Michael Jackson's efforts to halt auction of his memorabilia could turn ugly with the current owner threatening to embarrass him by making public items such as Jackson's painting of naked boys and sex aids, reports Page Six
The auction by, Richard Altomare, chairman of Florida-based Universal Express, is scheduled for May 30-31 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Vegas.
Jackson has obtained a temporary restraining order claiming he is the rightful owner of the items and is set to argue his case at a closed-door hearing in Las Vegas tomorrow.
Altomare acquired the items from Henry Vacaro, a former business partner of Jackson who, in turn, acquired the items as part of a New Jersey bankruptcy case.
The total number of items under dispute exceeds 20,000 and includes handwritten Jackson 5 lyrics, never-before-released recordings, costumes from Jackson 5 days onwards such as Jackson's trademark sunglasses, black fedora and a jacket with gold-sequined epaulets from his "Moonwalking" days.
Altomare says he negotiating sale of the unreleased songs to Sony and is hopeful he will make more than $100 million from the auction.
"I've already been offered $50 million for it privately," he told Pages Six.
"There are a couple of paintings Jackson made of children, of boys - naked," Altomare told Page Six. "And there are some of his whitening creams, some sex aids . . . some of the old records in his sealed [sexual molestation] court case.
"This is stuff we have kept from the auction out of respect to Mr. Jackson. The guy has troubles. We all have skeletons in the closet and, if Michael hadn't put up a fuss, I might have quietly, discreetly, just given it to him. I'm a Brooklyn kid and a gentleman . . . But if he p - - - - s me off, I may end up auctioning them."
Jackson's rep, William Marshall, had no immediate comment for Page Six.
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