Paris Jackson accused John Branca, the sole executor of her late father of financially retaliating against her and her siblings after she challenged his handling of the King of Pop’s fortune.
Paris alleged in new court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, that she and her siblings experienced a multimillion-dollar reduction in payments while Branca maintained an “iron grip” over their inheritance.
She asked a Los Angeles court to order a $600 million distribution from her late father’s estate into the family trust after accusing Branca of mismanaging the funds.
Branca has been the sole executor of Jackson’s estate since 2009. The pop star died that year from acute propofol and sedative intoxication leading to cardiac arrest.
Branca’s alleged mismanagement of estate funds included non-contractual gifts to colleagues, aggressive litigation, public attacks and a multimillion-dollar reduction in payments to
“Without belaboring the point, when Paris began challenging the administration of the Estate last year through her objection to Executor Brancas non-contractual gifts to his colleagues, her challenges were met with scorched earth litigation, public attacks, and a multimillion reduction in monies provided to her and her siblings by the Estate,” her legal team wrote. “This course of conduct and administration should not continue.”
In a separate filing obtained by Fox News Digital, Paris accused Branca of using estate resources for personal travel on private jets, improperly charging personal expenses to the estate and concealing the spending from beneficiaries.
She claimed Branca acknowledged taking multiple personal trips and reimbursed certain expenses only after she investigated them. Her attorneys characterized the conduct as “outright theft” and a breach of his fiduciary duties.
“Where the travel is of a purely personal nature, or in service of Mr. Branca’s other clients or business affairs, it constitutes outright theft,” the court filing stated.
Paris also accused Branca of using estate funds for personal gifts, questioned more than $604,000 in credit card charges and reimbursements, and challenged $9.4 million in executor compensation, $1.4 million in payments to his law firm and roughly $835,000 in public relations expenses.
She further alleged that Branca mismanaged more than $440 million in estate cash while pursuing entertainment projects that benefited him financially, including the Michael Jackson biopic, which reportedly required tens of millions of dollars in reshoots and rewrites.
Her legal team urged the court to reject Branca’s financial accounting and order him to provide a more detailed breakdown of the estate’s spending.
“Once again, Ms. Jacksons legal team raises the same hollow complaints and fails to acknowledge the unique structure of the Estate, which is operated as a dynamic business, with customary costs and expenses,” a representative for the estate told Fox News Digital. “No rhetoric can hide the fact that the Executors have taken an Estate that was $500 million in debt when Michael died and turned it into the most successful Estate in history, producing $3 billion in revenue and the biggest biopic in movie history, with a box office exceeding $1 billion globally.”
As for the $600 million distribution, Paris argued that her father’s estate plan entitled his children â Prince, Paris and Bigi â to trust income beginning at age 21 and portions of their inheritance beginning at age 30. She claimed the executor had never funded the trust, despite Michael Jackson’s death more than 17 years earlier.
“Michael intended for his children to become the caretakers of his legacy,” the petition read. “As each child reached certain ages, Executors were to increasingly provide for each childs independence.”
Paris’ filing cited more than $2.5 billion in gross estate earnings and approximately $850 million in cash or cash equiv
