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On August 17, 1993, a 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler sat with a psychiatrist in Los Angeles and gave a detailed account of alleged sexual abuse by Michael Jackson, describing masturbation and oral sex in graphic terms. Within 24 hours, the Los Angeles Police Department launched a criminal investigation that would become one of the most scrutinized child abuse cases of the decade.
Michael Jackson, at that time, was the most famous entertainer in the world. His album Dangerous had sold millions, and his concerts drew crowds larger than some countries’ entire populations. Jackson’s connection to the Chandler family began in February 1993, after his car broke down and was towed to Rent-a-Wreck, a garage owned by David Schwartz. Schwartz called his wife, June Chandler-Schwartz, who brought her son from a previous marriage—Jordan Chandler—to meet Jackson. Jordan’s biological father, Evan Chandler, was a dentist with a Hollywood clientele and a screenwriter who co-wrote the Mel Brooks comedy Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Jackson quickly befriended the Chandler family. He invited June, Jordan, and Jordan’s stepsister to his Neverland Ranch on weekends. They traveled together to Las Vegas and Florida; in May 1993, Jordan and June flew with Jackson to Monaco for the World Music Awards. These regular trips soon interfered with Jordan’s custody schedule, and Jordan chose Neverland over visits with his father. By June, Jackson was sleeping in the same room as Jordan and his stepbrother at the Chandler-Schwartz home. Evan Chandler later said he became suspicious after seeing Jackson and Jordan lying fully clothed in the same bed, though he claimed he saw nothing sexual.
On July 8, 1993, David Schwartz recorded a phone call with Evan Chandler. On the tape, Chandler threatened to “destroy” Jackson’s career using the “nastiest” lawyer he could find, Barry Rothman. Chandler said, “Once I make that phone call, this guy’s just going to destroy everybody in sight in any devious, nasty, cruel way that he can do it. ... Michael’s career will be over. ... This man is gonna be humiliated beyond belief. ... He will not sell one more record.” When Schwartz asked about the impact on his son, Chandler responded, “It’s irrelevant to me.”
On August 2, Chandler, while performing dental surgery on his son, administered Amytal, a sedative with hypnotic properties. Under sedation, Jordan claimed that Jackson had touched his penis. Chandler’s legal team approached Jackson with a $20 million demand, threatening to go public if not paid. Jackson’s lawyers counter-offered $1 million, then $350,000, but Chandler refused. In a meeting at the Westwood Marquis Hotel, Chandler read aloud a letter from psychiatrist Dr. Mathis Abrams stating “reasonable suspicion” of sexual abuse. Soon after, Dr. Abrams met with Jordan, who gave his full account of the alleged abuse, repeating the allegations to police and describing Jackson’s anatomy in detail.
On August 18, the Los Angeles Police Department and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit began investigating. Police issued a search warrant for Neverland Ranch on August 21. Investigators identified and questioned four boys named by the accuser, including actor Macaulay Culkin. All denied any inappropriate behavior by Jackson. Jackson’s chauffeur, Gary Hearne, testified to driving Jackson to Jordan’s house at night and collecting him in the morning for about 30 days.
On August 24, news of the allegations broke as Jackson began the third leg of his Dangerous World Tour in Bangkok. Anthony Pellicano, Jackson’s private detective, accused Evan Chandler of trying to extort Jackson for $20 million at a press conference. The Jackson family publicly asserted their “unequivocal belief” in Michael’s innocence and described the case as extortion.
The Chandlers retained attorney Gloria Allred, who later withdrew from the case. By September, they had hired Larry R. Feldman, former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. On September 14, 1993, Jordan and his parents filed a lawsuit alleging sexual battery, seduction, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Feldman sought a court order to compel police to hand over photographs of Jackson’s anatomy, or to have Jackson submit to another strip search.
On December 20, 1993, Jackson was subjected to a strip search at the request of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department and LAPD, to compare his anatomy to Jordan’s description. The search lasted 25 minutes and focused on skin discoloration due to Jackson’s vitiligo, a skin disorder he’d revealed to 90 million viewers in a televised interview earlier that year. Reuters later reported that the photographs “did not match” Jordan’s description. Years later, Jackson’s autopsy confirmed he was not circumcised, contradicting Jordan’s claim.
Other children publicly defended Jackson. Eleven-year-old Brett Barnes and ten-year-old dancer Wade Robson told Fox Television they had slept in the same room as Jackson but denied any sexual misconduct. Several parents complained of aggressive police tactics, claiming that police lied to children about evidence in order to prompt an accusation. On December 13, Jackson’s maid, Blanca Francia, alleged she had seen Jackson showering with a child, but she was later found to have sold her story for $20,000 to the tabloid show Hard Copy.
The police also investigated Evan Chandler for extortion, discovering he was $68,400 behind in child support. After five months, the District Attorney announced no charges would be brought, as Jackson’s lawyers’ extortion claim was filed too late and negotiations appeared to concern a civil settlement, not extortion.
The civil lawsuit and criminal investigation ran in parallel, creating legal complications for Jackson. Prosecutors gained access to civil trial information, potentially undermining Jackson’s Fifth Amendment rights. Judge David M. Rothman scheduled Jackson’s deposition for January 18, 1994. Fearing for Jackson’s health, his legal team began settlement talks.
On January 25, 1994, Jackson’s insurance company settled the lawsuit for $15,331,250 for Jordan, $1.5 million for each parent, and $5 million for the family’s lawyer—a total of about $23 million. Jackson and his lawyers stated the settlement was not an admission of guilt. The insurance company negotiated the payout over Jackson’s protests. The settlement agreement barred any statement of wrongdoing and was structured to prevent its use as evidence in future cases.
After the settlement, the Chandlers stopped cooperating with the criminal investigation. By July 1994, with their main witness unavailable, prosecutors announced the 13-month investigation, which included interviews with over 400 people and two grand juries, produced no indictments and could not corroborate Jordan’s allegations. The FBI later confirmed the investigation had no outstanding leads.
The allegations destroyed Jackson’s public image. Within months, he lost roughly 10 pounds and stopped eating, according to his friend Elizabeth Taylor. PepsiCo canceled their nine-year endorsement deal with Jackson, ending a partnership worth millions. A fragrance line was scrapped, and Jackson returned a $5 million advance for a song and video tied to the film Addams Family Values. Tabloid headlines declared “Michael Jackson: The Curtain Closes,” and the New York Post asked, “Peter Pan or pervert?” Two weeks after the story broke, a poll by A Current Affair found that nearly 75 percent of Americans believed Jackson was telling the truth.
In the years following the settlement, Jackson faced new allegations, including a criminal trial in 2005 on charges of child sexual abuse, for which he was acquitted. The Chandler case became a reference point for every subsequent controversy. Jordan Chandler legally emancipated himself from his parents at age 14, and Evan Chandler was later investigated for assaulting his son in 2006 before dying by suicide in 2009.
In 2019, the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland drew new scrutiny to the allegations and prompted some radio stations and cultural institutions to remove Jackson’s music and image. That film, focused on the separate accounts of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, was watched by millions—2.1 million for its first part in the UK alone—and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Following the 1993 allegations, Jackson earned no money from his image and likeness between 2006 and 2008, as revealed in a court judgment, illustrating the lasting financial impact of the scandal on his legacy.