Cascio siblings sue Jackson estate, alleging years of childhood abuse

The Jackson estate is facing a fresh challenge from four siblings who once stood by Michael Jackson through years of child-molestation allegations. Frank, Dominic, Marie-Nicole and Aldo Cascio filed suit in Los Angeles on February 27, 2026, accusing Jackson of sexually abusing each of them starting when they were about seven or eight and continuing for more than a decade, up to days before his death in 2009.

The complaint says Jackson used gifts, isolation, alcohol, hard drugs, prescription drugs, pornography and travel to control the children. It also alleges that his employees helped obtain alcohol and drugs and that the siblings were coached on what to say if anyone asked whether they had been molested. The family’s father reportedly met Jackson while working at a luxury hotel where the singer often stayed, a connection that helped place the children inside Jackson’s inner circle.

The filing lands at a sensitive moment for Jackson’s legacy because the Cascio family had long been counted among his defenders. Their lawsuit follows an earlier effort to void a settlement they said was intended to silence victims of childhood sexual abuse. Howard King, the siblings’ lawyer, said they would “remain silent no longer” after what he described as threats of financial ruin and false accusations from the estate of extortion and lying.

Frank Cascio said in a court declaration tied to the settlement dispute that he felt “immense pressure” to sign the January 2020 agreement after learning other relatives had already done so. He said he signed without his own lawyer and without fully understanding the deal because of his dyslexia and fragile mental and emotional state.

The estate has taken the opposite view. In court papers, it said it entered into a confidential settlement on January 10, 2020, after repeated threats to invent new claims unless it paid. That fight now widens the public split over Jackson’s legacy, which has been repeatedly tested by the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland and by earlier abuse allegations that reached a 2005 trial. Jackson was acquitted in that case, which involved Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 at the time.

What makes the Cascio suit especially damaging is not just the allegations, but who is making them. A family that once remained close to Jackson is now arguing that the abuse began in childhood and was hidden for years, forcing the estate to defend not only money and reputation, but the shrinking circle of people still willing to speak for him.