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Jacko DA Accuses Two More Conspirators.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
By Roger Friedman
For Al Malnik, no good turn goes unpunished.
A longtime supporter of Michael Jackson, financially and in friendship, sources say that Malnik was startled to hear this afternoon that he's been named by Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon as a co-conspirator in Jackson's case.
Named as a co-conspirator along with Malnik, a Miami lawyer and owner of The Forge restaurant in that city, is private detective Brad Miller. Miller works for Jackson's previous attorney Mark Geragos and has been heard in court on a tape recording made with the Arvizo family — the family of Jackson's accuser — praising Jackson as a father figure.
Trouble is: Malnik — who briefly represented mobster Meyer Lansky 35 years ago — and Miller have never met each other or spoken to each other. They do not even know each other. That's some conspiracy. And while Miller could conceivably be related to the Jackson case through Geragos, Malnik has about as much connection to it as, say, Homer Simpson. He's never met or had any contact with anyone in the Arvizo family.
On the contrary: Jackson stayed at Malnik's home a few times in 2002 and 2003. Their connection is simple: Malnik is a close family friend of director Brett Ratner, who was reared in Miami. Ratner met Jackson through Chris Tucker, who himself was introduced to Jackson by the accusing teenager.
When Malnik and Jackson met, the former offered the latter financial advice, I am told. He never took a dime for it. When Jackson needed help negotiating with Bank of America — formerly Nations Bank — it was Malnik who interceded on his behalf.
Now Malnik, who does not give interviews (he declined to comment for this story through his secretary) is said to be perplexed. Frankly, this reporter is too. Sneddon seems to be so desperate to prove his conspiracy case that he's looking for more conspirators to bolster the hypothesis.
Miller, meanwhile, identifies himself on his famous audio tape as working for Geragos, not Jackson. This tape has been played in court many times. The issue of whom Miller worked for has also been discussed ad infinitum. Sneddon apparently has not been listening. The only conspiracy here seems to be one in which the jury is bored to death.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
By Roger Friedman
For Al Malnik, no good turn goes unpunished.
A longtime supporter of Michael Jackson, financially and in friendship, sources say that Malnik was startled to hear this afternoon that he's been named by Santa Barbara District Attorney Tom Sneddon as a co-conspirator in Jackson's case.
Named as a co-conspirator along with Malnik, a Miami lawyer and owner of The Forge restaurant in that city, is private detective Brad Miller. Miller works for Jackson's previous attorney Mark Geragos and has been heard in court on a tape recording made with the Arvizo family — the family of Jackson's accuser — praising Jackson as a father figure.
Trouble is: Malnik — who briefly represented mobster Meyer Lansky 35 years ago — and Miller have never met each other or spoken to each other. They do not even know each other. That's some conspiracy. And while Miller could conceivably be related to the Jackson case through Geragos, Malnik has about as much connection to it as, say, Homer Simpson. He's never met or had any contact with anyone in the Arvizo family.
On the contrary: Jackson stayed at Malnik's home a few times in 2002 and 2003. Their connection is simple: Malnik is a close family friend of director Brett Ratner, who was reared in Miami. Ratner met Jackson through Chris Tucker, who himself was introduced to Jackson by the accusing teenager.
When Malnik and Jackson met, the former offered the latter financial advice, I am told. He never took a dime for it. When Jackson needed help negotiating with Bank of America — formerly Nations Bank — it was Malnik who interceded on his behalf.
Now Malnik, who does not give interviews (he declined to comment for this story through his secretary) is said to be perplexed. Frankly, this reporter is too. Sneddon seems to be so desperate to prove his conspiracy case that he's looking for more conspirators to bolster the hypothesis.
Miller, meanwhile, identifies himself on his famous audio tape as working for Geragos, not Jackson. This tape has been played in court many times. The issue of whom Miller worked for has also been discussed ad infinitum. Sneddon apparently has not been listening. The only conspiracy here seems to be one in which the jury is bored to death.
