Cascio siblings say pop star abused them for years

Five siblings who spent decades defending Michael Jackson — with members of the family among his defenders during his 2005 criminal trial and appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show — now say the pop star repeatedly sexually abused them as children, according to a federal lawsuit and a New York Times interview published Friday.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, was brought by four of the five Cascio siblings — Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo. It alleges child sex trafficking, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and breach of contract, among other claims. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. A fifth sibling, Frank, has made similar allegations in a separate pending arbitration proceeding but is not a party to the federal suit.

The Cascios grew up in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and became intertwined with Jackson through their father, Dominic Sr., a manager of the Helmsley Palace hotel in Manhattan, where the singer often stayed. For more than two decades, Jackson ate at the family’s New Jersey home, brought them to his Neverland Ranch, took them on tours around the world and celebrated holidays with them. The Cascios called themselves his “second family.”

As recently as December 2010, three of the siblings appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show and denied any impropriety. When Ms. Winfrey asked Eddie, Frank and Marie Nicole directly whether anything inappropriate had ever occurred, they responded in unison: “Never.”

More than 15 years later, they say that was a lie.

Aldo Cascio, now 35, told the New York Times he was around 7 years old when the abuse began. Dominic, now 39, said he was approximately 8 when Jackson first abused him during a trip to Euro Disney. Marie Nicole Porte, now 37, said she was 12 when the abuse first occurred inside her family’s home, where Jackson stayed for several months following the Sept. 11 attacks. Eddie, now 43, said his encounters with Jackson continued into adulthood.

Some siblings said they recognized early on that Jackson’s behavior was wrong but felt too overwhelmed by his celebrity and outward displays of affection to come forward. Others said they did not recognize the abuse as abuse until they watched the 2019 HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland.” The film focused on two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged that Jackson had sexually abused them as children, and drew widespread attention when it aired.

After watching the documentary, the Cascio siblings said they were “deprogrammed,” their lawsuit says — forced to confront the reality of what they had experienced. They then approached the Jackson estate.

Before filing their lawsuit, the siblings told the estate they had been abused. The parties reached an agreement in 2020 under which each sibling received approximately $690,000 per year over five years. The accusations were never made public. In the estate’s account, the payments resolved what it characterized as false allegations.

But those payments ended in 2025, and negotiations over additional compensation broke down. The siblings are now seeking more than $200 million, according to their attorney, Howard King.

The Jackson estate has denied all allegations. Estate attorney Marty Singer called the lawsuit a “desperate money grab” and accused the family of attempting to extort the estate, pointing to their decades of public support for Jackson — including statements made throughout Frank Cascio’s 2011 memoir defending the singer.

The estate has sought to compel the matter into private arbitration, a move the Cascio legal team has characterized as an effort to silence the plaintiffs.

The NYT interview was published Friday, the same day as the release of “Michael,” a biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, in his film debut. The project was made in partnership with the estate. The film received generally negative reviews, with critics calling it “sanitized” — several noted its absence of any reference to the abuse allegations that have surrounded Jackson’s legacy for decades.