深度报道系列： Michael Jackson和John Branca（12月10日更新）

LS   偶要是能看完它就准备改行

李筱yoyo

感谢楼主，感谢整理资料的人

billiejean1986

谢谢分享～～～

stroller

这事真是越挖越有意思。

搜索了一下资料，原来2003年，MJ因为怀疑Branca与Sony有牵连将其炒掉以后，但在03年11月份又重新雇佣了他。Branca继续为MJ工作至2006年初辞职，并将自己所拥有的5%的SONY/ATV股权转卖给了MJ。

以前一直觉得03年被炒至09年又重新雇佣之间显得突然，难免令人有所揣测，补上这一段历史，事件的起承转合就顺当了很多。其实，很多事实都是本来存在，也是有据可查的，但常常被有意或无意地忽略不谈。

转两篇关于这事的博客。博主同样有其自己的立场，但其中的资料也很有价值：


http://mjandjustice4some.blogspo ... anca-2003-2006.html

John Branca 2003-2006

Enough is enough. I have seen blogs everywhere that maintain that John Branca was fired by Michael Jackson, never to be rehired again. Had any one of them bothered to delve deeper than their "one-source-research", they would realize that John Branca was both fired and rehired by Michael Jackson in 2003, and worked for him until 2006. This blog covers the timeline of 2003 through 2006, and the professional relationship between Jackson and Branca.

I am only going to cover the firing of John Branca in a limited manner in this blog, because it would be repetitive. My other blog with regard to Branca's firing by MJ is here. In that blog, it is already established that Michael Jackson began to have doubts about John Branca's loyalty and believed that Branca may have been funneling MJ's money into offshore accounts. Jackson fired Branca and replaced him with Las Vegas attorney, David LeGrand. The infamous letter that has circulated the Internet thousands of times dated February, 2003, can be seen here. In the letter Jackson asks Branca for "all of my files, records, documents, accounts for myself and all companies I own or control which may be in your possession. You are to deliver the originals of all such documents to Mr. LeGrand immediately. He will arrange copies to be returned to you."

After the investigation, Michael must have realized that John Branca did not embezzle any money, because in November of 2003, Branca was once again Michael Jackson's attorney. In November of 2003, Neverland was raided by the Santa Barbara Police Department. On November 19, 2003 a New York Times article regarding the raid stated that "John Branca, Mr. Jackson's lawyer, did not return a phone call seeking comment."

On December 25, 2003, Michael Jackson did an interview with Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes, to deny the molestation charges against him. There was a lot of drama that ensued over this interview. CBS refused to air the special "Michael Jackson's Number Ones" until there was a public denial of the charges by Jackson. This was when an offer was made to CBS to do an interview with Ed Bradley. Dieter Wiesner took the credit for contacting and making the deal with 60 minutes, but an MTV article dated January 4, 2004, states that "lawyer John Branca and...Charles Koppelman negotiated the interview with CBS in exchange for the network putting Jackson's 'Michael Jackson's Number Ones' back on its programming schedule." Roger Friedman's article dated December 31, 2003, states that the Bradley interview emanated from MJ's advisors, John Branca and Charles Koppelman. Part 1 of the 60 minutes video can be seen below. There are several parts to the interview, part 2,part 3 and the transcript. Although it breaks my heart to hear Michael talk about this ordeal, it was imperative that Michael's side of the story was heard. According to several sources, John Branca negotiated this deal with CBS, in late 2003.

So it is safe to believe that Branca was working for Michael Jackson in 2003, only months after he had been fired. In January of 2004, a group of Michael's advisors met at the Beverly Hills Hotel to plan their strategy for their employer and show their support through solidarity. Michael's senior advisor at the time, Charles Koppelman, stated that "it so happened that we were all in the same place, and thought it would be great to sit down together." This same article reported that despite the rumors, "John Branca, one of the singer's business attorneys, stated 'Michael is in charge.'" Below is a picture of that meeting. Branca can been seen at the table, on the left.

In April, 2004, the Los Angeles Times wrote an article which I could only access when I paid for it. However, this article was written when Michael was gearing up for the trial. Many were counting on the downfall of Michael Jackson, as most of us realize now. Yet, the LA Times states that "Jackson's longtime attorney, John Branca says it would be a mistake to count him out. Michael was counted out once before, when the Jackson Five lost popularity and came back bigger than ever, Branca said. Michael speaks to a worldwide audience like no other artist in history."

In October of 2004, the New York Post stated that "the role of Jackson's long time lawyer, John Branca, have been greatly diminished to make way for Brian Oxman and Thomas Messereau." We have to take this statement with a grain of salt. First, the source is the NY Post. Secondly, the statement is ridiculous. John Branca is an entertainment attorney, not a criminal defense lawyer. Branca's specialty is entertainment law and publishing rights. Oxman and Mesereau were brought in for Michael's criminal defense, and therefore did not diminish Branca's role as Michael's entertainment lawyer. However, the Post does maintain that Branca was employed with Michael Jackson as of Oct. 2004.

Logic would tell us that since Branca covers the entertainment legalities of Michael's life, we would not hear a lot about him in early 2005, while the molestation trial was going on. Most of the articles are exploitative in nature regarding Michael Jackson in early 2005. There are few that are objective. A Times Online article maintains that Branca was advising Michael Jackson in early June of 2005 regarding the ATV catalog. The article states that Michael "is being advised in the matter by John Branca, a well-known music industry lawyer, and Charles Koppelman..."

After Michael's acquittal in 2005, he was sued by the scam artists, Prescient. The financial group Prescient claimed that they helped Michael to find a way to refinance his loans and sued him for $48 million; the claim turned out to be false. Newsday, dated July of 2005, stated that "John Branca, a lawyer representing Jackson, could not be reached for comment." In December 2005, while Michael was in Bahrain, refinancing occurred again, and the Daily News reports that John Branca, Michael's attorney, could not be reached for comment.

And so we arrive at the beginning of 2006. At this point, we have established that Branca was fired in early 2003, and rehired in late 2003, and worked for Michael Jackson until the end of 2005. Since it is late and early 2006 is complicated with regard to the Jackson/Branca working relationship, I will continue this tomorrow.

stroller

http://mjandjustice4some.blogspo ... anca-2005-2006.html

John Branca 2005-2006

I want to discuss the refinancing of Michael's loans in 2005, which helps us to understand and transition into 2006. "Jackson, who was then awaiting trial on criminal child molestation charges, authorized his advisors to negotiate a solution that would have erased his debts and provided him with income of about $10 million a year...As part of the agreement, Sony Corp. would have purchased half the singer's interest in the Sony/ATV catalog for $200 to $250 million. But at the last minute, Jackson balked at the deal...Over the objections of Jackson's advisors, Bank of America then sold the loans to Fortress." Source is here. Instead, B of A sold the loan to Fortress Investment Group. An article detailing this can be found here.

My personal opinion is that Bank of America was worried. First, during the trial, a forensic accountant testified under oath that Jackson had "an ongoing cash crisis", because he had $415 million in liabilities and was spending $20-30 million above and beyond what he was making annually. Secondly and more probably, Bank of America was betting that Michael Jackson would be convicted, and Bank of America would be left holding the note.

Many will say that of course Michael balked at this deal. Michael did not want to give up part of his share of the Sony ATV catalog. However, consider this: according to a Roger Friedman report, "Branca --who was the architect of Jackson's Beatles purchase in the 1980's--has a 5% stake in the Sony catalog. Experts tell me that his percentage is tied to Jackson's, whatever happens." Reports state that Branca was making in the vicinity of $20 million from the proceeds of his 5% (some state 2.5%) of the ATV. So why would Branca conspire with Sony to take the ATV catalog away from Jackson, when clearly this would have been a huge financial loss for Branca?

Before we move on, I must admit that there is not a lot of information out there regarding John Branca's employment with Michael Jackson in early 2006. I have often relied on gossip columnist Roger Friedman. If anyone should hold a PhD in Michael Jackson, it is Friedman. I usually do not always agree with Friedman's assessment of Michael Jackson the human being, but Friedman's timeline is extremely helpful in understanding Jackson's complex business deals and partnerships.

However, Friedman is not infallible with regard to Michael Jackson. In an April 15, 2005 report, Friedman states that Jackson was offered a deal to sell part of his stake in the ATV catalog, and that Michael is being advised by what he calls Jackson's "permanent government, not the many shady characters coming and going over the years. This 'government' includes Charles Koppelman, John Branca, Al Malnik and Jane Heller." This information, is partially true. Heller, according to the prior report by Friedman in this blog, was not involved in the deal. In addition, Friedman also states in the same report that Branca is his "former attorney" and that Michael considers Branca to be conspiring against him to take away the ATV catalog. Friedman essentially states that Branca is and is not Michael Jackson's attorney in the same report.

It is also thoroughly understandable that Michael felt that there were those conspiring to take away his ownership of the ATV catalog. Michael was surrounded by vultures his entire life, as we all know. At this time period, Jackson was backed into a financial corner and emotionally drained from the stress of the 2005 trial. We know that he was in financial straits because Bank of America sold the loans to Fortress. If Michael had had any leverage, Bank of America would have negotiated with Jackson. However, as I stated above, it would make no sense for Branca to conspire to allow the ATV catalog to go into default. Branca could have taken a considerable financial loss if anyone was allowed to take control of his 5% interest

By 2006, Michael was once again refinancing his loans. This time, Michael acquiesced and agreed to a contract to give Sony the option to buy 25% of the ATV catalog in the future. The refinancing would pay off a $272 million loan to Fortress, and would give Jackson some spending money. Jackson was assisted in the deal by Ahmed Al Khan, an attorney for Prince Abdullah. Of course, we all know that after the trial, Michael left for Bahrain and was residing with Prince Abdullah.

As I stated above, there is not a lot of information regarding John Branca's employment with Michael Jackson in 2006. However, when the Joe Jackson petitioned the court to remove Branca as an executor, his attorney Brian Oxman freely admitted Branca worked for Jackson until 2006. Joe Jackson claimed that Branca had been fired by Michael for embezzlement of funds in 2006. Joe Jackson and Oxman apparently had their dates confused, as we know that Branca was fired and rehired in 2003 after Michael realized Branca was truthful and fair. There is no evidence that John Branca was fired in 2006.

Branca states that by 2006, Michael was listening to an increasingly odd set of advisers who Branca feared did not have the singer's best interests at heart. "He was surrounded and I had to resign. He (Jackson) did not ask me to stay. I resigned amicably." In 2006, after MJ fired other attorneys, reporters contacted Branca, and he maintained that he had left MJ's employ in april of 2006. For 26 years, Branca never left of his own accord until 2006. Branca's decision to resign is indicative of just how dangerous those who had surrounded Michael had become, and Branca knew it. Branca sold his 5% of the ATV back to Michael, and left amicably.

Branca obviously felt there was some kind of threat in order for him to make the decision to leave Michael Jackson. Michael, clearly had been surrounded by those who did not have his best interests at heart before, like in 2003 with Wiesner, Konitzer and Schaffel. But Branca stayed by Michael's side. Yet for the first time in 26 years, Branca left Michael's side.
WHY? And just who were these people who Branca was afraid of? Branca's instinct was right...just look at Peter Lopez.

梦幻庄园里的梦

虽然能看懂，但是确实不想看英文啊……
谢楼主分享，我还是仔细看一下吧……

斜阳漠漠

喜欢资料，可惜英盲
不知能有译文吗？
等待中

yanmilin

感谢ALEX的深度报道,还有小S补充的资料

一只爱迈的熊猫

彻底悲剧，一个字看不懂~~~

飞扬清婉

谢谢ALEX和STROLLER提供的资料。

我一直在找有关BRANCA的资料，遍寻不见。

大爷

神啊，全英文~大侠慢慢翻啊，我会经常关注一下的。看到那么多的英文我就

飞扬清婉

stroller 发表于 2010-12-8 20:06
http://mjandjustice4some.blogspo ... anca-2005-2006.html

John Branca 2005-2006

Branca obviously felt there was some kind of threat in order for him to make the decision to leave Michael Jackson. Michael, clearly had been surrounded by those who did not have his best interests at heart before, like in 2003 with Wiesner, Konitzer and Schaffel. But Branca stayed by Michael's side. Yet for the first time in 26 years, Branca left Michael's side.
WHY? And just who were these people who Branca was afraid of? Branca's instinct was right...just look at Peter Lopez.

其实我倒不觉得BRANCA会惧怕这个。

关键是那个时候可能MJ根本就不听BRANCA的意见，他被那些险恶用心的人包围，他们可能都在讲BRANCA的坏话（因为BRANCA会防碍他们），BRANCA可能连见都难以见到MJ。即使见到了，MJ可能也不相信BRANCA的话，或听从他的建议。
BRANCA可能是觉得继续留下去也没有意义。留下来也只是继续被人排挤，同时由于无法得到MJ的信任，也帮不到MJ什么。

注意到BRANCA专门提到MJ没有挽留他，那么他可能有点想通过请辞这种方式让MJ关注，试一下，看能否刺激MJ重新给他信任，从而改变情形。显然这一方式是没有达到这个效果的。
MJ没有挽留他，肯定也是让BRANCA有些难受的，我指个人情感上的。

BRANCA辞职，并不一定需要卖掉SONY/ATV的股份。
我觉得他卖掉股份，是一种决绝的表现，可能有两方面原因。
一是有点伤心。他跟了MJ这么多年，包括他最年轻最辉煌的时候都是与MJ的那些合作，肯定对MJ，以及为MJ工作有一些感情的。眼看着MJ经历娈童案事业声誉跌到谷底，MJ的财政也出现问题，MJ本人被那些贪婪小人保卫，而MJ又几次三番这样对待他，不再信任他。什么样的人都不可能没有点感受的。
另一方面，他想远离那些围绕SONY/ATV的形形色色的争斗，彻底脱离这些乱七八糟的东西。
所以，他决然地卖掉了那些股份。
要知道，BEATLES的版权是BRANCA出面买的，而ATV与SONY的合作，也是BRANCA出面谈的，他还是SONY/ATV公司中MJ一方的代表。不是因为过于受刺激和某些很强的原因，谁会就这样彻底告别自己曾付出那么多心血，并且显然非常有利可图的东西。

当然，现在他又回来了。

yanghui517

搜索了一下资料，原来2003年，MJ因为怀疑Branca与Sony有牵连将其炒掉以后，但在03年11月份又重新雇佣了他。Branca继续为MJ工作至2006年初辞职，并将自己所拥有的5%的SONY/ATV股权转卖给了MJ。

这个还真是第一次知道，谢谢Alex发的资料，谢谢小S的补充，谢谢飞扬MM的分析。又学习了。

albu

感谢楼主分享

alextoalex

Part 4 : How Jackson Snagged His Prized Possession: the Beatles Songs

Forty-eight million in cash would get Michael Jackson only so far in his bid to possess a musical crown jewel.

The coup a quarter-century ago that would hand him ownership of the Beatles catalogue -- one of the 20th century’s greatest bodies of songs -- relied heavily on an invaluable intangible: superlawyer John Branca’s guile and chutzpah.

Today, Branca effectively controls Jackson’s estate -- potentially the richest ever for a celebrity -- in which the Beatles catalogue is the shiniest object.

In 1985, the Branca-engineered Beatles purchase would radically redefine the dimensions of Jackson’s legend. In a few years of adulthood and relative freedom from his family’s shadow, he towered as a creative force as evidenced by the historic “Thriller,” the worldwide “Bad Tour,” his illusionary “moonwalk” and the iconographic studded glove.

Possessing the Beatles, however, revealed that Jackson’s business instincts rivaled his remarkable artistry.

Why the Beatles didn’t own their catalogue in the first place was unfortunate. Seeking to thwart the British tax collector, John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the 1960s formed Northern Songs, a public company, as the repository for the songs they wrote. The move backfired in 1969 when impresario Sir Lew Grade bought control of it on the open market through one of his companies, ATV Music. Seventeen years later, Australian Robert Holmes à Court acquired Grade’s crumbling entertainment empire.

And, inevitably, Holmes à Court, a notable among the era’s unsentimental raiders and plunderers of corporations, would put all or parts of it, including the Beatles, on the auction block.

In September 1984, Branca alerted Jackson, mentioning that ATV, a name the entertainer didn’t even recognize, was available. “It includes a few things you might be interested in,” Branca had teased Jackson, according to a 1985 report in the Los Angeles Times. “Northern Songs … Yeah, Mike … the Beatles.”

On Nov. 20, the lawyer telexed Holmes à Court, with a $46-million offer and a meeting request.

Garry Stiffelman, a Branca firm partner who handled pivotal details, described the ensuing months of negotiating and jockeying “the long and winding road,” the Times reported. There was the globe-spanning ordeal of verifying the authenticity all 4,000 songs in the catalogue, not just the Beatles' 251.

But mostly, it was the maddening antics of the seller, Holmes à Court, who repeatedly reneged on his word. In all, there were eight drafts of the contract, the Times noted. Holmes

à Court relished his reputation for tough dealing. “The Viet Cong didn't play by the rules, and look what happened," he once told Fortune magazine.

In May 1985, Jackson’s emissaries abandoned talks for about a month. Meanwhile, another bidder suddenly emerged -- the team of Martin Bandier (now CEO of Sony/ATV) and Charles Koppelman, a veteran show business executive and investor who’s now chairman of Martha Stewart’s empire.

Their offer: $50 million … about $2 million more than Jackson’s.

Ironically, while Koppelman and Bandier had no idea that the world’s biggest megastar was in the running, Branca had sensitive intelligence on the rivals. He, for example, knew they were backed by MCA Music, then headed by Irving Azoff, now CEO of Live Nation. An old Branca acquaintance, the lawyer had hired Azoff in 1984 to help with the “Victory Tour,” Jackson’s last with his brothers.

So when Bandier and Koppelman thought they had the deal sewed up, Branca called on Azoff to pull his financing.

The two apparently were the last to know they’d been sucker punched.  On the flight to London to -- they thought --  seal the deal, they spied Branca in a nearby seat.

“What are you doing in London,” Bandier asked him?

Replied Branca, “Just business.”

    * It's the Beatles' Biggest Year Ever

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Not until the Bandier and Koppelman met with Holmes à Court, Bandier recalls, did they learn the disappointing news: “He said I’ve made a decision. I’m selling it to Michael Jackson.”

Indeed, Branca had left nothing to chance. The bid, at $47.5 million, was the richest ever paid by an individual for a catalogue, the Los Angeles Times reported. On top of the cash, Branca threw in a Jackson benefit concert for Holmes à Court’s favorite charity and pledged a lifetime of income from the Beatles’ classic, “Penny Lane,” to Holmes à Court’s daughter, Penny.

“Brilliant,” Bandier said this summer, recalling Branca’s move. “Charles and I couldn’t do the moonwalk.”

To this day, 25 years later, it’s still evident Branca and his law partners remain sensitive to Paul McCartney’s stinging accusation that his one-time friend Jackson had stabbed him in the back.

“Paul’s representatives were very aware of what was going on,” said Stiffelman, Branca's law partner. “The part that always bothered me was the accusation that Michael stole it from under McCartney.”

Branca also had been careful to seek the blessing of Yoko Ono. She reportedly was thrilled that a corporation wouldn’t own the catalogue and hadn't wanted the headache herself of teaming with McCartney for a joint bid.

When it was all over, Jackson gifted Branca with a Rolls Royce, the first of two he would give him.

So it was that at barely 30 years old in 1990, Jackson now was fabulously wealthy  -- worth $300 million, according to biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of "Michael Jackson: The Magic and Madness."

But as the 1990s dawned, a dark chapter of eccentricities, paranoia, debt, lawsuits and scandal loomed.

Stunningly, 10 years later, he would be on the hook to one bank for $300 million, with his Beatles rights at stake and has relationship with Branca having turned into a soap opera.