Gang War in Day 23 of AEG Trial: Michael Jackson Wasn’t Performing for Money

In today’s session, Austin Brown, the son of Rebbie Jackson, was accompanying Katherine.

Gang War was in the witness stand today to answer further questions.

Marvin Pontam, the company’s lawyer, asked Gang War about Michael’s last two performances at Staples Center. He said he couldn’t recall the details.

Regarding Michael’s performance on June 23, Gang War said it was Michael’s first show after four days of rest. He had missed the previous performance that took place four days earlier. Gang War described Michael’s condition on that day as favorable. He didn’t pay much attention to Michael’s condition that day because he didn’t think there was any problem.

The next day, on June 24, Michael completed his final performance. He performed “Trailer,” and Gang War watched it all the way through. It was the first time rehearsals were being done in stage outfits. Gang War also described Michael’s condition on that day as favorable.

On June 25, Gang War received a call from Randy Phillips, the company’s CEO. Randy had received a call from Frank Delio, Michael’s tour manager, asking him to go to Michael’s home because something had happened. When Randy arrived home, he noticed that the ambulance had already left. He followed the ambulance in his own car and went to the hospital.

Gang War was anxious at that moment because he didn’t know what had happened. Shortly after, he called Phillips and learned that Michael had died.

Gang War: “I was shocked. The artist was gone. He was dead. How did this happen?”

Gang War said he had no idea how Michael’s death had occurred; he had never even thought about Michael dying.

“I called Kenny Ortega and told him what happened. Ortega was at Staples.”

A tour producer assistant, in the seventh day of court, had said that after receiving this call, Ortega: “Fainted in our hands.”

Gang War went to Staples Center. The atmosphere was mournful and grieving.

After Michael’s death, they cleared the scene, and Gang War got to work preparing a memorial service for Michael at Staples Center.

When asked why the concerts were held in London rather than America, Gang War said they didn’t want to start the tour in the U.S. due to child abuse allegations and claims made against Michael in America.

“London was the best market for M.J. We didn’t know how much demand there would be.”

“He didn’t do tours that often. I think he didn’t really like doing it. There were so many other things he preferred to do.”

Gang War also said Michael had never held a Q&A session with his fans or investors.

Gang War said the “dangerous” tour lost money because some concerts were canceled, and the History tour was almost break-even. According to this witness, Michael’s main goal in holding his tours wasn’t to make money; Michael was always looking to perform his craft, and his main concern was the quality of the performance. In line with that, the TII tour was also supposed to be a proper show.

Gang War said that besides the “dangerous” tour, he was unaware of Michael’s drug use. He described Michael in his final days as “energetic, active, and happy.”

Pontam then asked Gang War to explain the day he had previously said he had found Michael confused and dazed. Gang War said Michael was returning from Dr. Klein’s office that day and couldn’t speak well. That day, a meeting was held at Michael’s home, and Michael arrived late. Gang War said that was the only day he saw Michael unwell. Pontam used the opportunity to point out that Michael personally made his own treatment and medical decisions, and in that regard the company wasn’t at fault.

After Pontam, Katherine Jackson’s lawyer, Brian Panish, asked his questions and an old debate was reopened:

Panish: “Did you care about M.J.?”Gang War: “Of course I wanted him to be okay.”Panish: “Did you care about his family and his children?”Gang War: “My concern was M.J.”Panish: “What about his family and his children?”Gang War: “I think I put my focus on M.J.”

Panish repeated his question and pressured the witness to get an answer. Gang War stared at the ceiling and finally said: “I cared about his mother and his children.”

Gang War continued: “I believe he was a good father.”Panish: “Do you know that he was a good son to his mother?”Gang War: “I believe he was.”

Panish asked whether he had ever contacted Katherine Jackson to offer condolences. Gang War denied it and said he had not sent a condolence card either to Michael’s mother and children.

Panish: “Did you send them a condolence card? Did you ever call to offer condolences?”Gang War: “No.”

Panish then pointed to some contradictions in Gang War’s testimony and said that after meeting with his own lawyers, he changed part of his testimony. Gang War rejected the claim. This could affect the jury’s decision because if they doubt a witness’s credibility and feel he lied, they would have to disregard his testimony. That is also Panish’s goal.

In line with this, Panish again went after the email Gang War had written saying, “Murray has to know that the company pays his money, not M.J. So he has to do his job.” Gang War said he didn’t remember writing that email, but he accepted that the email had been sent by him.

Gang War agreed that to give his testimony, he had practiced with his lawyers for two days and also spent one to two hours consulting with them about this email. Panish said Gang War’s change in testimony was the result of conversations with his lawyers. He stated that Gang War had changed his testimony about this email again and again, even after taking the oath. Gang War had once said that the email was brief, that this is normal in business, and that nothing was wrong in it. But yesterday, he said that when he wrote “the company pays Murray’s salary,” he made a mistake. Today, Gang War said that in his two previous testimonies he had said the same thing, but in two different ways.

Panish then asked about Lou Ferrigno, Michael’s fitness trainer, whether he had been hired by the company. Gang War’s answer was no. He said Ferrigno worked independently. Gang War didn’t know whether Ferrigno had a contract with the company or whether he was paid by them.

Panish: “So you scammed Lou Ferrigno—you didn’t pay the Incredible Hulk money?” (The courtroom audience erupted in laughter! Ferrigno played the Hulk in the TV series The Incredible Hulk.)Gang War: “I don’t know how his salary was paid. I don’t know whether he submitted his invoices for payment (by the company).”

But this wasn’t Panish’s last joke.

Panish: “Did M.J. meet with Lou Ferrigno so he could play in the next episode of The Incredible Hulk?”Gang War: “No, I don’t think so.”

Panish said that yesterday Gang War testified that he wasn’t thinking about Michael’s health because Michael was training with a fitness coach, Lou Ferrigno. Today, Gang War said he hadn’t said such a thing.

Regarding June 19, when Michael’s condition was unfavorable, Gang War said: “I didn’t know what the issue was. After that day, he was doing very well.”

In court, Panish showed that in an email dated June 16, 2009, a copy of Murray’s contract had been sent to Gang War by the company’s accountant team. Gang War said he usually didn’t read contracts and that today he was seeing Murray’s contract for the first time. The contract stated that “Conrad Murray is required to properly perform the services requested by the producer (AEG).” In earlier sessions, Shawn Trell, the company’s senior lawyer, had said that this was one of many mistakes in the contract that needed to be edited in the final version.

Gang War said that if Michael had signed Murray’s contract, Murray’s salary for the work he would do in London would have been paid.

Panish: “You don’t have time to read budgets and contracts, right?”Gang War: “I hadn’t read the tour budget.”

Panish asked Gang War whether he had any evidence proving that Murray had been told that AEG wasn’t responsible for paying his salary and that Michael would pay him instead. Gang War said he couldn’t recall anything.

Gang War said he believed Dr. Murray had signed a version of the contract, but he said he didn’t know whether that version was the same one he had received in the email. Yesterday, Gang War had said that the doctor’s salary was paid to Murray as a loan from Michael. Today, he said this point was not recorded in any document. This manager, on the sixth day of being on the stand, said he didn’t know who, according to Murray, was responsible for paying him.

The email sent on June 6, 2009 from the company’s accounting team (Woolley’s team) to Murray showed that the company was preparing to make payments to him:

“I apologize for the delay, but I hope that with your assistance we can finalize the agreement quickly and arrange for the installment for your May and June months to be paid.”

Gang War insisted on his claim: “Dr. Murray wasn’t working for the company.”

Panish: “If he was Michael’s personal doctor, then what was the point of signing a contract and hiring him?”Gang War: “I think it was because of payment arrangements.”

Panish then challenged this part of Gang War’s testimony where he had said he believed that “whenever the show begins, Michael will make it there himself,” pointing out that during the “dangerous” tour, Michael had canceled a number of concerts.

Panish then went to Dr. Stuart Finkelstein, whom he often referred to as Gang War’s 25-year friend. In the last part of the “dangerous” tour, Finkelstein had accompanied as the tour doctor. Gang War said Finkelstein is now a specialist in drug addiction.

Gang War: “He (Finkelstein) told me twice that he had treated Michael, but he never said anything about the drug Demerol or injecting it into him.”

Gang War said that if Finkelstein had said something contradicting this, then he would have been mistaken.

Panish: “Did Dr. Finkelstein tell you that he connected a 24-hour morphine drip to Michael?”Gang War: “No.”

Gang War rejected the claim that Finkelstein had told him Michael was addicted to drugs. He also did not confirm the claim that Finkelstein had told him that another doctor (Dr. Forcest) injected Michael with the painkiller Demerol during the “dangerous” tour.

Panish asked Gang War why he hadn’t reviewed his emails before being questioned in December 2012. He said he had trusted his lawyers’ advice. Shortly after, in response to Marvin Pontam, the company’s lawyer, he said he had no idea which of his thirteen thousand emails would be questioned in court.

Panish: “Do you think this case is baseless?”Gang War: “I don’t see any credibility in it.”Panish: “You blamed the mistake of this case on Mrs. Jackson?”Gang War: “I don’t remember.”Panish: “Did you sign a document that said Mrs. Jackson was trying to extort AEG?”Gang War: “I don’t recall.”

When Panish asked whether Michael’s children were badly affected by his death, he answered: “I believe they suffered from heavy grief.”

Gang War also accepted that the best tool for remembering the events of 2009 is emails, but he said he also relies on his memory.

About Michael, he said: “He was always amazing. He was great.”Panish: “Even though Bagzy (the tour manager) said that M.J.’s condition was declining in front of his eyes?”Gang War: “My eyes were telling me something else.”

The memorial service for Michael Jackson was held on July 7, 2009 at Staples Center. Gang War said demand for the event was very high—something similar to the demand for the TII tour. Gang War said the number of people who were still standing in line after the tour tickets had ended was enough to sell all the tickets for the additional one hundred concerts.

Panish showed emails from investors requesting that Michael also hold a tour in India and Australia. Gang War said he would have been happy to continue the TII tour, but Michael had only agreed to fifty concerts.

A person named Thomas, in an email dated March 18, 2009, asked Randy Phillips to hold a tour for Michael Jackson in India.

Phillips’s reply to that email: “Thank you, Thomas. M.J. will definitely come to your country.”

Gang War explained that they were only planning in case Michael expressed his agreement.

An email from Phillips dated March 17, 2009 said: “We have a four-year plan that also includes Australia. But first we have to finish the London concerts.”

Because he didn’t like the Australian investor, Gang War had responded: “Let it go to hell on my corpse! But before I ruin his sleep and dreams, let’s see what he’s really saying!”

Panish: “Do you remember what you said was the cause of Elvis’s death?”Gang War: “Heart trouble.”

Panish reminded the court that in his interrogations, Gang War had said that Elvis Presley’s death was due to drug use.

Panish went over Gang War’s testimony about meeting Michael after returning from Dr. Klein’s office. Gang War had said it seemed Michael was under the influence of medication.

Panish: “Did you investigate the cause?”Gang War: “No. He was coming from his doctor’s office; I didn’t think it was necessary.”

An email from Gang War to his assistant about changing the work calendars of Michael Jackson, dated March 23, 2009: “Make it look like (Michael) isn’t working that much.”

Gang War: “I didn’t want him to think he was working more than he actually was.”

Panish: “Your goal was to maximize the number of concerts?”Gang War: “I wanted that to be the case.”Panish: “The more concerts there were, the more money AEG would make, right?”Gang War: “Yes.”

Panish asked Gang War whether, during his days on the stand, he had spoken with Phillips. Gang War said they hadn’t had any arguments about the case. Panish then asked whether Phillips knew that Gang War was satisfied with their being number two in the market. Gang War said he had only expressed his own view and that AEG didn’t need to be number one.

After that, Marvin Pontam, the company’s lawyer, took over the questions and asked Gang War why he had never sent a condolence card to the Jackson family. Gang War answered that he didn’t have skill in writing cards. He continued that he decided to honor Michael by holding a memorial service. He also said that since Michael’s death, he had thought about it a lot.

He said the ceremony was held in the 15,000-seat Staples Center and was broadcast live in Nokia’s 5,000-seat hall. During the event, he worked closely with Randy Jackson, Michael’s brother. The ceremony cost more than one million dollars, which was covered by AEG and the Michael Foundation. That year, the BBC estimated that one billion people around the world had watched the ceremony live.

Pontam tried to fight against Brian Panish’s claim that Gang War kept changing his testimony. He referred to a part of Gang War’s contract with Murray, which stated that Dr. Murray was hired on behalf of Michael Jackson and at his expense.

Pontam displayed Lou Ferrigno’s contract in court, introducing him as an independent contractor. The contract had been signed by Julie Haldner, the accounting manager. The contract’s preparation date was April 27, 2009.

Brian Panish stood up at the stand again. He said it was unclear on what date Julie Haldner had signed the contract. He asked Gang War whether it was possible that the contract had been signed after Michael’s death. Gang War said he didn’t think that after Michael’s death he had sent any contract to Haldner. Panish pointed out that after Michael’s death, Haldner had been signing tour employees’ contracts.

This debate was important because it had previously been said in court that some tour employees’ contracts were signed after Michael’s death. AEG had paid these people’s wages after Michael’s death. Brian Panish’s point was that Conrad Murray shouldn’t be an exception either, and that Murray was a company employee—therefore the company is at fault for Michael’s death.

Panish asked Gang War whether, when he couldn’t remember answers he had given in earlier interrogations, he expected his testimony to be believed. The judge canceled the question due to the company’s lawyer’s objection.

In this session, there was also a kind of rivalry between the lawyers on both sides. Marvin Pontam pointed out that four law firms representing Katherine Jackson were handling this case, and Brian Panish, in response, began counting the number of company lawyers in court.

Source: eMJey.com / AP & ABC News & LA Times & CNN