Tohme, Elvis & Las Vegas ’ Doctor to the Stars’ Sleep Diet

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October 20, 2009
By LBG1

Of all the characters surrounding Michael Jackson’s final months and death, Dr. Tohme R. Tohme, Jackson’s self-proclaimed “unpaid adviser”, “business manager”, and “spokesperson” still remains a “mysterious” figure with a “murky” past. While it’s been established that Tohme has ties to Jermaine Jackson and Colony Capital and its founder, Tom Barrack, we’ve discovered another tie: a business tie that extends to Las Vegas and a man considered a “political guru” and “one of the most powerful figures in Nevada, and national, politics”. The same man, who, ironically, has his own tie to Las Vegas’ “Doctor to the Stars”, Dr. Elias Ghanem, a doctor who once had both Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley as patients. The same doctor who prescribed and administered to Presley the “Sleep Diet”: A diet which consisted of Presley, a serious insomniac, being “heavily sedated” for a period of up of three weeks in order to get some sleep while losing weight.

In a previous article, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login: we wrote about Tohme and his ties to Michael Jackson. We touched on James Weller, the individual who, allegedly on Tohme’s behalf, threatened Darren Julein of Julien’s Auction and his partner with “bodily harm” from the Nation of Islam back in February on LA’s Wilshire Blvd. if Julien’s went ahead with the auction of Jackson’s Neverland memorabilia.

Tohme and TRW Advertising



TRW website. (Logo lists Tohme, Weller, and Sig Rogich as the “three Principals”



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Above is a screenshot of another page from TRW where the agency posted its ad agency “street cred”. According to the site You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, TRW’s website first appeared on the internet in October of 2004. TRW claims it’s “won” over “2500 awards which we were unable to verify. We were also unable to find TRW Advertising on “top” ad agency lists-something you’d think would occur with so many “awards” TRW claims to have under its ad agency belt. In fact, we were unable to find TRW listed on any ad agency list.

The site does list “You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login:

-A 3 minute 30 second Michael Jackson “King of Pop” commercial on Jackson’s “This Is It” concert series slated to run at AEG Live’s O2 Center in London last July.

-A 90 second “tv spot” for Disney Magic Kingdom Stores, and,

-A corporate video on Colony Capital, LLC., founded by Tom Barrack.

Colony Capital, aka Tom Barrack, bought the “note” to Neverland, arranging a deal with Michael Jackson receiving profits if Neverland were developed. The person who arranged the meeting between Barrack and Jackson: Dr. Tohme R. Tohme, close friend of Jermaine Jackson. Colony Capital partnered with AEG Live to promote Jackson’s “This Is It” concert series in London.

Other than Tohme being listed on TRW as one of the “three principals” we were unable to find any other reference linking Tohme to TRW Advertising. We were able to verify that James (Jim) R. Weller is the same person listed in the court document that Tohme and Weller, along with a “Joseph Marcus” filed at Los Angeles Superior Court back in March on behalf of MJJ Productions, Michael Jackson’s company. The same document that listed Tohme as “President of MJJ Productions”.

Here’s the link to the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. The document, filed on March 4, 2009, sought a motion for a preliminary injunction against Julien’s Auction House. In the document Tohme stated he was President of MJJ Productions. Tohme stated that he had signed the auction agreement with Julien’s, and that Tohme “wasn’t authorized” by Michael Jackson to sell “any of Michael Jackson’s personal property”.

James Weller is one of the “three principals” listed on Tohme’s TRW Advertising website. A Joseph (Joe) Marcus was Jackson’s Neverland Ranch property manager for 18 years. Marcus testified at Jackson’s child molestation trial in May 2005. From the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login:

“Mr Marcus testified that he never instructed anyone to hold Mr Jackson’s teenage accuser and his family against their will, despite claims of enforced captivity by the Arvizo family.

He said an order in the ranch log instructing guards not to let Gavin Arvizo or his brother off the property was there for safety reasons, as the boys often drove vehicles in the grounds. He said he did not want them taking vehicles on the open road.

However, under cross examination Mr Marcus admitted that he had lied to police in 2003 about never seeing children sleep in Mr Jackson’s bedroom.

Mr Marcus also conceded that Mr Jackson had formed a “special bond” with eight young boys over the years, including actor Macaulay Culkin and Gavin Arvizo.

However, he insisted that it was not only boys with whom Mr Jackson’s formed a bond, citing the actresses Liza Minnelli and Elizabeth Taylor as among the singer’s close female friends.”

“Mr Marcus testified that he never instructed anyone to hold Mr Jackson’s teenage accuser and his family against their will, despite claims of enforced captivity by the Arvizo family.

He said an order in the ranch log instructing guards not to let Gavin Arvizo or his brother off the property was there for safety reasons, as the boys often drove vehicles in the grounds. He said he did not want them taking vehicles on the open road.

However, under cross examination Mr Marcus admitted that he had lied to police in 2003 about never seeing children sleep in Mr Jackson’s bedroom.

Mr Marcus also conceded that Mr Jackson had formed a “special bond” with eight young boys over the years, including actor Macaulay Culkin and Gavin Arvizo.

However, he insisted that it was not only boys with whom Mr Jackson’s formed a bond, citing the actresses Liza Minnelli and Elizabeth Taylor as among the singer’s close female friends.”

On July 7, 2009, HotIndieNews reported that an investigation in 2004 found “five doctors” who “continually prescribed drugs for Jackson. A former Jackson bodyguard, Christopher Carter, named the doctors, “Dr. Klein, Dr. Metzger (unknown spelling), Dr. Barney from Solvang, Dr. Saunders and Dr. Farshchian,”. Carter also gave authorities some of the “names” under which Jackson procured Xanax at pharmacies. One of the names was “Joe Marcus”.

Tohme and Weller were mentioned in a March 24, 2009, FOX News article by Roger Friedman. In the article, Friedman reported that on February 9, 2009, Weller asked Julien and his partner Martin Nolan to meet Weller at a fast food joint on Wilshire Blvd. Both Julien and Nolan claimed Weller threatened them on behalf of Jackson and Tohme:

“During the meeting, Weller told Martin and me that our lives would be in danger if we did not postpone the auction. Weller said if we refused to postpone it, we would be in danger from “Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam; those people are very protective of Michael.”

Julien’s statement continues: “He told us that Dr. Tohme and Michael Jackson wanted to give the message to us that “our lives are at stake and there will be bloodshed.”

The next day, Tohme insisted on meeting Julien and Nolan at a Starbucks, Julien says in the declaration. “At that meeting, Tohme denied any knowledge of Weller’s threats, and said that he accepted the auction would need to proceed as agreed.”

Friedman reported that Julien, upon arriving at Neverland Ranch back in July of 2008, found Neverland “in shambles”. Tohme and Marcus were mentioned in Friedman’s article:

“When I (Darren Julien) arrived at Neverland,” he writes, “I was surprised to see that it was in shambles. Buildings, amusement rides, industrial equipment, personal automobiles, and Jackson’s personal zoo and Tipi village were falling apart. Gardens and lawns were overgrown. Joe Marcus [Jackson’s chief of security] and Tohme informed us that Jackson had abandoned the property and has not been there since the trial in 2005.”

Friedman wrote about Tohme and the TRW website:

“On the website for TRW Advertising, Tohme — who is Lebanese — asserts that he’s Ambassador at Large to the country of Senegal. Yesterday I spoke with a representative for that country at their Washington embassy who said he’d never heard of Tohme R. Tohme. “There are two ambassadors at large,” said Mr. Mansour Gueye. “He isn’t one of them.”

Friedman looked into Weller’s “credentials”:

“Weller, accused of making the threat, did not return messages. In contrast to Tohme, Weller is considered legit. On the TRW site he lists over twenty years of experience in the advertising world, much of it in Republican politics and verifiable. An associate says he’s known Weller for most of that time, and he’s on the up and up. Tohme is a different story.”

We were intrigued. How did an “award winning” adman, Jim Weller, who’s listed as “President” of TRW, winner of “thousands” of ad awards-the claim on TRW’s website-and a partner with Tohme, whom journalist Roger Friedman states is on the “up and up”, end up at a fast food joint last February on LA’s Wilshire Blvd, allegedly threatening bodily harm to Darren Julien and his associate from the Nation of Islam on behalf of Michael Jackson and Dr. Tohme?

While Dr. Tohme continues to be a “mysterious” figure in Jackson’s life, James Weller, in regards to the Michael Jackson story has been firmly planted even further in the shadows. Here’s what we discovered at the website, Zoominfo.com, which allows people to post their “business profiles”:

Weller’s “Biography” on Zoominfo.com:

“Winner Cannes Film Festival, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, Creative Director 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Creative Director of the 1988 George HW Bush National Presidential Campaign, Creative Director of the Tuesday Team, The 1984 Ronald Reagan National Presidential Campaign.Winner of The Cannes Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, The One Show, The New York Art Directors Show, The Addys, Andys, Emmys, Effies, Clios, Creative Director/Writer on 2 of “10 Greatest Ad Campaigns of All Time” (Ad Age, Ad Week)Creative Director/Partner, TRW Advertising/AdvisingCreative Director/Ptr, Weller O’sullivan Zuckerman, LightcapCreative Director/Partner, Weller & O’SullivanCreative Consultant, DMB&B AdvertisingCreative Director/Partner, Hal Riney AdvertisingCreative Director/Partner, Della Femina AdvertisingCreative Director/Partner Della Femina & Travisano”

Weller stated:

“Winner Cannes Film Festival”.

Could be, but then again we were unable to cooberate this claim.

“Senior Advisor to the President of the United States.”

Weller’s claim is rather vague as he failed to state which President he was a “Senior Advisor” to. Research into past Presidents and Senior Advisers failed to turn up any mention of Weller.

Even so, Weller’s claim of ad work on political campaigns is verifiable as well as the fact that Weller and the “third principal” of TRW”, Sig Rogich, ties extend back to 1984 and the Reagan campaign. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A few weeks earlier, in June 1984, Riney had received a telephone call from a New York copywriter, Jim Weller, who asked him to join a team of advertising people being assembled to create work for the campaign.

The team included Phil Dusenberry, now retired as chairman of the BBDO agency in New York, and Sig Rogich, a Las Vegas public relations man. Riney agreed, and there followed two days of briefings by Republican pollster Richard Wirthlin and other Reagan aides in Washington.

In 1986, The New York Times reported Weller was executive vice president, director of creative services worldwide for Della Femina, Travisano & Partners.

The sponsored life: ads, TV, and American culture, by Leslie Savan, cited Weller’s work in the late 1980’s. According to Savan, Weller used a “swatch” of Ennio Morricone’s “The Mission” musical score for a Maxwell House Coffee commercial as well as Weller creating the musical theme for a Citizen Watch commercial. Both Maxwell House and Citizen Watch ads were listed at the TRW Advertising website.

Weller stated in his Zoominfo bio that he was currently “President and Creative Director” at TRW. He also stated that he had been a partner at Weller O’Sullivan. According to an article published by AllBusiness.com in 1999, Weller and O’ Sullivan had been three years prior, a “high flying boutique” with a “small” and “impressive list” of clients “including Transamerica, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Walt Disney Co.’s Buena Vista Home Video, and the In-N-Out burger chain”. These same clients, minus In-N-Out Burger, were listed at TRW’s website.

All Business noted that Weller and O’ Sullivan merged with Zuckerman and Lightcap, New York, the same “Weller O’ Sullivan, Zuckerman, Lightcap” listed by Weller on Zoominfo. The “combined entity” landed the Pan American World Airways account. Even so, in 1997, the ad company lost In-N-Out, who moved to another agency while Pan American went bankrupt. The ad agency split up its east and west coast divisions in 1998 with the east coast office taking the Disney account. (Weller was the “west” coast division.)

In 1999, Foxwood moved its estimated $10 million account to another agency. Weller and O’ Sullivan, stuck with “3-4 million in billings”, relocated to a smaller office in Bel Air, California, while on the lookout for a buyer or merger with another ad company. In 1999, Weller and O’ Sullivan still carried TransAmerica, Fisher Telephone, and other “healthcare accounts”, while Jim Weller was quoted as being “optimistic” about the ad agency’s future. Weller’s optimism was short-lived, as Weller and O’ Sullivan closed its doors in 2000 with O’ Sullivan’s retirement.

While we were unable access to find any info linking Weller to DMB&B-which doesn’t mean Weller never worked with the ad company- DMB&B, D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, established in 1985, was acquired by Publicis, then closed shop in 2002. According to the site Wayback Machine, TRW Advertising was first listed on the web in 2004.

The third “principal” listed at TRW is Sig Rogich. Other than Rogich being listed on TRW, we were unable to find any other reference tying Rogich to Tohme. What we discovered about Rogich was quite interesting: Rogich has been dubbed a “longtime Las Vegas player, GOP operative, former ambassador to Iceland and all-around powerful guy”. It was through research on Rogich, that we discovered Rogich’s ties to Las Vegas’ “Doctor to the Stars”, Dr. Elias Ghanem, and Ghanem’s “ties” to Elvis Presley, and, Michael Jackson.

Sig Rogich, TRW Advertising’s “Third” Principal

While Weller’s adman “star” landed at TRW Advertising in 2004, and, at an alleged Wilshire Blvd. fast food joint shakedown back in February of Darren Julien and his partner, Rogich’s adman star rose to stellar heights, as Rogich, a Nevada native, is now considered a top media consultant for Republican candidates, including John McCann’s presidential run in 2008. Rogich is founder of Las Vegas based R&R Advertising and President of The Rogich Communications Group, a national and international business facilitator, public relations, and crisis management firm. In 1992, Rogich was named United States Ambassador to his native country of Iceland by President Bush and currently serves as National Finance Co-Chairman for The Republican Governors’ Association. According to TPMMucker, Rogich is a “longtime Las Vegas player, GOP operative, former ambassador to Iceland and all-around powerful guy”.

In 2006, TPMuckraker published an article on Rogich:

“Evidence is piling up that Rep. Jim Gibbons’ (R-NV) campaign staff and supporters tried to hide from public view the specifics of his late-night misbehavior with cocktail waitress Chrissy Mazzeo, as I detailed earlier. One name is consistently attached to the cover-up: Sig Rogich, a longtime Las Vegas player, GOP operative, former ambassador to Iceland and all-around powerful guy.

I’m not the only one who’s noticing this, either. “If Chrissy Mazzeo is to be believed,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported yesterday, “her claims appear to point to a wide-ranging attempted cover-up centering around Republican political guru Sig Rogich, one of the most powerful figures in Nevada, and national, politics.”

Justin Rood “counted the ways it’s been suggested Rogich was involved”. Ways such Rogich “squelching” the Gibbons’ story, “calling on powerful allies”, “hiring a private investigator” to look into Mazzeo’s background, and “cajoling the cops”. Rood’s piece is a highly informative read on Rogich.



It was through further research on Rogich that we discovered the ties between Rogich and Las Vegas’ “Doctor to the Stars” Elias Ghanem, Michael Jackson, and Elvis Presley and the bizarre similarities between Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson’s lives in regards to quests for cures for insomnia. Of unorthodox treatments such as Jackson’s alleged penchant for the surgical anesthesia propofol, while in Presley’s case it was Dr. Ghanem’s “Sleep Diet”, a diet administered to Presley in order to help Presley, an insomniac, get some sleep and lose weight while in a drug-induced state that lasted for “two weeks”.

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October 20, 2009
By LBG1

(...)

On August 8, 2001, the Las Vegas Review published an article on the death of Dr. Elias Ghanem.

“Dr. Elias Ghanem, a Lebanese immigrant who moved effortlessly among the diverse worlds of medicine, politics and boxing, died at his Las Vegas home Monday after a tenacious battle with cancer first diagnosed in 1998. He was 62. In his waning days, the Nevada Athletic Commission chairman was visited by myriad friends from all three worlds, including former President Bill Clinton, who visited him Aug. 21. Known for his skills as a physician as well as his charm and generosity, at one point in his medical career he was dubbed “the physician to the stars.” Among his patients: Elvis Presley, Liberace, Michael Jackson and Clinton’s mother, Virginia Kelley.”

The Review Journal also reported:

Longtime friend Sig Rogich described how during Clinton’s last visit to see Ghanem, in the intensive care unit at MountainView Hospital, a crying nurse told Clinton how she had worked at one of Ghanem’s clinics 15 years ago and had higher aspirations. “Elias said if she was serious about becoming a nurse, he’d take care of it,” Rogich said. “He was a profile in courage,” said Rogich, a political consultant and image maker. “They gave him a few months to live and that was nearly four years ago.”

(...)

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July 30, 2009
By LBG1

The LA Times is reporting that there’s a “battle brewing” between Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine and the temporary administrators of Jackson’s estate. The Times also mentioned concert promoter AEG. While the press is focusing on the temporary administrators of the trust named in Jackson’s will and Katherine, we see a different slant to this story, of AEG seeking to keep the details of its involvement in Michael Jackson’s final months as well as his death, under wraps. Details which, we believe, if revealed, will result in a massive wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live and Colony Capital, co-promoter of the 50 concerts slated in London. We also believe that yet another person will be involved, the “mysterious” Dr. Tohme Tohme, who recently “returned” $5.5 million in “secret cash” and items from Neverland which belonged to Jackson and which were originally slated to be auctioned off prior to Jackson’s death to the Jackson estate.

According to ABC, Dr. Tohme, Jackson’s “unpaid adviser”, recently turned over to the Jackson estate $5.5 million in ”secret cash” and a “substantial amount of tangible personal property”. Property which were Jackson’s personal Neverland items that were once slated to be auctioned.

On July 5th, we wrote about Dr. Tohme in Michael Jackson’s Death: Neverland, The Mysterious Dr. Tohme, President of Michael Jackson Productions?

Before returning the “secret cash” Tohme had billed himself as Jackson’s “unpaid adviser” and “spokesperson”. It was Tohme who claimed he had “set up” a meeting between Tom Barrack, Chairman of Colony Capital, and Jackson. It was purportedly this meeting that led to Barrack buying the note on Neverland which was close to being auctioned off. The meeting also led to Barrack contacting Philip Anschutz, a “reclusive” Kansan billionaire who owned AEG. It was AEG who lined up and promoted Jackson’s upcoming concert series in London at AEG’s O2 Arena with Colony Capital as co-promoter.

Tohme claims the $5.5 million in cash was a “secret” he kept with Michael. Tohme claimed he “handed” the money over to the Jackson estate. Tohme claimed the money came from Jackson’s residuals and was going to be used to purchase an estate that Jackson coveted in Las Vegas which Tohme claimed he was already in the process of negotiating a deal.

As for Tohme turning over Jackson’s personal items from Neverland, we found a court document from a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 23, 2009, involving Tohme and the auctioning off of those items and where Tohme listed himself as “President of MJJ Productions”.

MJJ Productions Inc. is Jackson’s bonafide company founded in 2000 whose offices are listed as located at 9255 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.

On July 4, during an AP interview, Tohme never mentioned his role as president of MJJ Productions. Instead, Tohme was referred as Jackson’s “last business manager and spokesperson”. He referred to himself as Jackson’s “closest friend” for the “last year and half”.

In court documents, Tohme listed himself as “President of MJJ (Michael Jackson) Productions. Tohme claimed in the document that “in the middle of 2008 a deal had been made with Colony Capital LLC to refinance some of the existing debt obligations on the Neverland Valley Ranch” and that “as part of the deal with Colony, MJJ had to remove all of Michael Jackson’s personal property out of Neverland” in “90 days”.

Tohme stated that it was he who contacted Julien’s Auction, LLC.. Tohme specified that Julien’s could not sell any of Jackson’s items unless they were pre-approved by Tohme and Jackson.

Tohme stated that he signed the agreement with the auction house “sometime, on or about August 8, 2008. Even though Tohme stated that he had “read” the agreement, he claimed that he “relied” on “Mr. Julien’s representations” that Julien would remove from Neverland “all” of Jackson’s property before any “determination” would be made of which items would be sold at auction. In short, according to Tohme, Julien’s was responsible for the cost of packing up Jackson’s entire property, putting it into storage, then allowing Jackson and Tohme to decide “which” of the items would be sold for auction.

Tohme goes on to state that “he wouldn’t have allowed” Julien’s to remove “any of the property that he (Julien) intended to sell ‘everything’ without first allowing Michael Jackson and I to consent to the sale of each item”.

Tohme stated that he “wasn’t authorized by Michael Jackson to give Julien’s Auction House, LLC or any other company or person the right to sell any of Michael Jackson’s personal property“.

On April 13, 2009, the New York Times wrote about the upcoming auction as well as stating “Tohme R. Tohme, the president of MJJ Productions, Mr. Jackson’s company, and a spokesman for the singer, signed a contract consigning to Julien’s “all movable and removable personal property located at Neverland Ranch.”

On April 14, the Los Angeles Times reported that during a suit filed “last month” in Los Angeles Superior Court-the suit claimed certain items “irreplaceable” and that Jackson “hadn’t signed the contract”-the judge had dismissed “the attempt to have the contract ruled invalid” and that Jackson’s company now sought a temporary injunction. The Times also reported to what extent Julien’s was instructed to remove Jackson’s “property”, such as “the hoods over the stoves” and the “light fixtures” and that Julien’s spent over three months removing Jackson’s “property”.

April 15, 2009

From News-briefs:

“Jackson’s spokesman Dr. Tohme R. Tohme and auction organizer Darren Julien issued the following joint statement: “There was so much interest from so many of Jackson’s fans that instead of putting the items in the hands of private collectors, Dr. Tohme and Julien’s Auction House have made arrangements that will allow the collection to be shared with and enjoyed by Jackson’s fans for many years to come.”"

The auction was “called off” with Jackson’s personal items being returned to Jackson. We found this quote from Julien dated June 26, the about the fate of Jackson’s personal items and whether the items would be auctioned off now that Jackson was dead:

“We returned everything to Michael immediately after the exhibit in April. It is still in storage. Under the right circumstances, I would agree to undertake the auction again.”

Last week the Jackson estate reported that it had received from Tohme $5 million in “secret cash” and that Tohme had “turned over items from the pop star’s Neverland estate that were once scheduled to be auctioned”.

Neverland, AEG, and Dr. Tohme

In our previous story we reported that Dr. Tohme stated that he had “previously worked” for Colony Capital. Tohme, as an “unpaid” adviser, had “escorted” Jackson to the meeting where Jackson agreed to 10 concerts promoted by both AEG and Colony Capital. Tohme also stated that he was “working with” AEG and Colony Capital.

Tohme, Colony Capital’s Tom Barrack, and AEG’s Philip Anschutz

Tohme claimed he set up the original meeting between Barrack, Tohme, and Jackson. One result of the meeting: Barrack wound up saving Neverland from the auction but also gained ownership, with Jackson given some sort of profit sharing agreement. It was Barrack who contacted the owner of AEG, Phillips Anschutz.

On June 2, Business Mirror.com reported that Barrack’s own fortune, which Forbes estimated in 2008 at 2.3 billion when Barrack met Jackson, had dwindled to the “multi-millions”. Barrack and Anschutz believed worldwide ticket sales to Jackson’s “greatest” comeback tour could exceed $450 million. The money that Barrack invested in Jackson was backed by his investment in Neverland. Phillips Anschutz’s AEG’s investment in Jackson: $20 million.

More from the Business Mirror and Dr. Tohme:

“In an interview last week Dr. Tohme Tohme, an orthopedic surgeon-turned-businessman who had previously worked with Colony Capital, identified himself as the singer’s “manager, spokesman, everything” and spoke about the benefits of dealing with business titans Barrack and Anschutz rather than their “sleazy” predecessors. “Michael Jackson is an institution. He needs to be run like an institution,” Tohme said.

The next day, however, Frank DiLeo, Jackson’s current manager and a friend of three decades, claimed he was Jackson’s manager and said Tohme had been fired a month and a half earlier. Tohme denied being fired but declined further comment.”

It’s been reported that there’s a “fortune at stake” for concert promoters AEG and the ill-fated fifty Michael Jackson concerts slated in London at AEG’s 02 Arena. According to Billboard, “more than 85 million tickets had already been sold” with AEG shelling out more than “$30 million” for pre-production and promotion costs and an estimated $10 million paid in advance to Jackson. AEG would also be responsible for the cost of refunding ticket holders to Jackson’s concerts.

Billboard reported that on May 12, AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips claimed his company was “well-insured” in case Jackson were unable to perform:

“AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips told Billboard.biz May 12 that his company was well-insured. “We have one policy in place and we’re negotiating for an even larger binder,” said Phillips, who couldn’t immediately be reached for comment regarding Jackson’s death. “We have insured the production costs. In order to get the first part of the insurance in place, [Jackson] had to have a physical, and he passed it with flying colors.” AEG CEO Tim Leiweke made similar comments in March at the Billboard Music & Money Symposium.”

Billboard reported that a “source” claimed there wasn’t an insurance policy in place and that even if Jackson had passed a physical, any “pre-existing condition or drug or alcohol related, a normal cancellation policy” wouldn’t have covered AEG’s losses.

On July 23, Insider.com reported that AEG Live had filed papers in order to petition the probate court handling Michael Jackson’s estate. According to the AEG spokesperson, AEG filed a request for “special notice, meaning we can receive copies of papers filed as part of the proceedings”. AEG went on to state that they were an “interested party” and that they have a right to be aware of the information”.

On July 29, the Chicago Tribune reported Sony Pictures had paid $60 million to concert promoter AEG Live for the “rights to 80 hours of Michael Jackson rehearsal footage recorded in preparation for his ill-fated “This Is It” tour”. Even so, purportedly 90% of the $60 million will go to the Jackson estate.

On June 26, the LA Times reported that a Jackson “adviser”, Tohme, had stated that while Jackson had picked Dr. Conrad Murray as his physician, AEG “paid the doctor’s bills”.

On July 22, according to Insider.com, AEG Live stated that “Michael Jackson insisted” AEG hire Dr. Murray and that Murray was “Jackson’s personal physician”. According to BittenandBound.com, Murry had been Jackson’s physician for three years and that Murray had been hired by AEG to be with Jackson “full-time”.

During his AP interview, Tohme stated that he had “built a fence to keep people out” in regards to Jackson’s privacy. Tohme also stated that he had “fired” some of Jackson’s security guards. Tohme stated that he had seen Jackson “two days” prior to Jackson’s death and that Jackson was in “good health” and that, “as far as” Tohme knew, Jackson “never took drugs”. There’s been unsubstantiated rumors that, immediately after Jackson was pronounced dead at the hospital, Tohme allegedly “fired” the security guards at Jackson’s home.

During an interview Jackson’s personal chef, Kai Chase, claimed that on the day Jackson died, she was informed by Jackson’s security guards at 1:30 pm that she would have to leave the house because Jackson was being taken to the hospital. She also stated that it was “about 12:05 or 12:10 pm” when Murray ran down the stairs and “screamed” for Jackson’s oldest son Prince. She also stated that she later saw paramedics “run up the stairs”.

According to the Daily Mail, Prince was taken by Murray to Jackson’s room where the boy watched Murray apply CPR to Jackson for “over 50 minutes” until a security guard called 911. Murray’s alleged behavior involving Jackson’s son could mean a separate potential lawsuit against Murray and his employer, AEG, of Prince being unwittingly exposed to undo trauma, pain, and suffering. It also calls into question Murray’s motive in retrieving a young child from downstairs to where Murray allegedly tried to resuscitate Jackson for “over 50 minutes”.

According to Hollywood Grind, Murray’s attorney Edward Chernoff, AEG Live owes Murray $300,000, two months pay. AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips responded by trying to distance his company from Murray. While Phillips acknowledged that the company had a contract with Murray, Phillips claimed that Jackson “had failed to sign it” and that Murray would have to sue the Jackson estate.

In his will Michael Jackson turned everything over to the administrators of his trust, The Michael Jackson Family Trust. By law, the details of the trust can be kept a secret.

On July 22, People magazine had this tidbit about Jackson’s estate and his mother Katherine. According to People, Katherine filed a request to Jackson’s the attorneys handling Jackson’s estate to “speed up” their efforts. Katherine alleged that, so far, the attorneys “apparently intent on keeping her in the dark as much and for as long as possible.”

What’s interesting to note is just who responded to Katherine’s request: the attorneys handling the Jackson estate, John Branca and John McClain, and AEG:

“Attorneys for Jackson’s estate and AEG, which was to promote Jackson’s big comeback concert this summer in London, countered that her request is “voluminous, burdensome and invasive.” They also expressed concern that Katherine would not uphold a confidentiality agreement for Jackson’s concert deal.”

More details have emerged regarding AEG’s attempts to muzzle Katherine:

From the LA Times:

“In their filing, Katherine Jackson’s attorneys said McClain and Branca refused to provide documents they had requested or placed “cumbersome and unreasonable restrictions” on access to them.

A lawyer for McClain and Branca denied those allegations.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” wrote lawyer Jeryll S. Cohen. She said the “cornerstone” of Katherine Jackson’s complaint was her inability to view a contract between the concert promoter AEG Live and her son. The contract covered a series of 50 concerts in London as well as unspecified film projects between the L.A.-based promoter and Jackson.

In a separate filing, a lawyer for AEG said Katherine Jackson’s legal team had refused to sign a confidentiality agreement that, among other things, barred them from using the information contained in the contract in any legal process other than the probate court proceedings.”

The Jackson estate administrators admitted that Katherine sought the details of the contract between her son and AEG. A contract which would include the details of whether the company had insured Jackson as well the amount paid to AEG if Jackson had failed to perform. The contract would also provide details about the personal physician hired by AEG. In this case, AEG has admitted it was Dr. Murray.

AEG stands to lose a considerable sum over the series of concerts Jackson failed to perform. There’s been no news that AEG has sought to recoup its losses by way of filing an insurance claim, a claim, that if AEG was telling the truth, that Jackson had passed a medical exam with “flying colors”, should be legit.

If it’s ascertained that Jackson’s death was caused by Dr. Murray’s actions, AEG, as Murray’s employer, could face a potentially massive wrongful death lawsuit from Katherine Jackson. AEG attempted to get Katherine Jackson’s attorneys to sign a confidentiality clause that would bar them using the information contained in the contract in “any legal process” other than probate court. Any “other” legal process could include a wrongful death suit filed by Katherine’s attorneys. If successful, AEG would muzzle Katherine Jackson’s attorneys as well as Katherine Jackson from revealing AEG’s role in Michael Jackson’s death.

By LBG

[somekindofsign]

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interesting annonimous comment below:

Dear sir or madam,

Please get this e-mail to Tohme Tohme please and thank you.
Dear Tohme,
I have been away for over 20 years and now i am back working on human rights lawsuits in our world. You and i were friends through my sister Robin Ross, the actress.
Robin drowned back in 1988 in England and i had to drop everything and go help my mum, vinnie who you met back in the old days. it was a nightmare, with tv and the press because her friend Patrick Wayne new my sister. Johns son, everyone wanted to cover the tragic death.
Anyway my boy, I see you all over the internet and in U.K. papers too. How are all of our Sharmuta friends in L.A.?
I am opening a healing center on my private island I purchased for timber value, many years ago and the island healing center something, I want to talk to you about in the future.
If you get this e-mail, please get in touch and we can talk of good things, in the Obama century my friend. I will be moving to Arlington va. In the fall to pursue another cl action lawsuit in the supreme court of the United States. Big damages like the Arar case in Canada.

"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.
We have guided missils and misguided men".

A special verse for you my friend,

shalom Johnnie Ross

p.s. in looking for you i came across,
the law firm in Lebenon, do you know them.
Maalouf and Tohme lawfirm
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[the arabian nights]

i would like to thank you for all your hard work done on this thread and on the site generally

the research involved and the time taken is breath taking - thank you so much

i have been reading snips. it is truly upsetting that elvis was put under for 3 weeks at a time - to starve him  to lose weight. to place a healthy strong man in a coma - can you imagine how that came to be - the discussions the agreements, the pressure - for someone to agree to this

you dont just wake up and think stuff like this up!  Why would anyone want to be associated with this doctor?

you are certainly judged by people you are associated with.  

How in hell did mike get involved with Dr Ghanem and why?
I have to read your link to MJ death - but how was Tohme involved with the Nation of Islam? maybe the answer is in the article.

[the arabian nights]

like most of us, we do rely on our friends and pp they recommend - so if you have family recommending Tohome or Uri recommending Bashir or pa joe recommending Murray even if you have doubts - you sometimes buckle because of association and influence pp have in your life.

these pp pp once in - werent going to leave

can you imagine the discussions that mike had with Tohome regarding the wrongful auction of his possessions and then having to buy his belongings back - how he would turn in his grave to see his belonging again being placed for auction and even the exhibition.

[the arabian nights]

Why would Marcus be working for mike post 2005 triall after proving to be a hostile witness.

why would mikes stuff since he was a part owner have to removed in such a tight time frame?

can you imagine the madness that was surrounding him. i doubt mike had the capacity to tolerate litgation and business dealing - with him his whole life, but still litgation is not nice - shortens not lengthens your life

so he had the litigation with his mate in Bahrain , he had litigation with Allgood (maybe a better bet to have stayed with them), he had reports of ill health - skin cancer, he had his stuff being flogged from under his nose, no one looking after his interests , no one listening to him

he needed to clean house - but that is not an easy thing - he could not deal with all of this him self he needed staff to do this for him

he previously turned to his brother during 2005 and that did not work out - remember the mortgages - and now litigation against his estate

[somekindofsign]

In a separate filing, a lawyer for AEG said Katherine Jackson’s legal team had refused to sign a confidentiality agreement that, among other things, barred them from using the information contained in the contract in any legal process other than the probate court proceedings.”

Is this legal in the USA?
It wouldn´t be in Spain, you can´t rennounce to your rights, not even if you sign a private contract.

I think this can be a big key in the whole case.

How is it possoble that the official investigation let´s those things aside?

What if it´s not so, and there´s an investigation under secret about all this?

[somekindofsign]

On the Spanish forum, we´ve been cosidering those may be the two possibilities if this is a hoax:

-Michael scaping from TII, health problems, fearing for his life... little planification, only family (maybe not all of them) knows about the hoax (maybe also a lawyer and little more people).

-Michael  threaten by more powerful people, more planification, more people involved, everything perfectly orchestated.

I think the first one is the correct one and those articles and facts go to explain not only the hoax, but also what happened if this is not an hoax.

[the arabian nights]

i must keep reading

[somekindofsign]

However, in November 1977 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login was under suspicion for malpractice (among other charges) and was charged by the Tennessee state board of health with illegally prescribing more that 5,300 drug to Elvis in a seven month period. He allowed Elvis to consume over 25 pills a day . Dr Nic's last prescription on August 16, 1977 was for 680 tables of the powerful painkiller Dilaudid which had the potential of killing a stable of horses. In his defence Dr Nic told the health board that... "Elvis was getting over an eye infection and sore throat, but overall he was a healthy man...."

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[the arabian nights]

“In an interview last week Dr. Tohme Tohme, an orthopedic surgeon-turned-businessman who had previously worked with Colony Capital, identified himself as the singer’s “manager, spokesman, everything” and spoke about the benefits of dealing with business titans Barrack and Anschutz rather than their “sleazy” predecessors. “Michael Jackson is an institution. He needs to be run like an institution,” Tohme said.

this is the most evil thing i have ever heard

pardon my ignorance and for just dipping in and out of your thread- but on what basis did jermaine recommend this evil guy to mike

was it purely his wife's connection or was it business - because from what i have read he states he earns $10,000 a year,  is that the minimum for personal allowances in the states or something?

what i am saying is, it wasnt from a direct business relationship that jermaine recommended this man?

[somekindofsign]

He´s Halima´s uncle...

[the arabian nights]

However, in November 1977 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login was under suspicion for malpractice (among other charges) and was charged by the Tennessee state board of health with illegally prescribing more that 5,300 drug to Elvis in a seven month period. He allowed Elvis to consume over 25 pills a day . Dr Nic's last prescription on August 16, 1977 was for 680 tables of the powerful painkiller Dilaudid which had the potential of killing a stable of horses. In his defence Dr Nic told the health board that... "Elvis was getting over an eye infection and sore throat, but overall he was a healthy man...."

i didnt know there was a colour pix of the king in the casket - all i have seen are b+w - he looks too young to die
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