Michael Jackson Child Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Dismissed in Favor of Arbitration

A child sex trafficking lawsuit filed against Michael Jackson’s estate in February has been dismissed, reports Billboard. Federal Judge Hernán D. Vera ruled on Wednesday, August 12th, that Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole, and Aldo Cascio’s claims belong in confidential arbitration rather than a public courtroom due to a 2019 settlement between the family and Jackson’s estate. “Although the allegations are horrific, the court is without discretion to do aught but enforce the language of the arbitration clause,” Judge Vera wrote in his decision. “While plaintiffs are fully within their rights to raise questions about unconscionability, those challenges must be presented later before an arbitrator.” The Cascios alleged in the lawsuit, filed on February 27th, that Jackson raped and molested them as children over the course of more than a decade. “Jackson groomed and brainwashed each plaintiff,” wrote their attorney Howard King. “After the abuse started, he isolated them emotionally, and sometimes physically, from responsible adults and from each other. He plied them with drugs and alcohol. He showed them pornography, including pictures of unclothed children, to normalize the abuse and de...