The Cascio siblings arbitration ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera has blocked four members of the Cascio family from pursuing their child sexual trafficking claims against the Michael Jackson estate in open court, sending the dispute instead into private arbitration.
Judge Vera’s decision, a Rolling Stone-confirmed 10-page ruling granting the estate’s motion to compel arbitration, turned on a settlement agreement the siblings signed in 2020. That deal, worth roughly $16 million paid out over five years, included a binding arbitration clause the judge found he had no choice but to enforce. ‘Although the allegations are horrific,’ Judge Vera wrote in his decision, ‘the court is without discretion to do aught but enforce the language of the arbitration clause.’
The EFAA Argument and Why It Failed
The siblings had mounted a legal challenge that went beyond the settlement’s terms. They argued that the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 invalidated the arbitration clause entirely, which would have allowed them to bring their case before a jury. Judge Vera rejected that argument, ruling that the EFAA did not apply retroactively to an agreement signed before the act came into force. It is a distinction that matters enormously: the 2020 settlement pre-dates the legislation, and the judge found that gap decisive.
Howard King, the Cascios’ lawyer, made no attempt to dress up the result. In a statement, he wrote: ‘It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the decision on whether the Cascios were duped into signing an unconscionable agreement with an arbitration clause will be made by an arbitrator rather than a jury of peers. The family had hoped the Court would allow for a public trial over the decades-long molestations of the Cascio siblings by Michael Jackson and the ensuing cover-up by his advisors. Instead, the family will seek justice from the dark confines of a private conference room.’
A Settlement That Silenced Them
Edward, Dominic, Marie-Nicole, and Aldo Cascio allege they were abused and sexually trafficked by Michael Jackson across a period stretching from the late 1980s until days before his death in 2009. Their father had met Jackson while working as general manager of a luxury hotel where the pop star frequently stayed, and the siblings later described themselves as Jackson’s ‘second family.’
In their lawsuit, the four alleged that Jackson gave them alcohol and hard drugs, often procured by his employees, isolated them from one another, and threatened that their family would be ‘ruined’ if they disclosed what had happened. All five Cascio siblings, and their parents, publicly supported Jackson during his 2003 trial, in which he was acquitted of charges relating to the alleged molestation of Gavin Arvizo.
The 2020 settlement they reached with the estate contained a Confidential Acquisition and Consulting Agreement. Their lawsuit alleged the non-disclosure provisions had been explained to them as a ‘life rights’ agreement, and were ‘designed to silence victims of childhood sexual abuse.’ The Cascio siblings arbitration ruling now means those claims will be heard, if at all, away from public scrutiny.
The eldest sibling, Frank Cascio, filed his own separate complaint rather than joining this one. In March, a different California state judge sent his suit to arbitration on the same grounds, citing the identical clause in the settlement agreement. Frank published the memoir My Friend Michael in 2011.
It was the 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland that the siblings told The New York Times had ‘deprogrammed’ them, prompting them to confront the estate over the alleged abuse. That film centred on James Safechuck and Wade Robson, whose own separate lawsuit against the Michael Jackson estate is set to go to trial in November, after being revived in 2023.
For the Cascio siblings, the path to any accountability now runs through a private conference room rather than a courtroom. Their lawyer has confirmed they intend to pursue arbitration.
