London's Sunday People tabloid released a shocking report last week that claimed the newspaper had in its possession several boxes of FBI documents tied to Michael Jackson. Among the information revealed was that the pop star had paid more than $35 million as hush money to the families of children he had molested. Other expert analysis suggests that all of the Sunday People's claims are just phooey.
"It is obvious the paper took this old story and proceeded to make it seem new by adding numbers to it -- 24 boys paid off $35 million by Michael Jackson," said Diane Dimond, a writer who has specialized in covering the Jackson molestation case. "The problem is there's no evidence to back up the claim that Jackson made that many payoffs."
Adding to the suspiciousness of the "new" information is its supplier: Paul Barresi, a former porn star turned private eye. Barresi lost his investigative license in 2011 after it was found he fabricated evidence during a case.
The Sunday People stood by its case, releasing a statement that more-or-less repeated what its article had already established.
"Our article clearly states that we have seen copies of reports, phone transcripts and interviews carried out by an agent working for private investigator Anthony Pellicano who had been hired by Michael Jackson," said Rupert Smith, spokesperson for the paper. "The files were seized by the FBI when Pellicano was himself investigated in 2002. The documents then became part of the FBI's files on Jackson case numbers CADCE MJ-02463 and CR 01046."
Barresi's case for legitimacy isn't made any easier by an interview he game in 1994, in which he admitted that he tried to buy a falsified story from a witness during the Jackson trial.
"My interest in helping them was that they promised me a percentage of what they made," Baressi said at the time. "I was not on any kind of crusade to bring anyone to justice. Whether Michael was guilty or innocent at that point was inconsequential. My interest was strictly for the money, as was theirs, I might add."
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