New Michael Jackson Trial Looms

The Michael Jackson circus is traveling to Santa Monica.

Jury selection in a $3.8-million financial dispute between the pop star and a business associate, former pornographer F. Marc Schaffel, was set to begin Monday in a courtroom in the beach city but was postponed until Wednesday.

Schaffel’s suit alleges that the pop star owes him for loans to buy, among other things, jewelry for Elizabeth Taylor and for unpaid work on a charity record and two TV specials, “Michael Jackson: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See” and “Michael Jackson’s Private Home Movies,” made to improve Jackson’s reputation in the wake of child molestation allegations.

Jackson moved to Bahrain after his acquittal on child abuse charges last year. He is not expected to testify in this latest legal fray, but the trial could showcase allegations that his financial dealings are as unconventional as his lifestyle.

Among Schaffel’s allegations, according to his lawyer, Howard King, is that he withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from his bank and gave it to Jackson. One time, he put the money in a paper bag from an Arby’s restaurant, which he said Jackson later said imbued the money with the scent of French fries.

Jackson denies the charges. He has countersued Schaffel, saying his former associate owes him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Schaffel tells a fantastical tale” that is not borne out by the facts, said Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas C. Mundell.

Mundell also disputed the allegation that Jackson conducts his finances in a bizarre fashion. In six months of working for him, Mundell said, he’d seen no evidence of it.

Depositions in the case have revealed one unusual source of income for the King of Pop. Jackson claimed that he gets spending money by leasing land at his Neverland Ranch for cattle grazing.

King asked Jackson: “So all your cash, whenever you need cash to shop or whatever, comes from the cows?”

Jackson answered, “Yes, believe it or not.”

Schaffel was described during Jackson’s criminal case as the man who “directed everything” involving the family that accused the singer of child molestation, and the new trial could cover some old ground.

Thus far, the main thing the case has produced is lawyer squabbling. On Monday, Superior Court Judge Jacqueline A. Connor expressed frustration at the lengthy courtroom spats. “We’ve been doing this for days,” she said.

The trial is estimated to last two weeks.