LOS ANGELES (CN) - Two men who say they nursed Michael Jackson's career back to health after his acquittal on child molestation charges claim in court that they are entitled to nearly 2 percent of the late singer's estate.
Broderick Morris and Qadree El-Amin sued John Branca and John McLain, executors of Jackson's estate, in Superior Court.
They claim the King of Pop's publicist Raymone Bain enlisted their help to find "willing investors, business partners and projects" for Jackson after people abandoned him in droves because of the molestation allegations.
Bain is not a party to the complaint.
El-Amin, a principal at Southpaw Management whose clients have included Jackson's sister Janet, Boyz II Men and Vanessa Williams, claims he met Michael Jackson in 1993. He and Jackson knew each other well enough that El-Amin held his wedding at Jackson's Neverland Ranch, according to the complaint.
Morris, a concert promoter based in Japan, says he's produced and promoted concerts for Mariah Carey, Usher, Destiny's Child and Kanye West.
Jackson promised them a 1.6 percent stake in the future Michael Jackson Company, because he had no money left to pay them at the time, the men say in the complaint.
A jury acquitted Jackson of the charges in mid-2005, but Morris and El-Amin say his career was in ruins.
"His reputation had been sullied; he was beset with civil lawsuits and creditors from virtually all quarters. He was on the verge of bankruptcy," the men say in the complaint.
Jackson fled to Bahrain after the trial, ostensibly to escape intense media scrutiny and in hope of getting financial help from that country's Prince Abdullah al-Khalifa. When that failed, Bain called on Morris and El-Amin to resurrect Jackson's career, the men say in the complaint.
"After leaving Bahrain, Mr. Jackson began formulating a plan to revive his career with Ms. Bain, who enlisted the help of [colleague A.] King, El-Amin and Morris to form a joint venture through which they would exploit Mr. Jackson's prodigious talents - not only in the realm of song and dance but in other areas such as animated filmmaking which Jackson had a passionate interest in for years-and contribute their own unique talents, time, efforts and finances toward putting Jackson back on top of the entertainment world as a performer as well as a businessmen," Morris and El-Amin say in the complaint.
In mid-2006, the plaintiff say, they arranged for Jackson to accept a "Legends" award from MTV Japan, and used the trip to meet with Japanese businessmen to explore development of feature films, animation and videogames. The trip restored Jackson's confidence and his image, according to the complaint.
Morris claims he used his Japanese contacts - and a great deal of his own money - to make the trip a success.