After accusing Michael Jackson of abuse, siblings claim he told them to ‘hide’ from his lawyer: 'Don't come out'

The Cascio family, the family that pop icon Michael Jackson dubbed his “second family”, is now accusing him of abuse after defending him for many years.

Frank Cascio, 44, and his siblings Marie-Nicole Porte, 37, and Aldo Cascio, 34, alleged that Michael Jackson made them “hide” as children so his lawyer would remain unaware of them residing with him.

They also claimed Jackson estate engaged in coercion, deception, and betrayal in attempts to suppress their claims, according to court declarations viewed by The Post. Aldo and Porte describe themselves and their siblings as having endured similar “abuse” without specifying the nature of that abuse.

'Michael seemed nervous and paranoid'

“We were told by Michael to hide . . . Michael seemed nervous and very paranoid about the possibility of Mr. Geragos discovering we were there. He told us things to the effect of ‘the lawyer cannot know you are here’ and ‘stay in here and do not come out until I say it’s okay.’ He also told us not to make any noise,” Porte mentioned in the court documents.

After years, when they informed Geragos, who now represents them, he “appeared genuinely shocked to learn that Michael had kept us hidden from him during his representation".

Porte asserts that in 2003 and 2004, when Jackson faced child molestation charges not involving the family, she and Aldo were frequently present at the singer’s homes and hotel suites when lawyer Mark Geragos came to discuss the case. At the time, the siblings were 15 and 12 years old, respectively, The New York Post report noted.

Their declarations respond to a Los Angeles Superior Court petition filed in July by the Michael Jackson Company and estate co-executors John Branca and John McClain, which claims that Frank Cascio and unidentified associates are pursuing what the estate calls a “civil extortion scheme".

The Cascios’ father, Dominic, first met Jackson in the 1980s while working at the Helmsley Palace Hotel in New York City and became part of the singer’s inner circle. The family spent holidays at Neverland Ranch and travelled extensively with Jackson. Frank, who idolised the star as a child, later got employed by him as an assistant and manager.

A decade after Jackson’s death and immediately following the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland in 2019, Frank informed the estate’s executors that he had been abused by the late singer. At that time, the estate was prospering from projects including Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: One show in Las Vegas and the upcoming Broadway production MJ: The Musical.

Aldo and Porte claim that an estate representative visited their father’s New Jersey restaurant that December to meet nine family members , comprising three siblings, their parents, and some in-laws, to talk what Porte calls as a “purported ‘settlement agreement.’”

According to court filings, there was only one copy of the agreement to share among everyone, and it was read aloud. “The entire situation was rushed, pressured, and overwhelming,” Porte says. No lawyers were present, and the Cascios did not receive a copy afterward, they contend.

Porte claims that “we were told by the Estate’s representatives that if we involved lawyers, the agreement would not get done or it would take years to finalize. We were confused, frightened, and desperate to protect our family’s privacy.” The Estate referred to it as a “life rights agreement,” but Aldo and Porte describe it in court papers as a coercive settlement intended to silence them.

Aldo emphasised in his declaration, “The pressure was compounded by the Estate’s exploitation of our family’s relationship with Michael’s children. We were told not to inform them about the agreement or the underlying abuse, even though keeping that secret was profoundly distressing.”

He also points out that the Estate knew he was in therapy and had even helped pay for it. “At that time, I was overwhelmed by trauma, feeling that both I and my family were falling apart, and that there was no way out of the hell we were living,” he stated in court documents.

Aldo calls the public scrutiny as intolerable, stating, “Being branded a liar or extortionist about my childhood abuse has been humiliating, degrading and deeply wounding. I still struggle to wrap my head around the full extent of what Michael has done and the pain that continues to ripple through everything."