Under Oath: LaToya Jackson to Be Grilled for 8-hours About Claims Her Ex-fiancé Stole $1 Million of Michael’s Personal Property
Aug. 14 2023, Published 12:00 p.m. ET
LaToya Jackson will be grilled under oath about her ex-fiancé Jeffre Phillips, and the claims brought by her brother Michael’s estate that he stole priceless memorabilia from the late pop star, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that LaToya will be deposed for 4 hours by Jeffre’s legal team and another 4 hours by the estate’s counsel.
As we previously reported, last year, the estate, run by executors John Branca and John McClain, dragged Jeffre to court demanding he return a trove of Michael’s items.
In court documents, the executors claimed Jeffre stole hard drives, personal items, handwritten notes, and various electronic devices in the days after Michael’s death.
The estate became aware that Jeffre had the items — which they believe may contain unreleased music from the King of Pop — and claimed he tried to sell them to a third party.
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Jeffre has denied he stole the property. He told the court, “I have never lied about having the Carolwood Items or otherwise concealed the fact that I kept the Carolwood Items in storage. Jackson's family members knew I had these items.”
In a declaration filed in court, he added, “had the Estate simply asked for the property and not resorted to the premeditated set-up and bullying tactics, I would have called La Toya to inform her that the Estate was requesting the items, and the two of us would have then called her mother. If Ms. Jackson instructed me to give the property back to the Estate, I would have done so.”
The parties have been unable to reach a settlement and will be heading to trial. Jeffre has demanded he be allowed to depose 93-year-old Katherine Jackson.
However, her team said the elderly Jackson should not be forced to relive the painful days after her son’s death. Her grandson Taj filed a declaration explaining how difficult it is for Katherine to discuss the topic.
He said, “My Grandmother was and is still very affected by the death of my Uncle, her child. This was by far the saddest event that I saw her experience in her life. Understandably, she finds it very difficult to talk about my Uncle’s last few years and also about the very sad weeks and months following his sudden and unexpected death.”
Taj even questioned Jeffre’s claim writing, “I find it extremely hard to believe that my Grandmother would have entrusted Mr. Phillips to handle the storage of my Uncle’s personal belongings taken from the Carolwood residence. In fact, as my Grandmother knew, I had been entrusted by my Uncle before his passing personally to handle storage of many of his personal items.”
LaToya has yet to reveal her position on the matter but that will soon be revealed at the deposition.