The Casio family members have been good friends of the Jackson family for many years. Their father worked as a hotelier and thus met and developed a close relationship with Michael Jackson. He spent holidays with them and regularly stayed at their home.
The lawsuit alleges that the musician spent years intimidating and abusing the children—Dominic, Edward, Aldo, and Marie-Nicole. An earlier settlement with the Michael Jackson Estate, which governed confidentiality obligations and involved millions of dollars, was, according to this family, an illegal cover-up agreement for sexual abuse.
The Michael Jackson Estate refers to the assets and legal affairs of Michael Jackson, managed after his death by John Branca and John McClain. The Casio family members state that after therapy, they realized what had happened to them and no longer wish to remain silent.
"Michael Jackson was a serial child abuser who drugged, raped, and sexually abused each of the individuals filing the lawsuit over more than a decade. He began abusing some of them when they were seven or eight years old," among other things, is stated in the lawsuit.
The abuse allegedly occurred over several years in the 1990s at various locations worldwide, including Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
"Michael always told them: 'This is our secret. We have a secret love. No one must know about it,'" said Howard King, the family's lawyer, to Bild.
The Daily Mail published previously unseen photographs with members of the Casio family. Among them is a photo showing Dominic Casio sitting on his lap.