Description

Learn more about investigative author Ian Halperin's research into the life and death of Michael Jackson.

Transcript

Rebecca Brayton: Author Ian Halperin went undercover to get close to Michael Jackson. After his years of research, he pend the first book about the King of Pop after his death. The Final Years of Michael Jackson, Unmasked. Hi, I’m Rebecca Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking Halperin about his experiences with Michael Jackson. How did you first infiltrate, for a lack of a better word, the Michael Jackson camp? Ian Halperin: I started in 2005, and after he was acquitted, I was furious, like a lot of people, I thought we had another OJ Simpsons running around who was guilty, but got off with high-priced lawyers, so I said, I’ll prove this easily within a couple of weeks and four years later I was included, unwaveringly that he was definitely not a child molester. I specialized in undercover investigations. I’ve gone undercover male model before as a gay scientologist. And in this one, I went undercover as his hair dresser, and got to meet him and give him hair tips, and try to give him a makeover for his upcoming performances, and he was perhaps the nicest person I’ve ever met in showbizness. Rebecca Brayton: In an article you said that it was greed that killed Michael Jackson, who’s greed? Ian Halperin: There were a lot of financial handlers around him over the years that mishandled his money. The Jackson family has accused these people in recent days in leading his estates and they want action and results right now. That’s what broke down Michael, it was the greed from watching the false child molestation charges against him, which where he broken down, he never recovered from that, he loved children. And then there was this whole string of financial advisers around who just misappropriated his money. Rebecca Brayton: What can you tell us about your sources? Ian Halperin: It’s a fact that several of my sources are the closest people to my Michael, everyone knows that, including the family. I had extreme collaboration on whatever I printed in the book, believe me, I had so many people trying to dupe me with false leads and false information and you just have to make sure that everything is the point. Rebecca Brayton: Was he murdered? Ian Halperin: I’m just not sure, I’m just so distraught with what went on, that how he was enabled by the drugs, I’m really not looking to anything other than that and the greed factor. Members of the family claimed he was murdered, I want to let the authorities do their jobs. Rebecca Brayton: Where do you think the investigation will go in the next few weeks? Ian Halperin: Wednesday wrap up with the doctors that were going to move in to the finances , that’s the key to the whole case. He’s been eluded out of hundreds of millions of dollars which I found out today and that will take years to solve.