Michael's Money Spent on the Limo of Limos

Roger Friedman June 1, 2005

Among Michael Jackson's possessions is a nearly $500,000 paperweight. I will explain. Readers of this column are well aware of the chronicling of Michael Jackson's finances here. Hundreds of millions of dollars have come and gone over the years and Jackson has little to show of value. During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss was very keen on announcing that somewhere along the way $965,000 disappeared from Jackson's accounts. He said that unnamed, un-indicted co-conspirators Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer, Jackson's former managers, had written checks to themselves in that amount from Jackson's accounts. Auchincloss liked to delight in the fact ? which he arrived at on his own and which was incorrect ? that Jackson was so broke in February to March of 2003 that he required the accuser and the rest of the Arvizo family to participate in a TV special for which he would be paid millions. Otherwise, Auchincloss insisted, Jackson's career would be destroyed. Hence the laughable charge that Jackson conspired to hold the Arvizos hostage until they did his bidding. But Auchincloss was wrong. The Arvizos never made it into the video they were "held" for, but the show aired, Jackson was paid millions and life went on anyway. Now it seems that we know where a chunk of that missing $965,000 went: to Jackson. I have in my hands a bill from Mercedes of Hamburg for a limo that Jackson ordered on March 7, 2003. The price? 327,439 euros or roughly $400,000, give or take. Apparently Jackson saw a similar Mercedes limo in Miami and asked Wiesner to get it for him right away. This was no easy task. But on April 25, 2003, Lufthansa put the limo on one of its jets and shipped it over. The cost? A mere 12,735 euros or $14,000. The limo came equipped with all sorts of electronics including DVD players, tri-band phones and TV sets. According to one Web site, the Pullman S500L has a V8 engine, extended long wheelbase, fiber-optic cabling and four-zone climate control. It also makes toast. You would think Jackson would be styling around town and going back and forth to court in this show boat, wouldn't you? But as it happens, my sources say proper papers have never been filed and the limo still isn't registered and insured. It sits at Neverland like a $500,000 paperweight or the most expensive golf cart in history.