How did Michael Jackson meet Jordan Chandler?
Michael Jackson met Jordan Chandler in May 1992 after his car broke down in Los Angeles, and he visited a nearby car rental agency owned by David Schwartz (who was Jordan Chandler’s stepfather). Schwartz then contacted his wife, June Chandler, asking her to bring Jordan—a huge fan of Michael Jackson—to the agency. Schwartz further offered to rent a car to Michael free of charge if Michael would take Jordan’s telephone number and call him. Michael accepted the offer and subsequently contacted Jordan a few days later. Following this encounter, Michael developed a friendship with the entire Schwartz-Chandler family. The family spent time with Michael at Neverland, and Michael also visited their home on several occasions.
When did Jordan first make allegations of abuse against Michael Jackson
Allegations of abuse did not originate from Jordan Chandler himself; rather, they began with Evan Chandler, Jordan’s father, who made claims of abuse even though Jordan consistently denied them. After his divorce from June—when Jordan was approximately five years old—Evan played little role in Jordan’s life until he learned of Jordan’s close relationship with Michael Jackson. At that point, Evan suddenly sought to become more involved in his son’s life and to meet Michael. Very soon after meeting Michael, Evan began pressuring Michael for monetary contributions. For example, Evan proposed that Michael build (and pay for) a new wing on his house or even a new home entirely on the disingenuous pretext that this was so Michael could visit more frequently. Michael declined this request. Additionally, Evan harboured ambitions of a Hollywood screenwriting career and proposed a 50/50 partnership with Michael to create a film production company; this too was declined by Michael, which greatly angered Evan.
In July 1993, Jordan visited his father for a week. At the end of the visit, Evan refused to return Jordan to his mother, who had legal custody. During this period, under the guise of performing a minor dental procedure, Evan sedated his son, after which Jordan allegedly confessed to abuse. Between that time and 17 August 1993, Evan made repeated financial demands of Michael (see below) — all of which were refused. Although a court order required Evan to return Jordan to June by 17 August 1993, he sought to retain control of his son. To avoid complying with the court order and frustrated by Michael’s refusal to pay, Evan took Jordan to see a psychiatrist. During this consultation, Jordan alleged abuse. The psychiatrist was professionally obligated to report these allegations, resulting in Michael becoming the subject of a criminal investigation.
Did Evan Chandler drug his own son to extract a confession?
In July 1993, Evan Chandler administered a drug to Jordan ostensibly to remove a retained baby tooth. It has been strongly suggested that the drug used was Sodium Amytal, which is known to render the user highly susceptible to false memories and suggestions. Prior to this incident, Jordan had consistently denied that Michael had behaved inappropriately. Despite some questions regarding the exact substance used, the Chandlers acknowledge that Jordan was sedated and, upon recovering, “confessed” to having been abused. According to Evan’s brother, Ray Chandler, in his book All That Glitters, this confession was obtained as a result of Evan coercing his son, using deceit and intimidation by threatening to “destroy Michael,” and telling his son that it would be his fault. Jordan’s “confession” was made on 16 July 1993. Notably, on 14 July 1993 — before any such confession — Evan Chandler and his attorney had contacted a psychiatrist who, without meeting or examining either Jordan or Michael, opined that “reasonable suspicion would exist that sexual abuse may have occurred”. The psychiatrist’s letter was used by Evan to try and blackmail Michael into a financial payout in return for not going public with the allegations. Michael, however, refused to pay.
What evidence is there that Evan Chandler was trying to extort Michael Jackson?
There is substantial evidence that Evan Chandler’s primary motive was to secure a financial payout by leveraging Jordan’s friendship with Michael. From his initial demands for Michael to build him a house and finance his screenwriting ambitions to his approach throughout the episode, it is abundantly clear that money was the primary objective. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence consists of recorded phone conversations between Evan Chandler and David Schwartz (June’s then-husband) on 8 July 1993 — prior to Jordan’s alleged confession (which you can listen to here).
In these recordings, Evan explicitly stated that there was a plan in place, that he had been “told what to do” and what he could say, and that even his then-wife believed he was “out of control.” Evan was furious that “they” (we can assume he meant Michael, June and Jordan) wouldn’t talk to him and told David “I mean, once I make that phone call, this guy’s [Evan’s attorney] just going to destroy everybody in sight in any devious, nasty, cruel way that he can do it. And I’ve given him full authority to do that.” In a later conversation that day, Evan went on to say that Michael was “evil” for coming between “this family of June, me and Jordan” and that “if I go through with this, I win big time. There’s no way that I lose. I’ve checked that out inside out.” When asked by David if this would help Jordan, Evan’s response was “It’s irrelevant to me”. At one point, David directly asked Evan if Evan thinks “that he’s [Michael] f****** him?” and Evan’s response was “I don’t know. I have no idea”.
Furthermore, in August 1993, Evan demanded that Michael pay him $20 million. Michael refused, and his private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, later countered with an offer of $1 million for three screenplays written by Evan and Jordan. Pellicano later verified that this offer was made to have a record of the Chandlers negotiating a financial payout. Evan refused the offer, with the expectation a higher one would follow. On 13 August 1993, an offer of $350,000 was made. Evan’s lawyer then tried to get the original $1 million offer reinstated but Michael refused, demonstrating that he had no intention of paying to silence Evan or Jordan. Michael had ample opportunity to prevent the allegations from going public but chose not to do so. Ray Chandler later wrote that “had Michael paid the twenty million dollars demanded of him in August, rather than the following January, he might have spent the next ten years as the world’s most famous entertainer, instead of the world’s most infamous child molester.”
What happened after Jordan “confessed” to the psychiatrist in August 1993?
Once Jordan alleged that Michael had abused him, the psychiatrist was legally obligated to report the allegation to the authorities. This triggered a criminal investigation and meant that Evan was no longer required to return Jordan to June. The investigation included search warrants executed at Michael’s homes and hotels at which he had stayed and numerous videotapes and computers were seized. However, despite the extensive nature of these searches, investigators found nothing incriminating. For example, the Los Angeles Times reported on 27 August 1993 that a high-ranking police source stated “the search warrant didn’t result in anything that would support a criminal filing.” Police also raided the offices of Michael’s dermatologist and seized his medical records.
In late August 1993, Evan’s lawyer withdrew from representing the Chandlers after Michael filed extortion charges against him and the Chandlers. Evan subsequently hired Gloria Allred, but she was dismissed two days later after she held a press conference stating that the accuser was willing to testify in court. Still pursuing a financial payout, Evan then replaced her with Larry Feldman, a civil attorney. Ray Chandler confirms that this change was driven by the Chandlers’ desire to steer the case toward “a highly profitable settlement” rather than a grand jury indictment and a criminal trial. In September 1993, Feldman filed a $30 million civil lawsuit against Michael on behalf of the Chandlers.
During the investigation, police interviewed dozens of children who had spent time with Michael, employing aggressive tactics intended to pressure these young children into making allegations of abuse. This included subjecting them to hours of questioning and flagrantly misleading the children by fabricating falsehoods including claiming that they had nude photographs of them. All the children, with the exception of one — Jason Francia (see below) — stated that Michael had never behaved inappropriately.
Did Jordan’s Description of Michael’s Genitalia Match the Photographs Taken by the Authorities?
On 20 December 1993, Michael was subjected to a humiliating full-body strip search, during which his entire body, including his genitalia, was photographed and videotaped for comparison with the description provided by Jordan.
During Michael’s 2005 trial, District Attorney Thomas Sneddon claimed that there was a match solely based on a single mark on the right side of Michael’s penis being at the same “relative” location as a blemish located by Jordan in his drawing (note the use of the word “relative” and not exact. It was never made clear what “relative” meant in this context).
Sneddon went on to say that he did not believe that Jordan would have been able to guess that Michael had any such blemishes. However, this is not true. Firstly, in February 1993, Michael revealed to the world in an interview that he suffered with vitiligo, a skin condition which causes discoloration of the skin and Jordan (and Evan) would have seen the discoloration on other areas of Michael’s body such as his arms and legs and, therefore, would be able to make an educated guess that his penis was also affected. Secondly, when Michael stayed at Evan’s house for a weekend in May 1993, Evan injected medication into Michael’s buttocks so knew what his buttocks looked like. In his book, Ray Chandler quotes a conversation between Evan and his attorney on this issue as follows:
“Oh, yeah, Lauren Weis told me today that this disease Michael says he’s got, vitiligo, that it’s capable of changing anywhere you look, so that anything Jordie says is irrelevant. It can change very quickly with this disease.“
“Shit, these guys seem to have an answer for everything.”
“No, that’s good for us!”
‘Why?”
“Because if he’s right, he’s right. And if he’s wrong, we’ve got an explanation!”
“Ha!”
“Yeah, it’s a no-loser for us.”
Furthermore, Jordan described Michael as circumcised, yet Michael’s autopsy later confirmed that he was not. News reports immediately following the strip search cited law enforcement sources confirming that the photographs of Michael’s genitalia did not match Jordan’s description. Only later did the narrative change, with Sneddon alluding to a match during a press interview. In fact, during the Grand Jury proceedings in Spring 1994, Katherine Jackson (Michael’s mother) was questioned about whether Michael had altered the appearance of his genitals to avoid matching Jordan’s description! Had the photographs matched the description, such a question would have been irrelevant.
Ultimately, had the photographs matched Jordan’s description, it is highly likely that Michael would have been arrested and charged; however, he was never charged in connection with the allegations made by Jordan.
What about the Neverland staff that allegedly witnessed abuse?
In November 1993, five former bodyguards of the Jackson family filed a civil lawsuit against Michael, claiming $10 million for wrongful termination on the grounds that they “knew too much” about Michael’s relationships with young boys. In fact, these bodyguards, who made their claims on the TV show Hard Copy, never actually worked for Michael, and documents later revealed they had negotiated a fee of $100,000 for their television appearance. Moreover, they did not report any inappropriate behaviour to the police and, in subsequent depositions, they admitted that they had never observed any improper conduct. Their case was dismissed in court in 1995.
Separately, five Neverland employees (known as the “Neverland 5”) sued Michael in the 1990s for wrongful termination, seeking $16 million in compensation. These employees claimed to have witnessed inappropriate behaviour by Michael; however, not one of these former employees reported such alleged improprieties to authorities at the time the events allegedly occurred.
One such employee, former maid Adrian McManus, claimed to have witnesses Michael behaving inappropriately with Jordan Chandler, Brett Barnes, and Macauley Culkin. Notably, Brett Barnes and Macauley Culkin have consistently maintained (to this date) that Michael never behaved inappropriately toward them and even testified in Michael’s defence in 2005. In a dramatic departure from her original story, McManus testified under oath in December 1993 that she had not observed any inappropriate or sexual behaviour by Michael towards any child, adding that she trusted him enough to leave her son alone with him. During Michael’s 2005 trial, however, she changed her story again and claimed that she had lied under oath in 1993.
Another two of the Neverland 5, Ralph Chacon and Kassim Abdool, initially made allegations against Michael during grand jury proceedings in Spring 1994. However, in January 1994, Abdool had signed a statement confirming that he had never witnessed Michael touch a child in a sexually inappropriate manner. When Chacon was deposed, he asked the detective to provide him with money to relocate his wife and a gun permit, both of which were provided, and it was revealed that Chacon was in severe financial difficulties at the time: he owed money on a lost lawsuit, owed money in child support and owed money on missed rent payments.
Ultimately, the Neverland 5 lost their lawsuit; Chacon and McManus were even found guilty of stealing from Michael. The Neverland 5 and their attorney were sanctioned $66,000 for perjury during depositions and on the stand and for discovery violations (including hiding evidence). Judge Zel Canter, presiding over the civil trial, expressed profound disapproval, and the jury rejected the wrongful termination claims, also ordering the Neverland 5 to pay Michael damages, along with attorney’s fees and costs amounting to $1.4 million. As of their 2005 testimony, none of these employees had repaid Michael, and it is worth noting that prior to the lawsuit, they had also sold their stories to tabloids.
Additionally, in another instance, former Neverland staff members Phillip LeMarque and his wife, Stella Marcroft, who worked at Neverland for approximately 10 months in 1991, claimed to have witnessed inappropriate behaviour by Michael, including an incident where Michael was alleged to have put his hand into Macauley Culkin’s pants. Macauley Culkin denied this allegation during his 2005 testimony. Neither went to the authorities but, instead, sought to sell their story to the tabloids. They were offered $100,000 but tried to negotiate for $500,000. The LeMarques were also in financial difficulty; the restaurant they opened after they had left Neverland went bankrupt and they were in significant debt. Later they went into the adult industry.
Why did Michael “pay off” the Chandlers and settle if he was innocent?
It is widely believed that Michael bought his way out of criminal prosecution by settling with the Chandlers on 25 January 1994; however, this is factually incorrect. The settlement ended only the civil proceedings, not the criminal investigation. By law, criminal cases cannot be settled in this manner. The criminal investigation into Michael Jackson continued after the settlement was concluded and the settlement document itself expressly states that Jordan was free to testify in any criminal proceedings. Indeed, in a subsequent press conference, the Chandlers’ lawyer noted that Jordan would continue to cooperate with the criminal investigation and that “nobody’s bought anybody’s silence.”
So, why did Michael settle? It was clear from the outset that the Chandlers’ sole objective was to secure a financial payout. Less than a month after the criminal investigation commenced, the Chandlers filed a civil lawsuit seeking $30 million. Michael had no interest in settling; as stated above, countering Evan’s demand for $20 million, Michael initially offered $1 million for three screenplays, which Evan Chandler rejected, expecting a higher amount. Instead, Michael’s team offered $350,000,. Evan’s lawyer tried to get the original $1 million offer reinstated but Michael refused, demonstrating his unwillingness to pay for silence. These negotiations were pursued on Michael’s side largely to document that Evan was indeed seeking money. Michael had several opportunities to prevent the allegations from becoming public, but he chose not to pay off the accusers.
Civil cases are typically resolved after the conclusion of criminal proceedings. In this instance, the Chandlers attempted to force a civil trial ahead of the criminal trial, which Michael’s team filed four motions arguing that the civil trial should be heard after the conclusion of the criminal trial. The order in which these cases are heard is extremely important for several reasons:
(i) a civil trial before the criminal trial would have given the prosecutors an almost insurmountable advantage by providing them with insight into Michael’s defence strategy, thereby allowing the prosecutors to tailor the criminal case accordingly;
(ii) the burden of proof is significantly lower in civil proceedings and, therefore, it is easier to secure a “win” in civil cases than in criminal cases. In a criminal case, the burden of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt” whereas in civil cases it is only the “preponderance of evidence” i.e., there is a greater than 50% chance that the claim is true. Therefore, a civil trial is risky even if the defendant is innocent. Michael and his team were concerned that if he was found liable in a civil trial, it could prejudice a jury in any criminal trial; and
(iii) the rules of evidence are far more relaxed in civil proceedings than in criminal trials, again making it risky to allow the civil trial to precede the criminal trial. All of these reasons show that Michael’s constitutional right to a fair trial would have been severely compromised had the civil trial gone first.
Despite these arguments, Michael lost all four motions to postpone the civil trial. Additionally, the Chandlers sought a compressed timeline and requested that the civil trial be held within 120 days, leaving Michael’s team very little time to prepare for the civil trial while also managing the ongoing criminal investigation. This, too, at a time when the police had seized all of Michael’s personal records and refused to hand over copies of them or even a list of what had been taken. According to Geraldine Hughes, the Chandlers’ lawyer’s legal secretary, “The District Attorney’s office was operating, with the blessings of the Court, in violation of Michael Jackson’s constitutional rights, and the Court was weighing heavily in favour of the 13-year old boy”.
Faced with these challenges and the risk of compromising the fairness of the criminal trial, Michael reluctantly agreed to settle the civil case. Importantly, this settlement did not preclude Jordan’s cooperation with the criminal investigation; Jordan ultimately chose not to testify. The Chandlers could have accepted the settlement money and continued to pursue criminal charges, but they opted instead to take the money and refused to cooperate any further with the authorities to put away an alleged child molester.
Ironically, as a result of this case, the law was amended so that an accuser cannot pursue a civil case before a criminal case.
What about Jason Francia’s Claims?
Of all the children that were questioned by the police only one, Jason Francia, eventually succumbed to the interrogations (after initially maintaining there was no improper behaviour) and alleged that Michael had touched him inappropriately whilst tickling him. This allegation came off the back of highly unethical and improper questioning from the police including the police telling the child that Michael was abusing Macauley Culkin and that Corey Feldman had a drug problem because he was abused by Michael and that he would die by the time he was 22 because of this. During the course of the interviews, Jason said: “They [the interrogators] made me come out with a lot more stuff I didn’t want to say. They kept pushing. I wanted to get up and hit them in the head”. During Michael’s 2005 trial, Jason admitted that he said things during the police interviews because he was “trying to figure out how to get out of there”.
Towards the end of 1994, having seen that the Chandlers received a settlement, Jason’s mother, Blanca, threatened to file a civil lawsuit against Michael (she had indicated her intention of suing Michael for money as early as March 1994). Having just put the Chandler saga behind him and getting ready to release a new album a few months later, Michael settled with both Blanca and Jason. The settlement documents emphasized that there had been no wrongdoing on the part of Michael and it is worth noting that no criminal charges were ever filed against Michael on the basis of the claims made by Jason. Michael again settled to avoid civil litigation not to prevent any criminal proceedings.
In fact, Jason’s allegations were heard in detail during Michael’s 2005 trial during which both Jason and his mother were called to testify. However, his claims were contradictory and unreliable and following the trial, the jury foreman stated in an interview that the jury “had a hard time believing him” and that “he just didn’t seem that credible”.
What Happened to the Chandler Family After the Settlement?
The settlement was signed on 25 January 1994. In July 1994, Jordan informed investigators that he was unwilling to testify. In September 1994, authorities announced that no charges would be filed against Michael.
In July 1995, it was reported that Jordan, then aged 15, was seeking legal emancipation from both his parents. His emancipation was finalised in November, after which he went to live with his stepmother, who had divorced Evan.
In May 1996, Evan filed a $60 million lawsuit against Michael (and others), alleging that Michael had breached the confidentiality provisions of the settlement by asserting his innocence in an interview. Evan also demanded a record deal for an album titled “Evanstory” concerning the alleged sexual abuse of his son, in direct response to Michael’s “HIStory” album. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in 2000.
In 2004, Ray Chandler self-published his book, All That Glitters, about the child abuse allegations against Michael — a project he had been shopping around since the 1994 settlement.
In September 2004, during the Arvizo trial, prosecutors in New York visited Jordan to ask him to testify against Michael. Jordan refused, stating he would “legally fight any attempt” to compel his testimony.
In April 2005, June Chandler testified in Michael’s criminal trial, becoming the only member of the Chandler family to do so. During her testimony, she admitted that she had not spoken to Jordan for 11 years.
In August 2005, Jordan obtained a temporary restraining order against his father, alleging that while they were living together, Evan “struck him on the head from behind with a twelve and one-half pound weight, then sprayed his eyes with mace or pepper spray and attempted to choke him.” The judge noted that the weight was capable of causing “serious bodily injury or death.” The motive for this attack on his own son? Evan wanted the settlement money that had been put into a trust for Jordan.
In November 2009, only four months after Michael’s death, Evan Chandler committed suicide. In his will, Evan explicitly stated, “For reasons best known between us, I purposefully make no provision in this, my Last Will and Testament, for any of my children or their issue.”
Jordan has maintained a very low profile over the years but, in 2017, lawyers for Wade Robson and James Safechuck aggressively attempted to locate Jordan seeking his testimony in their on-going lawsuit. It has been suggested that Jordan even fled the US to avoid being found but Robson and Safechuck’s then-lawyer stated that they were “not going to stop until we find him”. When their efforts to find him were unsuccessful, they even pursued Jordan’s half-sister Lily (who was only about 5 years old in 1993) and Jordan’s ex-fiancée to involve them in their frivolous lawsuit but they, too, refused. Jordan’s lawyer sent a very sternly worded letter to Wade and James’s attorneys to request that they cease their efforts to locate him as he wanted nothing to do with their cases. Despite this, Finaldi persisted and was ultimately ordered by a court to desist. He tried to appeal this order but his appeal was rejected.
LAST UPDATED 15TH MARCH 2025