Update

Michael Jackson has been called a brilliant businessman by his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, but a defense witness testified Thursday that the entertainer had little control of his own business affairs.

Las Vegas attorney David LeGrand told jurors that at one point, the singer had as many as nine different lawyers representing him, and that Jackson was taken advantage of in a lopsided contract with a British journalist he gave unprecedented access to. Legrand also said that he had to hire a private investigator to look into the backgrounds of two of Jackson's managers.

"I became suspicious of everybody," LeGrand said. "It seemed everybody wanted to benefit from Mr. Jackson in one way or another."

Jackson's defense called LeGrand to the stand in an attempt to distance Jackson from three of his former business partners and alleged co-conspirators: Ronald Konitzer, Dieter Wiesner and Marc Schaffel.

LeGrand also gave jurors his perspective of the upheaval within the pop star's inner circle in early 2003, when they learned that Jackson was about to be skewered in journalist Martin Bashir's TV documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson."

In the documentary, Jackson told Bashir that he'd had no more than two surgeries on his nose to help him breathe, that he conceived his two children with Debbie Rowe through "natural" means, and that the press overreacted when he dangled his infant child over a balcony.

The documentary also included scenes showing Jackson holding hands with a 13-year-old cancer survivor, a boy who once called the King of Pop "Daddy Michael," and Jackson's description of the innocent joy of sharing his bed with children.

Jackson is on trial for allegedly molesting the boy in the weeks after the documentary aired, conspiring to falsely imprison the child and his family at Neverland, and giving his accuser "Jesus juice," or wine in a Diet Coke can, among other intoxicating agents.

'Suspicious' motives

Prosecutors allege that the Bashir documentary was a PR disaster for Jackson. They contend that Jackson commanded his unindicted co-conspirators to engage in a campaign of intimidation and coercion against the accuser's family, forced them to participate in a rebuttal video, and made plans to send the family on a one-way trip to Brazil — all in an attempt to protect the entertainer's career.

LeGrand said that he was hired by Konitzer to help bring in a new team of advisers who could offer a full-court press legal attack on the documentary producers, while also developing business ventures to reinvigorate Jackson's sagging career, including Michael Jackson perfume, slot machines, and a feature film about his life.

LeGrand agreed with prosecutors that the Bashir documentary was a PR disaster for Jackson.

He described two agreements Jackson signed for the filmmakers as "terrible contracts," that were "vague" and "very simple one-paragraph documents."

According to LeGrand, Jackson had oral agreements with Bashir that were not met — expectations that his children's faces would be obscured to protect their anonymity, that he would be given the opportunity to review and edit the final cut, and that in lieu of payment, a donation would be made to charity.

"The overall thrust of the case was that Mr. Bashir had completely hoodwinked Mr. Jackson?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked the witness.

After prosecution objections, Mesereau repeated his question verbatim, essentially using the word "misrepresented" in place of "hoodwinked."

LeGrand confirmed that he believed Bashir had misled Jackson.

LeGrand said he also became suspicious of Konitzer and Wiesner, who he claimed had the power to move funds from Jackson's account and appeared to have diverted $965,000 into Konitzer's account.

"In general, I began to disagree with some of Mr. Konitzer's decisions on matters and felt that he was making bad decisions, I guess is the way to say it," LeGrand said. "I became suspicious of his motives and actions."

LeGrand said he sent Konitzer a letter asking him to account for the money, and he was summarily fired weeks later. At some point in the future, he was rehired by Jackson to investigate Konitzer and Wiesner. Jackson has since had a falling-out with both associates.

But prosecutors successfully pointed out on cross-examination that Jackson personally fired LeGrand. LeGrand also agreed that Jackson himself fired his former business managers and entertainment lawyers, putting Konitzer, Wiesner and Schaffel in charge of his affairs.

The prosecution's implication was that Jackson is "a brilliant businessman," as Rowe testified, and further, that he played an active role in the alleged captivity of the accuser, his siblings and their mother at Neverland in February and March 2003.

While LeGrand said he was unaware of any conspiracy to hold the family against their will, he agreed with prosecutors that they had been perceived at the time "as a potential liability to Mr. Jackson."