Sheikh of Bahrain is suing Michael Jackson for $7 million

Michael is now saying that the $7 million was given to him as a gift.  How come I don’t have friends like that?  Michael, brother, take your head out of your ass, you know that $7 million was not a gift. 

From the Daily News 

LONDON – A sheikh subsidizing Michael Jackson spent almost $350,000 on a brain-power guru to help the singer’s creative juices flow.

“Mind-mapping and motivational guru” Tony Buzan came to Bahrain for a week at the singer’s request, said Bankim Thanki, lawyer for Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who is suing Jackson  for $7 million in a breach-of-contract case here.

Buzan “did not come cheap,” he noted in court today: Buzan charged $37,000 a session for a total of $343,000.

“Who paid for that? Yes, Sheikh Abdulla,” said Thanki.

The 33-year-old sheikh – son of the king of Bahrain – alleges that Jackson  took millions in advances from him but failed to deliver on contractually agreed projects, including an album, a “frankly personal” autobiography and a musical.

Jackson and his family came to Bahrain in June 2005, after the singer was acquitted of child molestation by a California jury. In May 2006 Jackson left Bahrain and never returned.

 ”It’s fair to say my client felt a considerable amount of personal betrayal by someone he had regarded as a close friend,” Thanki told London’s High Court.

Thanki wants to put the 50-year-old  Jackson on the stand but the singer wants to testify via video link from Los Angeles.

 Jackson’s lawyer Robert Englehart told Justice Nigel Sweeney the singer is unable to travel  because of an unnamed medical condition.

“It would be unwise for him to travel given what he’s got now,” Englehart said.

Thanki said the sheikh was “skeptical” of Jackson’s claim that he’s ill.

 ”It’s not the first time a sick note has been presented by Mr. Jackson,” the lawyer sniped, noting  Jacko deferred testifying in a 2002 U.S. court case because of an alleged spider bite on his leg.

Sweeney said he would decide Thursday whether video testimony would be permitted.

Abdulla is also expected to testify Thursday, as will Jackson’s nanny, Grace Rwaramba.