Marc Schaffel 解任するd when Jackson had 手配中の，お尋ね者 to buy something costing $100,000, but his Las Vegas hotel could only lend him $50,000 in cash: ‘He’s pouting and he says, “Oh, forget it.” Then he says, “Kids come here.” All the kids come over and he 手渡すs them each a stack of $10,000 and says, “Go out and entertain yourselves for an hour.”?’

Money was 絶えず flowing to Jackson from sources spread? all over the globe. At this time, he didn’t keep a bank account for 恐れる that a creditor might try to （人命などを）奪う，主張する it, so all 支払い（額）s were in cash.

Around 2001, that money was usually 配達するd 経由で Schaffel. He 行為／法令／行動するd, literally, as Jackson’s 捕らえる、獲得する man.

Schaffel’s lawyer Howard King explains: ‘Michael’s other 助言者s, associates, 商売／仕事 partners, patrons ? whatever they were ? would get him money by 現実に transmitting the 支払い（額） to Marc, who would 配達する it to Michael in cash.’

Schaffel made the first such 配達／演説／出産 to Jackson in a paper 解雇（する） from a 急速な／放蕩な food restaurant, Arby’s. Jackson thought it was hilarious and began referring to the money coming his way as ‘French fries’. Whenever he was in need of a cash 注射, he would say: ‘Bring me some fries, will you? And supersize it.’?

Home 甘い home: Michael Jackson hoped to save his Californian Neverland Ranch which was costing him $4million a year just for the staff

高くつく／犠牲の大きい: Pop 星／主役にする Michael Jackson sits before 裁判官 Rodney Melville before 存在 acquitted of child molestation 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s at Santa Barbara 郡 Superior 法廷，裁判所 in Santa Maria in 2005

On one occasion, Schaffel filled a 捕らえる、獲得する with $100,000 in cash that Jackson 手配中の，お尋ね者 to use shopping for antiques. Another 捕らえる、獲得する was filled with $46,075 to 支払う／賃金 for the valuation of? a $30?million mansion on Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, a 所有物／資産／財産 Jackson 主張するd he could afford.

Another 支払い（額） of $1?million? was needed for his ‘best friend,’? Marlon Brando, who 需要・要求するd the sum before agreeing to make a? ビデオテープd ‘人道的な speech’ to be shown during the first of Jackson’s two 30th 周年記念日 concerts in New York. いっそう少なく than two minutes into the 広大な／多数の／重要な actor’s incoherent comments, the （人が）群がる started booing and didn’t stop until Brando did. 井戸／弁護士席, it was only a million dollars, Jackson said ? not that much money, really.

In the days すぐに before the concerts, Schaffel gave Jackson $380,395 to 支払う／賃金 for a pair of customised automobiles he 手配中の，お尋ね者, a Bentley Arnage and a Lincoln 航海士, and a cheque to cover the 利益／興味 on a $2?million 貸付金 Jackson had taken out to 財政／金融 a charity 記録，記録的な／記録する.

After Jackson’s 無罪放免 on child molestation 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s in 2005, he 乗る，着手するd on an? 18-month search for peace and privacy that would take him and his children, Prince, Paris and 一面に覆う／毛布, to? Bahrain, Ireland and New Jersey.

When, 近づく the end of their stay in Bahrain, Jackson received a seven-人物／姿／数字 windfall, he told the nanny, Grace Rwaramba to ‘go すぐに to Florence and buy antiques’.

When she arrived to 検査／視察する the? collection Jackson 手配中の，お尋ね者, she was いっそう少なく than impressed. ‘I called him? and said, “This is not 価値（がある） anything.” Michael wouldn’t listen to me. He said, “Buy it. Buy it.” We didn’t even have a home to live in so we had to put the antiques in 貯蔵.’

Child 星／主役にする: Michael Jackson when he was still part of The Jackson 5 pop group with his brothers

Golden boy: It became （疑いを）晴らす 早期に in their career that Michael was the one in The Jackson Five (left to 権利: Tito, Marlon, Jackie, Michael and Jermaine) who had true talent

In fact, they had been asked to leave hotels in both Washington DC and New York City after Jackson’s credit card was cancelled, and they were travelling around until they had somewhere else to go.

Finally, Jackson and his family 長，率いるd to Las Vegas. Neverland was 存在 held as collateral for a 抱擁する Bank of America 貸付金. Now, assorted 広い地所 スパイ／執行官s （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to be helping him search for his ‘new Neverland’.? The truth was he was flat broke and couldn’t afford to rent a home in Las Vegas, let alone buy one.

Tohme Tohme 証明するd to be Jackson’s final 経営者／支配人. What he most 解任するd about his first 会合 with his 未来 （弁護士の）依頼人 was the squalor and 混乱 in which the world’s most successful 記録，記録的な／記録するing artist was living. It was April 2008.

‘He had 傷つける his 権利 foot and he couldn’t move around too 井戸／弁護士席. H e was sitting in a 車椅子 wearing pyjama 底（に届く）s and two different-coloured slippers. The house really needed to be cleaned and painted. It was messy. He was a 選び出す／独身 guy with three kids and there was a dog and he didn’t have any housekeeper.’

実業家: Michael Jackson pictured with his Chimpanzee 泡s in 1991 when he still kept a sharp 注目する，もくろむ on his 財政／金融s

Heyday: Jackson, pictured 成し遂げるing during his 'Dangerous' 小旅行する in Bangkok in 1993, began to use pills and 麻薬s to fight his insomnia the same year

安全 guards at the house said they had been の中で only a handful of guests at Paris’s tenth birthday party a few days before, and for them it had been a sad 事件／事情／状勢. Grace Rwaramba had been 軍隊d to 支払う／賃金 for balloons with her own credit card. The people she had brought in to clean the house for the party would not come 支援する because they were never paid.

Tohme said: ‘I am thinking, “This is Michael Jackson! This is the King of Pop!” I told him, “This is not a place for you, Michael. What are you doing here?” And he said, “Everybody abandoned me. I don’t have anybody. I have no friends. They all turned their 支援するs on me. Please, please help me save Neverland.”?’

In 早期に 2008, accounting 会社／堅い Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio and Associates 結論するd that Jackson could （人命などを）奪う，主張する a 逮捕する 価値（がある） of $236.6?million. But only $668,000 of that was liquid and his total 負債s 量d to $331?million. It was a 巨大（な） 玉石 ぼんやり現れるing over Jackson: he stood to lose both The Beatles’ song 目録 and his own ? everything he had.??

The only way Tohme could see Jackson’s 負債 減ずるing was to? 説得する him to 開始する another major 小旅行する. ‘He told me, “I don’t want to sing. I don’t want to 成し遂げる. All I want to do is make movies and do 事業／計画（する）s.”?’

The 重要な to 動機づけるing Jackson was his children. Tohme pointed out to him they had never seen him 成し遂げる and that he 借りがあるd them that 適切な時期. What’s more, the 経営者／支配人 pointed out, unless Jackson went 支援する to work now ? 権利 now ? he was in danger of having nothing to leave his kids.

遺産／遺物: Michael Jackson, on 行う／開催する／段階 during the Dangerous 小旅行する, left his children everything

In September 2008, a 会合 was arranged with concert promoter AEG Live to 調査する the idea of a concert series at the 18,000-seat O2 円形競技場. By the time the guests left AEG owner Phil Anschutz’s 郊外住宅, they had a handshake 協定 for Jackson to 成し遂げる ten concerts at the O2 in London in 2009.

Two weeks later, Jackson took a 抱擁する 控訴 at the Hotel Bel-空気／公表する in Los Angeles, where he created a home studio with a portable dance 床に打ち倒す and began 実験（する）ing himself in 開会／開廷／会期s with a parade of musicians and ダンサーs. He was eating 定期的に and sleeping better than he had in years.

すぐに after a March 2009 圧力（をかける） 会議／協議会 in London, AEG 大統領，／社長 Randy Phillips and Tohme agreed to 実験（する） the waters by letting fans 登録（する） for a ‘pre-sale’ 製図／抽選 of tickets on Jackson’s 公式の／役人 website. The 返答 was far beyond what either had imagined: the 場所／位置 was 圧倒するd by 登録s 注ぐing in at up to 16,000 a second.

AEG 用意が出来ている 計画（する）s to at least 二塁打 the number of O2 concerts. When Jackson 設立する out, he burst into a tearful 激怒（する）, 主張するing ten shows were all that he had agreed. But the reality of his 状況／情勢 was he had to earn at least $100?million to 避ける 破産. Grudgingly, Jackson agreed to 20 shows at the O2 ? a total which 最終的に became 50.

When the tickets went online, AEG sold 750,000 tickets to the This Is It concerts within a few hours, with little 成果／努力 and almost no marketing.

But Jackson hadn’t stopped using the 麻薬s he first succumbed to in 1993. He ingested pills in a pattern that appeared 無作為の but was 現実に based on his mood: 退屈, 苦悩 and 不景気 were 誘発する／引き起こすs. When he 訴える手段／行楽地d to a needle, it was usually below his waist, where no one would see the tiny 負傷させるs.

得点する／非難する／２０s of 観察者／傍聴者s had 持続するd all along that Jackson was neither strong enough nor sane enough to pull off a 復帰 at? this point. He had been losing 負わせる at an alarming 率 since the 告示 of the O2 shows in London. Yet he was humming with excitement when he arrived at the 中心的要素s 中心 in Los Angeles on June 24, 2009 for what turned into a run-through of the numbers he would 成し遂げる at the O2.

It might have been wishful thinking, but there was a persuasive unanimity の中で those who were 現在の that he was looking good. ‘Bioluminescent,’ was the word choreographer Kenny Ortega used.

That night, Jackson was unable to sleep. He was still awake at 10.40am the に引き続いて morning, when his personal 内科医 Dr Conrad Murray would finally give in to his 需要・要求するs and 料金d 25 milligrams of the soporific Diprivan into Jackson’s IV. Jackson の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs, his breathing slowed and he went to sleep just moments after the 麻薬 entered his bloodstream. The King of Pop would never 回復する consciousness.

Music 産業 magazine Billboard 概算の Jackson 生成するd $1?billion income in the year after his death. He sold more albums in 2009 than any other artist globally. Sony paid the 広い地所 an 前進する of $60?million for the 権利 s to the film This Is It: it 甚だしい／１２ダースd $261?million 世界的な. Branca 結局 交渉するd with Sony for a new 契約 with a 保証（人） of $250million for the 権利 to 分配する unreleased 構成要素, remixes and reissues of albums.

As his father Joe Jackson so choicely 観察するd, Michael really was ‘価値（がある） more dead than alive’.

• Untouchable: The Strange Life And 悲劇の Death Of Michael Jackson, by Randall Sullivan, is published by Grove 圧力（をかける）, 定価つきの £18.99. To order your copy at £16.99 with? 解放する／自由な p&p, call The Review Bookstore on 0843 382 1111 or? go to mailshop.co.uk/調書をとる／予約するs

A FAMILY AND HAPPINESS FOR $8MILLION

The 生物学の mother of Prince and Paris was a tall, beefy, Germanic-looking blonde. Debbie 列／漕ぐ／騒動 was brought up as the 可決する・採択するd daughter of a millionaire ユダヤ人の couple from Malibu. She didn’t have her first boyfriend until she was 30, but within two years was a ‘biker babe’ tricked out in 黒人／ボイコット leather, who swore like a sailor and drank like one, too.

列／漕ぐ／騒動 got to know Jackson in the Nineties, when she was wo rking as a nurse for his 肌 doctor, Arnold Klein. A 確かな intimacy had developed between the two when Jackson dripped a 肌-bleaching スパイ／執行官 on his scrotum and 列／漕ぐ／騒動 …に出席するd to his 燃やすs. Klein and 列／漕ぐ／騒動 began travelling with Jackson. When the singer 小旅行するd, she would give him massages.

In 1996, as his 19-month marriage to Lisa Marie Presley was ending, he confided his 苦しめる over his wife’s 拒絶 to 耐える him children. 列／漕ぐ／騒動 said she would be happy to take the 職業. She was already 妊娠している, by in-vitro insemination, in November 1996 when the couple married at the Sheraton Hotel in Sydney, Australia. The best man at the 儀式 was an eight-year-old boy.

After 交流ing つつく／ペックs on the cheek, the couple retired to separate 控訴s and never slept in the same bed.

Michael Joseph Jackson Jnr ? soon to be known as Prince ? was born in February 1997. 列／漕ぐ／騒動 said she had ‘never seen Michael so happy’, and 申し込む／申し出d to serve as surrogate a second time. Paris Michael Katherine Jackson was born in April 1998.

Jackson 離婚d 列／漕ぐ／騒動 in 1999, 安全な・保証するing 単独の 保護／拘留 of the kids with a 取引，協定 to 支払う／賃金 her a 報告（する）／憶測d $8?million and buy her a house in Beverly Hills.