A choreographer who worked with some of the biggest names in pop music in the early 2000s has accused Michael Jackson of childhood sexual abuse, reports TMZ.
Legal documents filed by Wade Robson -- a choreographer who worked with Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Usher and P!nk (and was rumored to have been the man Spears cheated on Justin Timberlake with in 2002) -- claim that the late singer molested him as a child. Robson's lawyers are asking a judge in the Michael Jackson Estate case to allow him to file a late creditor's claim against the estate.
Robson, 30, says he met Jackson when he was 5 years old, and says he was sleeping over at Neverland Ranch, as well as the star's homes in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, from the ages of 7 to 14.
The details of the allegations have been sealed by the Los Angeles probate court where Robson's lawyer filed the claim on May 1, but the documents are said to include an affidavit from a child pyschiatrist who treated Robson as a child, reports CNN.
Robson's claims are particularly surprising since he testified in Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial and denied that the singer abused him. What's more, when Jackson died in 2009, Robson only had positive things to say about the iconic performer:
"Michael Jackson changed the world and, more personally, my life forever. He is the reason I dance, the reason I make music, and one of the main reasons I believe in the pure goodness of human kind," he said at the time.
While Robson's claims after all this time are sure to raise some eyebrows, TMZ notes that Jackson's former housekeeper Blanca Francia testified during Jackson's 2005 trial that she witnessed the pop star in the shower with Robson when he was only 8 or 9 years old.
Jackson was acquitted on all charges in his 2005 trial, and previously had settled out of court for $22 million in 1994, after he was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. Jackson was never indicted on allegations brought against him in the early '90s, and when news of his settlement with the boy's family broke in 2004, he was vehement that the money was not an admission of guilt:
"I have always maintained my innocence and vehemently denied that these events ever took place. I reluctantly chose to settle the false claims only to end the terrible publicity and to continue with my life and career," Jackson said in a statement.
UPDATE: The attorney representing Michael Jackson's Estate has already dismissed Wade Robson's allegations as "outrageous and pathetic," telling TMZ:
"Mr. Robson's claim is outrageous and pathetic. This is a young man who has testified at least twice under oath over the past 20 years and said in numerous interviews that Michael Jackson never did anything inappropriate to him or with him," said Howard Weitzman. "Now, nearly 4 years after Michael has passed, this sad and less than credible claim has been made."
Likewise, Tom Mesereau, the lawyer who led Jackson's defense in his 2005 trial, also told the website he believes Robson's belated claim "must be just about money."
