Michael Jackson’s Image Was In ‘Nuclear Winter’: Expert
Michael Jacksons Image war im nuklearen Winter sagt Experte
Law360, Los Angeles (February 15, 2017, 10:42 PM EST) -- Michael Jackson’s estate on Wednesday called a business appraisal expert to testify at the Los Angeles tax trial over the estate's value at Jackson’s death, with the expert testifying that child molestation allegations had plunged the singer's publicity rights into “nuclear winter,” reducing their value to just $3 million.
During the second week of the trial before visiting U.S. Tax Judge Mark Holmes, the estate called to the stand business appraisal expert Jay Fishman, the managing director of Financial Research Associates, to explain how he had settled on the $3.078 million number for Jackson’s publicity rights. The value of those publicity rights, also known as name and likeness rights, has been hotly contested in the estate’s dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, with the estate saying the IRS has claimed they were worth $161 million at the time of Jackson’s death in 2009.
Under examination by Steven Toscher of Hochman Salkin Rettig Toscher & Perez PC, representing the estate, Fishman first went through his background, and how he went from being a small business value appraiser to something of a specialist in celebrity name and likeness appraisals. Fishman has been called on to value the publicity rights of Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Rudy Giulani and Bryant Gumbel as part of those celebrities’ respective divorce proceedings’, he said, and was retained by businesses to value both Muhammad Ali’s and Marilyn Monroe’s publicity rights.
Unter der Befragung von Steven Toscher von Hochman Salkin Rettig Toscher & Perez PC, der vom Estate repräsentiert wird, ging Fishman zuerst durch seinen Hintergrund und wie er von einem kleinen Unternehmenswert-Gutachter zu etwas wie einem Spezialisten in der Bewertung von Namens und Likenessrechten von Berühmtheiten wurde. Fishman wurde beauftragt um die Werberechte von Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Rudy Giulani und Bryant Gumbel als Teil der 'jeweilige Scheidungs- Verfahren', der Berühmtheiten zu bewerten sagte er, und wurde von Unternehmen beauftragt um die Wertschätzung sowohl von Muhammad Ali`s als auch von Marilyn Monroe`s Öffentlichkeitsrechten zu bewerten.
Fishman said that while Ali was able to sell 80 percent of his publicity rights for $52 million in 2008, he hadn’t used that as a comparison when valuing Jackson’s rights — noting that the business that purchased Ali’s rights eventually wrote down the purchase and sold the asset for only $12 million, and adding that this occurred even with Ali, who has a clean personal reputation and is viewed as a “hero.”
Fishman sagte, dass, während Ali in der Lage war 80 Prozent seiner Publizitätsrechte für 52 Millionen Dollar im Jahr 2008 zu verkaufen, hat er es nicht verwendet als einen Vergleich bei der Bewertung von Jacksons Rechten - hinzufügend, dass das Geschäft, dass die Ali Rechte kaufte schließlich diese zum Verkauf ausschrieb und diese für nur 12 Millionen Dollar wiedererkaufen konnte und fügte hinzu, dass dies auch mit Ali passierte, der einen sauberen persönlichen Ruf hatte und als ein "Held" gefeiert wird.
Jackson, while an entertainment icon, was unfortunately not viewed the same way by the public at the time of his death, as child molestation accusations in 1993 and 2003 — culminating in a 2005 criminal trial in which Jackson was acquitted on all counts — had irreparably damaged his reputation, Fishman said. Fishman added that even compared to other scandal-tainted celebrities, Jackson’s alleged crimes were so heinous as to render him untouchable for name and likeness deals at the time of his death.
Während Jackson eine Entertainment-Ikone war wurde er leider nicht in der gleichen Weise von der Öffentlichkeit zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes gesehen, als Kinderbelästigungsvorwürfe in den Jahren 1993 und 2003 - die ihren Höhepunkt in einem Strafprozess 2005 hatten, in dem Jackson in allen Punkten freigesprochen wurde - hatte es doch irreparabel beschädigt seinen Ruf, sagte Fishman. Fishman fügte hinzu, dass sogar im Vergleich zu anderen skandaltangierten Promis schädigten Jacksons angebliche Verbrechen so abscheulich waren, um ihn unberührbar für Namensrechte und Likeness- Angebote zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes zu machen.
“I’ll only say it once, there are taints and then there are taints, there are Kobe Bryant type of taints, or I had Kate Moss, and then there are things with children ... those things are nearly impossible to overcome,” he said. “I call it like being in a nuclear winter.”
"Ich werde es nur einmal sagen, es gibt Taints und dann gibt es Taints, es gibt die Kobe Bryant- Art von Taints, oder ich hatte Kate Moss, und dann gibt es Dinge mit Kindern ... diese Dinge sind fast unmöglich zu überwinden, " sagte er. "Ich nenne es in einem nuklearen Winter zu sein."
Jackson’s estate had petitioned the tax court in July 2013, challenging a lengthy notice of deficiency the IRS mailed to the estate that month. The notice contested the estate’s reported valuation of a litany of items, including a 2001 Bentley Arnage and rights to the master recordings of the Jackson 5.
According to the notice, the IRS adjusted the value of the estate from $7 million to $1.32 billion. As a result, the agency demanded $702 million, including $505.1 million in deficiencies and $196.9 million in accuracy-related penalties.
The most notable discrepancy between the valuations of the parties as highlighted in the notice included the right to Jackson’s image and likeness. The IRS originally pegged that asset at $434.3 million, whereas the estate had claimed the right was worth only $2,105.
In the run-up to the trial, the IRS continued adjusting its proposed value of the estate, increasing the assessed value of Jackson's Mijac music catalog — which held the singer's own songwriting copyrights — by tens of millions of dollars, but revising its proposed value of Jackson's name and likeness upon his death to $161 million.
During last week’s opening statements, Avram Salkin of Hochman Salkin Rettig Toscher & Perez PC, representing the estate, said that at the time of Jackson's death, his estate was burdened with over $400 million in debt and that the name and likeness rights were only worth $3 million. Salkin also said that the IRS had overvalued the Mijac catalog by roughly $90 million and Jackson's half-share of music publishing company Sony/ATV by $200 million. Jackson's estate sold that share to Sony for $750 million last year.