Michael Jackson faced fresh legal woes on Thursday after a man claimed to have recently remembered that the superstar sexually assaulted him 20 years ago.
Court documents seen here showed that Joseph Bartucci filed suit this week in the state of Louisiana, claiming that repressed memories had revealed that Jackson repeatedly forced him into sex in May 1984.
Jackson is currently in news headlines as he is facing criminal charges in California for allegedly sexually molesting a 12-year-old boy last year.
Bartucci, who was 18 at the time of the alleged assaults, claimed that the singer’s aides threatened at him at gunpoint in order to force him to have sex with Jackson and also falsely imprisoned him.
He is suing for unspecified damages for the emotional pain and suffering allegedly caused by the incidents, which he claimed to have completely forgotten until he saw a television programme about Jackson’s current legal problems late last year.
Jackson’s aides were not immediately available for comment, but the 46-year-old pop icon has said that he has long been a target of lawsuits based on false accusations aimed at extorting money from him.
He has denied the current criminal charges against him, which are due to go to trial in January, as well as other similar allegations in the past. – Sapa-AFP