Jackson Heads Back to Court for Civil Suit

June 13, 2006 — -- Michael Jackson, acquitted last year of child molestation and other charges, returns to the courtroom Monday to face a former associate who is suing him for alleged breach of contract and other agreements.

Marc Schaffel, a reputed porn producer and one-time Jackson confidant, seeks more than $3 million from the "King of Pop." In his lawsuit, Schaffel also alleges the entertainer is broke and has had problems with drugs and lavish spending. Jackson's representatives have denied the charges.

Schaffel's trial brief says: "In the rarefied air of the world Michael Jackson ... inhabits, sometimes referred to by his closest advisers as 'Michael World,' things were different." The brief goes on to say Jackson carried no credit cards, cash or checks, and relied on advisers and others to attend "to his every need."

Schaffel calls Jackson a "master of manipulating the people around him" by playing one adviser against another and a combination of "emotional pleas and strident demands."

Meanwhile, the brief filed by Jackson's attorneys says: "To say that Schaffel is an unsavory character is an understatement. He is a professional swindler and pornographer with a long history of dishonest, immoral and manipulative behavior."

Schaffel was an unindicted alleged co-conspirator in Jackson's molestation trial. Prosecutors in Santa Barbara, Calif., alleged he and other associates played various roles in surveilling the alleged victim's family, taking the boy and his siblings out of school and making them virtual prisoners of Jackson. He did not comment to ABC News on the case when interviewed about the lawsuit in 2004.

In the lawsuit, Schaffel claimed Jackson hired him to produce two rebuttal documentaries to the British documentary "Living With Michael Jackson." Schaffel told ABC's "Good Morning America" at the time it was filed that Jackson was devastated by the documentary that aired on Fox.

While Schaffel claims he is owed money for that project and other business dealings, Jackson's attorneys allege Schaffel owes the singer money.

Jackson has been living in Bahrain with his two children.