Jury Hears Phone Messages In Michael Jackson Civil Lawsuit

Erratic phone messages that Michael Jackson sent to a former business associate were played for jurors in a Santa Monica, California courtroom on Wednesday as part of F. Marc Schaffel's $4.2-million civil lawsuit against the singer.

One of the first recorded calls, from 2001, illustrated how close the two men were and how Jackson trusted Schaffel to handle millions of his dollars.

"Marc, please never let me down. I like you. I love you. I really want us to be friends and conquer the business world together. Please be my loyal, loyal friend. I love you."

Schaffel, whose background is in the adult video distribution business, testified that he worked on a variety of projects for Jackson, including proposed deals involving actor Marlon Brando, who died in 2004. The youngest member of The Jackson Five envisioned making a video where the two icons would interview each other on Brando's Tahitian island as well as an acting DVD. Neither project happened, but Brando was interested, according to this message that Jackson left for Schaffel:

"Marlon Brando has been pushing. He's a wonderful man. He's a god. He wants a lot of money. He wants to get things done right now."

Schaffel was also involved with "What More Can I Give," a song that Jackson wrote to try and benefit victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. It was never released due to complications involving Jackson and his record company, Sony, but Schaffel said that millions of dollars were spent on travel and recording expenses for more than 30 major artists who were recruited for the song. Jackson later tried to tie the song to a charity project related to the Iraq war, but that fell through, too.

Schaffel testified that he withdrew $333,000 from his own bank account and was never fully repaid after he delivered the money to someone in Brazil to take care of a personal matter for Jackson in November 2003. In Jackson's child molestation case last year, the prosecution claimed that there was a plan to relocate a family that had made accusations against him to Brazil. Jackson was acquitted and Schaffel didn't describe the personal matter in court.

Schaffel also claims that he's owed about $740,000 in royalties from two videos, produced to repair Jackson's image, that were sold to the Fox television network.

While Jackson won't testify in person, a videotaped deposition was shown to jurors in which he said that he believed that Schaffel had been paid because he always seemed happy.