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Michael Jackson

Morte de Michael Jackson: Neverland, o misterioso Dr. Tohme, presidente de Michael Jackson Productions?

Neverland is gone,” Dr Tohme has said. “Neverland is finished.”
March 2009

Just who is the mysterious Dr. Tohme Tohme, and what are his ties to Michael Jackson and Neverland? In the latest interviews Tohme claims he’s just an unpaid adviser and spokesperson for Michael Jackson, but in court records we found a different story, where Tohme claims he’s President of Michael Jackson Productions.



Jermaine Jackson press conference after Michael Jackson’s death with “Dr. Tohme” seated to the left

“I won’t live there again. It’s a house now. It’s not a home anymore.”
Michael Jackson, speaking about Neverland after being acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005

On March 19, 2008, Michael Jackson’s Neverland estate was slated for auction after Jackson defaulted on his loan. Jackson was informed that unless he forked over $24,525,906.61 by March 19, Neverland would be sold in a public auction on the steps of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The auction would also include “everything that wasn’t nailed down” such as personal items, furniture, appliances, and “merry-go-rounds”. The rides had already been dismantled, the numerous exotic animals sold and relocated. Jackson hadn’t lived at Neverland since 2005 when he departed for Bahrain after being acquitted of child molestation charges.

In May of 2008 it was reported that the investment company, Colony Capital, had bought the loan shortly before the date set of the auction. A private equity firm, Colony Capital, run by Los Angeles billionaire Tom Barrack had brought the property. Barrack had written a check for 22.5 million to “save” Neverland.

On November 13, 2008, ABC News reported Jackson had filed the grant deed of Neverland to an entity called the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. LLC., with Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. a joint venture between Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC. The deed did not indicate who now “owned” Neverland.

According to the LA Times, the owner of Neverland is Barrack’s Colony Capital and that Jackson entered into a joint “partnership” where Colony Capital owns the property with Jackson getting a “cut of certain profits” if the property were “developed”.


Painting of Jackson from Neverland that was slated to be part of the auction

In the spring of 2009 it was announced that Jackson would be auctioning off some 2,000 items of personal property, most of which were from Neverland on April 22. On April 14 it was announced that plans to hold the auction were halted after Jackson “successfully” sued Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles.

Tohme’s ties to the Nation of Islam came to light when the auctioneer of Jackson’s items, Darren Julian, filed an affidavit in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Julian alleged that during a meeting with Tohme’s business partner James R. Weller, Weller had threatened Julian:

“According to Julien’s account, ‘Weller said if we refused to postpone [the auction], we would be in danger from ‘Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam; those people are very protective of Michael’.

He told us that Dr Tohme and Michael Jackson wanted to give the message to us that ‘our lives are at stake and there will be bloodshed’.’

The latest mysterious figure in Jackson’s life and death is Dr. Tohme Tohme, who has been called Jackson’s “adviser”, “sole spokesperson”, and “business manager” for the last year and a half of Jackson’s life. So far the press hasn’t really delved into Tohme’s background as a recent AP report on Tohme listed his background as “murky”. The AP news article stated the Tohme used the title “Dr.” and that Tohme “apparently” has a medical degree even though there’s no record he’s practiced in the United States.

According to the AP, Tohme is an American citizen of Lebanese descent, in his “late 50’s”, and a “financier” who, out of the goodness of his heart and a relationship with Jackson’s brother Jermaine, contacted a “close personal friend”, Tom Barrack, Chairman of Colony Capital, to meet with Jackson. Purportedly, both Barrack and Tohme were “so impressed” with Jackson that Barrack bought the note to Neverland while Tohme decided to help Jackson get his finances into order without Tohme being paid for his services. And yet we found court documents filed by Tohme on behalf of Michael Jackson that list Tohme as President of Michael Jackson Productions. Documents that were filed in the March 23, 2009 lawsuit against the auction house set to auction Jackson’s Neverland personnel items. Also listed in the lawsuit, Tohme’s “business partner” James Weller, the very same Weller who allegedly threatened the auction house owner if he didn’t “postpone” the auction.

The U.K’s The First Post supplied a few more details about Barrack that the AP apparently missed, such as Barrack being a Los Angeles billionaire who was a neighbor of Jackson’s and who owned a ranch five miles from Neverland. Barrack son’s were some of the children Jackson invited over for “field” days. It was Barrack who contacted Philip Anschutz, a “reclusive” Kansan billionaire who owns AEG. AEG is part-promoter along with Colony Capital of the now canceled 50 concerts Jackson was slated to perform in London. AEG also owns the venue, London’s O2 arena, and the LA Staples Center where Jackson’s memorial service is slated for Tuesday.

According to Tohme, Jackson ‘allowed’ him to negotiate “lucrative business deals” that would “secure the future” of Jackson’s three children. One of the deals included the upcoming Jackson AEG concerts that were scheduled in the 02 arena in London. Originally slated for only 10 concerts, demand for the tickets purportedly led “organizers” to tack on forty more which, according to CNN, would be a “grueling schedule for even the fittest pop star”. The “organizers”: Tom Barrack’s Colony Capital and Philip Anschutz’s AEG Live. The London concerts were the first in a multi-phase package with Jackson, including plans for a 3-D live concert film, a 3-D movie based on Jackson’s “Thriller” music video, and 3-yr worldwide concert tour. Barrack and Anschutz had bigger plans for Neverland: a Michael Jackson museum in the “style of Elvis Presley’s Graceland, even Thriller casinos”.

“I won’t live there again. It’s a house now. It’s not a home anymore.”
Michael Jackson, after being acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005

According to the Daily Mail there’s an ongoing dispute between Michael Jackson’s family members on where Jackson should be buried.
The Mail reported that Jackson’s “business manager” Dr. Tohme stated that Jackson’s brothers want a Jackson “shrine” at Neverland but that Jackson’s mother and sisters “vetoed” the idea.

From the Daily Mail:

Dr Tohme admitted he had backed the brothers Jackie, 58, Tito, 55, Jermaine, 54, and Marlon, 52, in the dispute. But he said Katherine and Michael’s sisters LaToya, 53, and Janet, 43, had shot down their plans.

“Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Dr Tohme said: ‘His brothers wanted the final resting place to be Neverland but the rest of the family didn’t want him there for some reason that’s not known to me.

‘I tried with some members of the family to provide Neverland as his resting place and to turn it into something. I believe Michael Jackson deserved to be in Neverland – a grand place like Neverland.

He is the King of Pop and I think we will not see anyone like him in our lifetime.”

The “Mysterious” Dr. Tohme Tohme and his ties to Neverland

Tohme stated that he had spoken to Jackson about Jackson’s “wish” to “create” at Neverland a “special place” that was “ten times bigger than Graceland” and that Jackson had talked about creating a “veritable city for children”. Tohme claimed Jackson wanted to be remembered as a “great human being” that had “created as many happy places for the children of the world as he could”. Tohme said that he was “disappointed” that Jackson won’t be buried at Neverland but that Tohme hoped “that may change”.

It was during the 2005 child molestation trial that details began to emerge about Jackson’s Neverland, of Jackson’s bedroom, where an untold number of young boys “spent the night” with Jackson. Of the bedroom’s security system, how the bedroom door locked from the inside with a deadbolt and an electronic keypad which security personnel didn’t have the code, and a “special chime” that signaled to the bedroom’s occupant if someone were in the vicinity.

In 1993 Jackson settled a multi-million dollar civil suit with the family of a 13-yr-old boy who claimed Jackson molested him at Neverland. It was later revealed by NBC’s Dateline that during an investigation by the authorities Jackson’s private investigator Anthony Pellicano allegedly destroyed Neverland records which purportedly showed the names of the young visitors who had “sleepovers” with Jackson.

According to NBC’s Dateline, Pellicano, who was convicted in 2005 of 78 counts of illegal wiretapping and racketeering, ordered then security chief at Neverland Robert Wegner in 1993 to bring all the “sign-in sheets” of who had spent the night with Jackson to Pellicano. Pellicano also ordered Wegner to “destroy” all computer backup files. Wegner stated that during his three year tenure as security chief there were an estimated 100 times children spent the night with Jackson in his bedroom.

Dr. Tohme claimed that Jackson was in “great health” prior to his death yet the Daily Mail has reported that it was “greed” that killed Michael Jackson. Greed that had been driven by a “cabal of bankers, agents, doctors and advisers”. That in the weeks and months prior to the upcoming concerts Jackson was neither “physically” or “mentally” fit to withstand the grueling series of 50 concerts set up by AEG. That Jackson “knew it” as well as his “advisers”, such as his number one adviser, Dr. Tohme.

Ian Halperin, who claims to be a long time friend of Jackson’s, stated that Jackson was far from the glowing picture of health being painted by Tohme. Halperin predicted last December that Jackson “would be dead in six months”. A prediction that was only one day off the mark. Halperin claims that Jackson had an extensive wig collection to hide his graying hair and that his body was “skeletal”. Halperin also claims that Jackson’s voice was non-existent, that Jackson could “barely talk”, let alone sing 50 concerts. That Sony, whom Jackson was in hock to to the tune of hundreds of millions, was in the process of repossessing Jackson’s share of the Beatles’ collection of songs. That the concerts in London would allow Jackson to pay back a bulk of the debt owed Sony but wouldn’t solve Jackson’s other financial woes. It is Halperin who gives more info about Dr. Tohme, that Tohme isn’t a doctor but a Lebanese businessman, that Tohme claimed he had been an ambassador-at-large for Senegal while the Senegal embassy says they’ve never heard of him.

It was Tohme who accompanied Jackson to a Las Vegas meeting with Randy Phillips, chief executive of the AEG Group. Prior to the meeting Jackson’s handlers had turned down the proposed concerts. It was during the meeting with Phillips, with Tohme acting as Jackson’s “confidant”, that Jackson agreed to ten concerts. When the number escalated to 50, Jackson was told that this would be the “greatest comeback the world had ever known”. Jackson was purportedly to be paid ten million pounds with the lion’s share going to “middlemen”. Halperin noted that the concerts were scheduled at London’s O2 Arena which “has the most sophisticated lip synching technology in the world–a particular attraction for a singer who can no longer sing”, and that Jackson’s participation would have been limited to “13 minutes” for each performance with the remainder being filled in with choreography and lights.

In May Jackson purportedly spoke to fans after leaving rehearsals at the Burbank Studios, telling them that he was “angry” for “them booking me up to 50 shows”, that Jackson “only wanted to do ten”. Jackson was also purportedly driven by the desire to keep hold of his part-ownership of the Beatles collection, part-ownership that ensured his children would be taken care of. Jackson was also acutely stressed over the realization that, as the concerts drew near, he was physically unable to perform what would be the “greatest comeback” in history.

Michael Jackson was “surrounded by enablers”, enablers who sat by and watched Jackson “drug himself” into “oblivion”. Federal and California state authorities are looking into Jackson’s drug habits and the doctors who were involved in prescribing medications such as Demeral, Oycontin, morphine, and the drug Diprivan, an anesthesia used in hospitals.

Then there’s the doctor at the center of Jackson’s death, Dr. Conrad Murray, who was hired by AEG, the company promoting Jackson’s concerts. The Daily Mail reported that the Jackson family had become so concerned about Jackson’s drug use they feared Jackson would end up dead. The family had allegedly considered having Jackson admitted into a drug rehab clinic two weeks before Jackson’s death. The plan was allegedly nixed by Jackson’s “resistance” and the “pressure” to fulfill his concert commitments in London. Not only was Dr. Murray hired by AEG as Jackson’s personnel physician but he also moved into Jackson’s home and was present when Jackson collapsed and was later pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on June 25. Murray, a cardiologist, told police that he performed CPR on Jackson.

Murray had a long list of financial troubles. In the last 18 months Murray had over $400,000 in court judgments against him including credit card bills, education loans, failure to pay child support, and $135,000 owed to a leasing company. Which leads us back to Neverland.

Tohme claimed he set up the original meeting between Barrack, Tohme, and Jackson. One result of the meeting: Barrack wound up saving Neverland from the auction but also gained ownership, with Jackson given some sort of profit sharing agreement. It was Barrack who contacted the owner of AEG, Phillips Anschutz.

On June 2, Business Mirror.com reported that Barrack’s own fortune, which Forbes estimated in 2008 at 2.3 billion when Barrack met Jackson, had dwindled to the “multi-millions”. Barrack and Anschutz believed worldwide ticket sales to Jackson’s “greatest” comeback tour could exceed $450 million. The money that Barrack invested in Jackson was backed by his investment in Neverland. Phillips Anschutz’s AEG’s investment in Jackson: $20 million.

More from the Business Mirror and Dr. Tohme:

“In an interview last week Dr. Tohme Tohme, an orthopedic surgeon-turned-businessman who had previously worked with Colony Capital, identified himself as the singer’s “manager, spokesman, everything” and spoke about the benefits of dealing with business titans Barrack and Anschutz rather than their “sleazy” predecessors. “Michael Jackson is an institution. He needs to be run like an institution,” Tohme said.

The next day, however, Frank DiLeo, Jackson’s current manager and a friend of three decades, claimed he was Jackson’s manager and said Tohme had been fired a month and a half earlier. Tohme denied being fired but declined further comment.”

It was Tohme, who previously “worked with” Colony Capital, who now acted as Jackson’s ‘adviser’ and who also escorted Jackson to the meeting where Jackson agreed to an initial 10 concerts with AEG and Colony Capital as promoters.

It was Thome’s business partner who threatened the auction house who was set to auction off the very same memorabilia which will be undoubtedly be used in a Michael Jackson museum, which chances are, could be Neverland. It is Colony Capital who owns Neverland and who would benefit from a Jackson museum or shrine.

It was AEG Live who hired Dr. Conrad Murray, the cardiologist who was with Jackson when he collapsed in his rented Los Angeles Bel-Air mansion and later died.

Even though Tohme claimed he wasn’t “being paid” by Jackson as Jackson’s “adviser”, Tohme did state he was “working with” Barrack and Anschutz. Yet official court documents filed by Tohme state he is president of Michael Jackson Productions. It remains to be seen just how Tohme has, or will profit from his association with Jackson. What we do know is that he has been publicly promoting in the press “his desire” to see a Michael Jackson museum at Neverland both before and after Jackson’s death. And that, prior to Jackson’s death, as well as after, Tohme promoted the allusion that Jackson was “healthy”.

Despite what Tohme claims Jackson has said about his “plans” for Neverland, in 2004 People Magazinereported what Jackson felt about his once beloved Neverland:

“Brian Oxman, an attorney for the Jackson family, said the entertainer was depressed that his Neverland compound in the Santa Ynez Valley was violated when 70 Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies raided his home in November. Jackson has said he no longer considers Neverland his home.”

By LBG