Wade Robson and James Safechuck may accomplish what countless prosecutors could not: prove in court that Michael Jackson was a serial child molester.
The purported victims must first overcome a major hurdle — both their legal claims were filed more than a year after the King of Pop's 2009 death, missing the statutory deadline.
Robson, choreographer to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, and Safechuck, who once appeared with Jacko in a Pepsi commercial, filed respective claims in 2013 and 2014 against Jackson's estate for unspecified amounts in punitive damages.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, when he could decide whether they may proceed.
If they're successful, Robson, 32, and Safechuck, 36, would have an advantage over previous cases. Thanks to discovery rules in civil cases, the duo would be able to introduce a wealth of evidence excluded from criminal proceedings — including, for the first time, how much Jackson paid alleged victims and their families.
Lawyers say the King of Pop shelled out nearly $200 million to as many as 20 victims.
Safechuck first met Jacko in 1987, when James was 8 years old. Safechuck will testify that Jacko repeatedly molested him a year later during a tour and that Jacko wrote a check for more than $1 million to Safechuck's father, a sanitation worker.
Safechuck's attorney alleges that Jacko molested Safechuck more than 100 times.
Safechuck claims in court filings that Jacko held a secret wedding ceremony, with the young boy as his bride. He said the singer gave him a marriage certificate and a wedding band as keepsakes and confirmation of their "undying love."
It was Safechuck and another alleged victim, Jordan Chandler, to whom Jacko's sister LaToya referred in a 1993 Tel Aviv press conference in which she vowed to "not be a silent collaborator in my brother's crimes."
Jackson would phone Safechuck and promise to "do great things together," while Jackson's mother, Katherine, for years would demand to know details of Safechuck's alleged abuse by Jacko, Safechuck says in the latest court documents.
"Did something happen between you and Michael? Are you OK?" Katherine asked him, according to Safechuck.
"Jackson was successful in his efforts to the point that my client endured repeated acts of sexual abuse of a heinous nature and was brainwashed . . . into believing they were acts of love and instigated by James himself," Safechuck's attorneys says in filings.
Jacko regularly dressed Safechuck in clothes identical to his and would tell reporters Safechuck was his cousin, a former Jacko employee said.
Safechuck's attorney alleges that Jacko molested Safechuck more than 100 times.
Wade RobsonPhoto: AP
Robson's testimony, if the case goes to a jury, would be the opposite of what he told jurors at Jacko's 2005 trial. Although he admitted then to sharing a bed with Jacko for at least a year, Robson said Jacko never touched him inappropriately.
He claims he didn't come forward until he started his own family after burying the "loathsome nature" of the molestations.
"I lived in silence and denial for 22 years," Robson said.
He was 7 when Jacko first molested him, Robson claims.
Each have sworn that the singer's modus operandi was to seduce them and their families with glamour, gifts and vacations to Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.
Robson's claims will be bolstered by former Jacko maid Blanca Francia, who has sworn under oath and is expected to testify in the civil case that she walked in on Jacko showering with and groping the then-9-year-old Robson. She also said she walked in on Jacko and Robson while they were seminude in bed together.
Jacko had always denied he molested children but refused to testify on his own behalf. In recorded depositions, Jacko mostly evaded questions about his relationship with boys, insisting only that he would never hurt a child.
Safechuck claims in court filings that Jacko held a secret wedding ceremony, with the young boy as his bride.
Those depositions, taken during music-industry-related lawsuits from the 1990s and early 2000s, include one video in which Jackson appeared heavily intoxicated, slurring his words and seemingly falling asleep.
The videos would also be played in court for a civil jury.
As with the successful civil case against O.J. Simpson following his acquittal on murder charges, everything will be on the table. A jury could hear evidence that prosecutors were barred from presenting.
The duo for the first time will be allowed to detail past, undisclosed settlements between Jacko and boys. Sources contend there were at least 20 young victims, who reaped — with their parents and attorneys — upward of $200 million cumulatively in hush money.
The Chandler lawsuit alone cost Jacko more than $40 million, sources said.
"All of this is documented, and it will certainly help to sway a jury, particularly a civil jury who is not considering reasonable doubt but a preponderance of the evidence," a prosecution source said.
In the criminal case against Jacko, a detective for the Santa Barbara district attorney told The Post that the judge, behind closed doors, refused to allow prosecutors to reveal the cash Jacko was paying out.
"The judge said it would be too highly prejudicial," the source recalled. If it comes out in a civil case, he said, "It should be an eye-opener for those who want to insist that Jackson was some real-life Peter Pan."
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