Four of the five Cassio siblings who filed a new lawsuit claiming they were subjected to child prostitution and sexual abuse by the late Michael Jackson said "We were trained as his soldiers." They revealed they were brainwashed to actively defend Michael Jackson whenever various past abuse allegations surfaced.
Eddie Cassio said in a recent joint interview with his siblings for The New York Times, "We were brainwashed, tamed and manipulated." He described Michael Jackson as "the biggest star in the world" and said they were taught to stay by his side whenever related allegations were publicly raised.
These remarks came as Eddie, along with Aldo, Dominic and Mariah Nicole Cassio, reversed their earlier stance that "he never behaved inappropriately toward us."
Frank Cassio, who did not participate in this lawsuit for legal reasons among the Cassio siblings, published a memoir in 2011 asserting that Michael Jackson never made inappropriate advances toward him or his family.
Also, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Frank, Eddie and Mariah Nicole strongly denied that Michael Jackson had ever touched them. At the time, Eddie even said he was "a target."
But Eddie confessed in this interview, "He felt like a friend and a father and made me feel like the object of all emotional support. He truly was."
Martin Singer, an attorney for the Michael Jackson estate, reiterated the estate's position. He called the lawsuit filed in February 2026 "a desperate money grab."
The attorney said, "The Cassio family has claimed Michael Jackson's innocence for more than 25 years. This lawsuit is an overt courtroom shopping tactic to extract hundreds of millions of dollars."
Some of the siblings said they knew parts of the relationship were wrong at the time, while others said they only belatedly realized they had been abused. They said their awareness changed after watching the 2019 HBO documentary "Leaving Neverland," which contains allegations by two men that they were sexually abused by Michael Jackson.
Spurred by that documentary, the four siblings filed a lawsuit in 2020 and reportedly agreed to receive a $16 million settlement paid over five years.
When negotiations over additional compensation broke down, Frank, Mariah Nicole and Aldo filed a new lawsuit in November 2025, alleging that the estate used coercion, deception and betrayal to silence their claims of harm.
In the new lawsuit filed in February 2026, Eddie, Dominic, Mariah Nicole Forte and Aldo Cassio allege that Michael Jackson drugged them and subjected them to rape and sexual abuse.
They said their father, Dominic Cassio, first connected them with Michael Jackson while working at a luxury hotel in Manhattan, New York. They allege he later ingratiated himself into their family life by offering lavish gifts, obsessive attention and the star's glamorous lifestyle, gaining their trust before beginning the abuse.
The complaint also stated, "He encouraged the children to take drugs and alcohol and tried to normalize the abuse by showing pornographic material, including nude photos of children."
They also alleged that "he instilled fear and distrust by making them believe that if the truth came out, it would destroy not only his life but the lives of the victims and their families."
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