AG Court Session 12: Conrad Murray’s Pay Was Paid by the Company

Was it by coincidence that one of the most important testimonies against AEG was broadcast on television at the same time as Wade Robson’s statement accusing Michael Jackson?

On Thursday, when Wade Robson was accusing Michael on television and everyone’s attention was on him, AEG’s chief financial officer testified from the stand that Conrad Murray’s salary was definitely being paid by the company. Catherine Jackson’s lawyers’ goal was exactly to prove that Murray had been hired by the company.

Julie Hollander said that in 2009, the company allocated $300,000 from its budget to pay Conrad Murray for caring for Michael Jackson. That $300,000 was for the months of May and June, and it had been approved by Paul Gongaware, the AEG executive whose name was heard repeatedly in court. Hollander said she had heard that Murray was hired by the company at Michael’s request. She said Murray’s contract was a draft because neither Michael Jackson nor the company had signed it yet. If it were signed, his pay would be payable from the specified date (May 1).

Brian Panish, Catherine Jackson’s attorney, pointed out that $1 million for paying Murray had been included in the budget. Hollander confirmed and said that this amount was intended for Conrad Murray’s future services.

Panish emphasized: "If Michael were alive and the company had signed the contract, Murray’s salary would have had to be paid, right?"

Hollander: "Yes, if they had all signed the contract, it would have been enforceable and I would have been required to pay his salary."

She also noted that some contracts were re-drafted and signed again due to Michael Jackson’s unexpected death after his passing.

Hollander also referred to a document dated May 16, 2009. In this document, changes were made to the This Is It tour budget, and Murray’s salary was placed under item 29.

Two days later, Hollander emailed the company executives and asked them to provide their data to the founder and owner of AEG Live (Anschutz Entertainment Group—AEG Live), Philip Anschutz, so she could come up with ideas about the future profitability of the TII tour.

In her email, Hollander wrote:

"We are preparing a report for Mr. Anschutz and we need you to provide us with the latest and most important MJ news. I want this information by tomorrow. I want you to estimate the tour revenue in the U.S. and England."

Panish asked Hollander at the start: "They didn’t ask you about the tour rehearsal progress, did they?"

Hollander: "Yes."

Panish: "They wanted to know how much money the tour would bring in the U.S. and how much profit the tour would make in England, right?"

Hollander: "Yes."

At the beginning of the session, the judge discussed points in the absence of the jury.

She contacted Frank Dileo’s wife’s attorney by phone to ask him to turn over emails exchanged between Frank Dileo and AEG to Catherine Jackson’s lawyers.

The name Frank Dileo, Michael’s tour manager, had been on everyone’s lips two years after his death, during Karen Faye’s testimony two weeks ago on Friday. Karen Faye said that in response to her concerns about Michael’s health and lack of weight, Dileo had offended her by saying, "Bring him a bucket of chicken."

Catherine Jackson’s lawyers had requested for a long time that the emails exchanged between the company and Frank Dileo be reviewed in court. The company’s lawyers objected, claiming they represented the Dileo Foundation. When a court in Ohio ordered the Dileo Foundation to hand over the laptop and emails to Catherine Jackson’s lawyers, the company’s lawyers informed the court that Frank Dileo’s laptop had disappeared! Catherine Jackson’s attorney promised that he would obtain a copy of these emails from the lawyer who worked with Dileo. David Riegel, the lawyer who had previously worked with Dileo, said he had copies of these emails and would deliver them to Catherine Jackson’s lawyers. Over these past few weeks, the company’s lawyers worked hard to prevent the Jackson family from accessing these emails and told Riegel that he would not be allowed to do so.

But in any case, on Thursday, David Riegel, the attorney for Frank Dileo’s widow, announced that he would submit the emails exchanged between Frank and AEG to the court. He said he had reminded Mrs. Dileo that their representation by the company’s lawyers created a conflict of interest, and it would be better to dismiss those lawyers.

Riegel said: "Mrs. Dileo said she never signed any document appointing the company as her representative, and at this moment the company’s lawyers do not represent Mrs. Dileo."

Mrs. Dileo then appointed Riegel as her attorney so he could provide the Jackson family with emails from her late husband.

Dileo died in August 2011, and Riegel, who had been hired to handle Dileo’s finances and estate, prepared a copy of his emails and delivered Dileo’s personal laptop to his family in September. According to him, the volume of the email folder was equal to two gigabytes. Some of them may be personal, so for this purpose Riegel reviewed them and would only deliver the emails related to the court. Riegel said that Frank Dileo’s wife had asked him to provide any evidence related to this case.

In explaining the laptop’s disappearance, Riegel said Frank Dileo’s daughter had lent it to a friend who needed it.

When Catherine Jackson’s lawyers requested that the issue of representation of the Frank Dileo Foundation in Ohio be investigated and examined by AEG’s lawyers, the judge refused and said that everything that matters to us is that now she is not represented by these lawyers.

The judge also made an important decision regarding the use of Conrad Murray’s statements in court. She said the company’s lawyers could not use statements Murray made during police questioning because they were not definitive and were confusing. The reference was to Murray’s claim that he had been hired by Michael Jackson but was being paid by the company. The company’s lawyers couldn’t change the judge’s opinion. The judge explained that the decision about who had hired Murray was up to the jury.

Source: eMJey.com / CBS & ABC & AP