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Now Feldman and his client are a wealthy man and boy. The attorney's contingency fee could be in the $5 million to $15 million range, and he would be worth it, considering that according to Pellicano, $20 million was the amount demanded by the boy's father last year. The trust will ensure that not all the millions end up in the parents' pockets. But how much will the megarich star be left with? Reportedly, Cochran has asked TIG Insurance, the Transamerica subsidiary that holds Jackson's personal-liability policy, to cover the settlement.
Perhaps Jackson, who has been accused of impropriety by no other boy in these five months of glaring publicity, can revive his charisma and career. "Michael's state of mind is good," Cochran says. "He'll be back in the recording studio soon." He will also participate in NBC's The Jackson Family Honors show on Feb. 21 -- an event that could lure more rubberneckers than a Tonya Harding free skate in the Olympics.
Jackson has always seemed emotionally bewildered, adrift in a toy boat on a roiling sea outside Neverland. His accuser wins sympathy, but he earns pity. If he never goes to jail, he still seems condemned to solitary confinement in his own bizarre Eden.