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NEW YORK (Court TV) A gay-pornography producer with business ties to Michael Jackson may have engaged in a conspiracy to silence the boy accusing the singer of child molestation, according to Court TV's Diane Dimond.
Jackson pleaded not guilty last month to a revised 10-count felony indictment which included counts of lewd or lascivious conduct involving a child under 14; administering an intoxicant, reportedly wine; and one new count of conspiracy, which alleged 28 individual overt acts involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
But when the indictment was released to the press, the names of at least five alleged co-conspirators had been omitted.
Although there is a gag order in the case which prevents lawyers from disclosing certain information, Dimond uncovered details about the alleged co-conspirators and their ties to Jackson. On Tuesday, Dimond reported on Court TV's "Catherine Crier Live," that of the five possible co-conspirators, gay-porn producer Marc Schaffel may be the Jackson defense team's "biggest, most embarrassing problem."
Schaffel and Jackson advisers, Deiter Weizner and Ronald Konitzer, may have tried to keep Jackson's accuser and his family away from investigators and the media, Dimond reported, even attempting to ferry the family out of the country.
Jackson's alleged victim, identified in court documents as "John Doe," was featured last year in a now infamous documentary. The 12-year-old was holding hands with Jackson and resting his head on his shoulder, while the singer explained why his Neverland Ranch sleepovers with children were innocent, loving acts.
That incident allegedly put Weizner, Konitzer and Schaffel into crisis mode. The trio gave the orders to have the boy signed out of school, get his family's Los Angeles apartment packed up, and get passports for the accuser and his kin to leave the country, sources told Court TV.
There is also speculation that two more alleged co-conspirators, Vincent Amen and Frank Tyson, intimidated witnesses.
New York attorney Joseph Tacopina recently stated that he believes, based on news reports and conversations with law enforcement officials, that his clients, Amen and Tyson, are among those co-conspirators to be indicted.
Tacopina said that Tyson, who was Jackson's personal assistant, has been accused of threatening to kill the alleged victim's younger brother if he revealed to authorities that the entertainer gave the boy alcohol. Amen, who worked for Jackson's production company, was accused of holding the family at Neverland against its will.
Tacopina has denied the allegations.
"Certainly they would prefer to keep their thoughts to themselves and their opinions to themselves," Tacopina said. "But if it happens that there is a legal process that brings them to Santa Barbara to answer questions, we'll be there."
According to Dimond, Tyson has known Jackson since the early 1990s and used to travel around the world with the pop star. The singer took a liking to the young boy after Tyson's father, a concierge at a luxury New York hotel, introduced them. Amen, Tyson's neighbor, met Jackson after accompanying Tyson on a trip to Neverland.
But less is known about the other three alleged co-conspirators, Diamond said. Ronald Konitzer, a German-born Canadian, is one of Jackson's trusted confidantes. He once gave Konitzer power-of-attorney to launch a new corporation in an effort to revive the singer's career.
German adviser Deiter Weizner lives near Stuttgart, according to Dimond, and has done marketing for Jackson for almost a decade.
Dimond said that gay-porn producer Schaffel was seen in January having lunch with Weizner and Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe — even though Jackson's camp put out the word more than two years ago that the entertainer had severed ties with Schaffel. At that time, he was producing a Sept. 11 charity song for Jackson, which was scrapped after his history with pornography was revealed.
Dimond said that, in her phone conversations with Konitzer and Weizner, "both say they have done absolutely nothing wrong, they were business associates and that's it."
"As for Marc Schaffel," Dimond said, "he's nowhere to be found and his attorney has no comment."
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