Michael Jackson’s Team Using Ex-Prosecutor Who Fought ‘Mafia’ to Take on Wade Robson in Court

Michael Jackson’s legal team added a new attorney to take on the late pop star’s accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, In Touch can exclusively report. The new attorney previously worked for 15 years as a federal prosecutor.

According to court documents obtained by In Touch, attorney Benjamin R. Barron from the law firm Keller/Anderle LLP informed the court he would be appearing in the case for Michael’s companies, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures.

Benjamin’s colleagues have been be assisting Thomas Mesereau and two other firms in defending Michael’s companies against claims brought by Wade and James. Benjamin joined the law firm in June and will now be working on the case.

According to the firm’s website, Benjamin is a former Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Orange County. The former prosecutor previously led a team of “40 trial attorneys and professionals prosecuting complex federal crimes including securities fraud, public corruption, and racketeering.”

His major cases, include “a 47-defendant prosecution of a kingpin-designated transnational organization responsible for murder and multi-ton cocaine trafficking; a 38-defendant racketeering indictment of a Mexican Mafia-affiliated street gang; an 18-defendant prosecution of a $20 Medicare fraud scheme perpetrated by Eurasian organized crime.

As In Touch previously reported, Wade and James claimed Michael abused them as children. The pop star died in 2009 at the age of 50.

Wade claimed the singer started to sexually abuse him when he was seven. He said it continued on for years. James claimed Michael started abusing him during his Bad tour. The accusers sued Michael’s companies following his death.

In response, lawyers for the companies denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

As In Touch first reported, Wade and James were recently shut down in their effort to obtain explicit photos of the late entertainer.

The judge presiding over the case denied Wade and James’ plea to subpoena records from the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. The companies opposed the request.

In opposition to the subpoenas, Michael’s companies argued, “Beyond violating the clear language of the Court’s July 2018 Order, Plaintiffs’ subpoenas seek highly sensitive private documents related to non-parties, are an attempt to circumvent the protective order in another case from another court, and fail to comply with California law on pre-subpoena notices to consumers.”

“Specifically, California’s statutory and common law recognize privacy rights to images of deceased persons. Plaintiffs’ demand for certain documents—including photographs of Michael Jackson’s genitalia and naked body taken by police—represents an egregious violation of these privacy rights, and is simply beyond the pale,” the opposition read.

“Plaintiffs’ March 2024 Subpoenas are an appalling intrusion and violation of these privacy interests and have no legitimate purpose. These subpoenas seek, in relevant part, a highly sensitive and discrete set of documents,” the motion argued. “Here, there is no legitimate justification for Plaintiffs’ gross attempt to violate the privacy of a man who has been deceased for almost a decade and to disturb his family’s ‘peace of mind and tranquility’ with our ‘sensation-seeking culture.’”

The judge ordered that Wade and James could not subpoena the agencies. The case is ongoing.