New Videotape Of Michael Jackson

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/7345140.htm

Posted on Tue, Nov. 25, 2003   
 
Jackson, lawyer on jet's secret surveillance tape
By Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton
LOS ANGELES TIMES

Michael Jackson and attorney Mark Geragos were surreptitiously taped on a
private jet that carried the singer from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara for his
surrender to face child-molestation charges last week, representatives for
Jackson and the jet company said Monday.

Officials for XtraJet, based in Santa Monica, confirmed that they found two
videotapes aboard one of their chartered jets and later showed the contents to
select media outlets seeking advice on whether the tapes could be sold.

The officials said the tapes did not include an audio track.

XtraJet President Mark Bethea said his company was conducting an internal
investigation of who had taped the flight. Company officials did not know who
was responsible, he said.

Bethea added that the company had talked with Fox News Network "to determine
what our legal position and options were with regards to having the tape
potentially released." The meeting was "confidential," he said.

The existence of the tape was first reported Monday by Fox. The network said its
personnel had viewed the tapes without audio and that they showed Jackson
looking "calm, often smiling or laughing" during the flight.

Jeffrey Borer, an XtraJet corporate officer, said that once the tapes were
discovered, the company had "explored the opportunity, as any business person
would."

Stuart Blackerman, Jackson's spokesman, called the taping an invasion of
privacy. "How as an executive could you feel like flying on a plane where you
might be taped?" he said.

Borer said the company had contacted several television networks, asking each to
sign a confidentiality agreement about the existence of the taping.

"They all expressed interest in buying the tape. We told them the tape was not
available," he said. "We did not ask a price from anybody. We did not say we
would take anything from anybody. We were just trying to figure out the most
ethical thing to do.

"We made no decision because we had Michael's best interest in mind, as we would
any of our passengers," he said.

A producer for CBS, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that network
had been approached by the company about the videotape. CBS did not respond to
the overture, the producer said.

A source close to Jackson said Jackson's entourage had been alerted to the
existence of the tape by CBS.

Neither Santa Barbara authorities nor Jackson and his attorney were aware of the
videotapes until Monday, according to a second source close to Jackson. Geragos
was alerted by reporters on Monday and then contacted the jet's operator, the
source said.

Bethea confirmed that company officials had spoken with Geragos and said they
had assured him that no audiotapes of the flight had been found.

FBI officials in Los Angeles said no investigation was under way in the case.
Federal law makes electronic surveillance a crime unless at least one party to
the transaction consents to its taping.

XtraJet officials said the company operates seven aircraft and has flown Jackson
as a client for several years.
 

Mark van Pelt 
A Fan
"That's not right.  That's not even wrong!"-Wolfgang Pauli