Michaels goose is cooked.

[Drudge]

Jacko Shocked: Bank Sells Out Beatles Loan
Thursday, May 05, 2005
By Roger Friedman
 PHOTOS
   
Jacko Shocked by Sale of Loans

Michael Jackson was reportedly shocked Wednesday when he received word that Bank of America sold him out.

I can tell you exclusively that Bank of America has sold Jackson's $270 million in loans to a private hedge fund. The group is called Fortress Investments, located in Manhattan. Their principals are Peter L. Briger Jr., formerly with Goldman Sachs, plus Wesley R. Edens, Robert I. Kauffman, Randal A. Nardone and Michael E. Novogratz — all with substantial backgrounds in finance.

Their specialty, according to their Web site, is rescuing "undervalued, orphaned and distressed investments throughout the United States, Western Europe and Japan."

With this sale, Fortress now stands to become a 50 percent owner in Sony/ATV Music Publishing if Jackson should default on the loan.

Technically, he is currently in default. Furthermore, Jackson's deal with Sony comes to an end this December, at which time the company can buy him out for $200 million if he can't come up with a new buyer.

Michael Jackson has no one to blame but himself for what's happened to him now. He can't say record producer Tommy Mottola is a racist or that producer Charles Koppleman is out to get him. He's cooked his own goose, with all the trimmings.

Jackson was severely taken aback to discover yesterday morning that Bank of America had sold his $270 million debt to a group of private investors. But why was he surprised at all? In the last few weeks, Jackson has done nothing but spit in the faces of the people who have kept him solvent for the last 20 years.

First there was his private banker at Bank of America, Jane Heller. Heller came with Jackson's loan from NationsBank when it was merged into Bank of America. But the fact is, Heller has kept Jackson in carnival makeup and llama food for the two last decades.

Then there's Al Malnik and Charles Koppleman. They're not the Red Cross; they're savvy businessmen. But they worked hard for Jackson over the last three years to help get his house in order and off the auction block. Jackson was frequent guest at Malnik's Miami manse, bringing with him kids, nannies, etc.

In 2003, Malnik told Jackson that he should downsize his life, take stock and stop inviting children into his bed, before the current scandal broke in the fall of 2003. Jackson froze him out and the two have not talked since then.

Jackson also long ago stopped speaking to Koppleman and to his longtime attorney John Branca — two more advisers who kept him afloat. Instead, Jackson turned to a succession of con artists and hustlers who promised him the moon but simply mooned him.

There was also the brief infatuation with the Nation of Islam and the ill-fated association with Shmuley Boteach. To this day no one knows where the money went from the Feb. 14, 2001, Carnegie Hall event hosted by Boteach and Jackson "for children."

But the one thing Jackson had with Heller, Malnik, Koppleman and Branca — besides a history — was affection. They cared about him even when he didn't care about them. They protected him, too.

But last month Jackson refused a deal they offered that would have bailed him out of debt. He didn't like it because he thought they would get something out of it. In his characteristic sneaky manner, he turned to grocery king Rob Burkle of Yucaipa Companies to save the day.

Malnik, properly insulted, quit. The bank, which considered Malnik their only link to reality, obviously had enough.

Who knows what the moneymen that bought out Jackson's debt have in mind for the loan. One thing is for sure: The hedge fund's major principle, Peter L. Briger, doesn't know the former King of Pop and probably doesn't want to.

Briger will function very well as a stranger to Jackson, dispassionate and businesslike as the clock counts down to December 20: the day when Jackson will have to either put up or shut for good. One thing's for sure: He will get exactly what he deserves.

Sorry Trauma, Michael is a dumbass...


 
 

[KURUPTION-81]

is there any actual quotes in this or just some one's opinion.

[DonCorleone]

Man ! my man Mike ain't broke, he got more money than a mutha fucka. I know he spends a lot but he's still got enough money to keep half of the ATV shit. It seems like he's just testing everbody's patience and I mean everybody's.