Michael Jackson's Estate Scores Big Win in Court in Child Sex Trafficking Lawsuit

JUST IN: A federal judge rules in favour of Michael Jackson's estate in the child sex trafficking lawsuit brought by four siblings who claimed the singer abused them as children, sending the case to private arbitration.

Michael Jackson's estate just won a major court ruling in the child sex trafficking lawsuit.

Four siblings, Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio, sued the estate in February, alleging Jackson raped and molested them as children for more than a decade. They'd grown up close to him, called him second family, and defended him publicly for years. They say the documentary Leaving Neverland changed that.

A federal judge in California ruled Wednesday the case cannot go before a jury. Back in 2019 the estate paid the siblings a reported 3.5 million dollar settlement, admitting no wrongdoing, and that agreement required all disputes to go to private arbitration. The judge found it enforceable. The siblings' lawyer says the family wanted a public trial and will now seek justice, in his words, from the dark confines of a private conference room.

The estate declined to comment. The allegations will still be heard, just never in public.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.

Source Read the original reporting at tmz.com