Michael Jackson associate alleges he was given a bag of child abuse material to dispose of: 'It was a phase'
Michael Jackson associate alleges he was given a bag of child abuse material to dispose of: 'It was a phase'
Leigh BlickleyWed, June 3, 2026 at 4:28 PM UTC
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Michael Jackson in 2002
Credit: Jim Ruymen - Pool/GettyKey Points
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Michael Jackson's former associate claims he disposed of child abuse material in new docuseries.
Vincent Amen alleges that he found a nudist magazine in a duffle bag he was asked to get rid of.
Michael Jackson: The Verdict features key players from Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial.
Michael Jackson's 2005 child molestation case is being revisited in a new documentary series.
In Netflix's Michael Jackson: The Verdict, key players of the case dissect the trial of the legendary pop star and contemplate his complex legacy. One such witness is a former Jackson associate, Vincent Amen, who worked with him from 2002 to 2003 and was closely attuned to alleged happenings at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
"I defended him," Amen said in the docuseries, which was released on Wednesday. "I wholeheartedly believed in his innocence [until I didn't]."
Amen went on to discuss how his belief in Jackson faltered when he was asked to dispose of alleged child abuse material found at Neverland. Amen's friend Frank Tyson, also known as Frank Cascio, who was a longtime acquaintance of Jackson's and considered him "like a father," allegedly swore to Amen for years that Jackson would never harm or sexually abuse a child. Amen trusted him.
Tyson's four siblings, Aldo, Eddie, Dominic, and Marie Cascio, accused Jackson of sexual abuse and grooming in an April 2026 lawsuit, claiming he trained them to defend him against other allegations. Tyson abstained from joining the lawsuit, citing legal reasons.
"Frank was a young child when he met Michael, and he grew in the ranks, and he became his personal assistant. Basically, anything Michael wanted, he would have to do," Amen explained.
He continued, "Frank cleaned out his house of anything that came from the Neverland Ranch. And he hands me a Nike bag. I took the bag and I'm driving home, and I felt, 'Something's a little suspicious.' And I said, 'Let me take a look in this bag.' I start taking videos to document this. I open the bag. I start looking, and I see a magazine."
As video footage from Amen played in the doc, he stated he reportedly found a nudist magazine called Naturally, and started flipping through it.
He detailed, "There was Sharpie circles around the video ordering section. Someone wanted these videos, circled the ones they want. These videos, which are [of] children that are naked. Some with family, some just naked children."
According to footage shown, some of the videos were titled "Nudist Youth Weekend" and "Euro-Nudist Family." Amen said he confronted Tyson about the magazine, and Tyson told him that "it was just a phase Michael and I went through."
According to Amen, Tyson allegedly shared that Michael would circle the videos he was interested in, and Tyson would order them. Then, they would watch them together.
"When I heard that, I was in disbelief," Amen admitted. "I was very upset. My inclination was, after finding this and sitting there thinking about it, was that Frank is so close to Michael that he's covering up for him. That was the defining moment for me. That was the moment that hit me so hard where I realized that there's something going on here."
Tyson denied Netflix's request to participate in the docuseries.
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Michael Jackson greeting fans outside the courthouse
Credit: Getty
Jackson was accused of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo after Martin Bashir's 2003 documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, triggered an investigation. (The film showed Jackson holding hands with child cancer patient Arvizo and defending his practice of sharing his bed with children.) In November 2003, Arvizo told police that Jackson had molested him several times between Feb. and March 2003, when, according to his mom Janet, Jackson had held the family captive at Neverland amid the fallout of Living with Michael Jackson.
Amen was tasked with looking after the Arvizo family at Neverland at the time. During The Verdict, Amen showed the camera a series of old Polaroids that he kept featuring Janet and her younger son, Star.
Janet captioned one of the photos, “Dearest loving Michael, we appreciate you being our family ... What God brings together, no man can undo. We love you." Another from Star read, "I love you, my daddy Michael. Your son, Blowhole."
Amen claimed, "These are the nicknames that Michael would give these young boys."
The former associate also noted that during this time, many media outlets were questioning Jackson's relationship with children, and he was a part of Jackson's camp when they hired criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos "to look over the legal aspects" of the allegations.
The team decided the best path forward would be for the Arvizo family to record a video about their relationship with Jackson, particularly Gavin's. Amen stated in the doc that he believed Janet's words at the time when she claimed Jackson was nothing but a good, kind man. (This was before he found the nudist magazine that called him to question Jackson's true nature.)
Jackson was indicted on four counts of molesting a minor, four counts of intoxicating a minor to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation, one count of conspiring to hold the Arvizo family captive and conspiring to commit extortion, and child abduction.
The singer was ultimately acquitted on all counts, with jurors in the 2005 trial citing insufficient evidence.
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Jackson died in June 2009 at the age of 50 due to acute intoxication of propofol and lorazepam, which caused the singer to go into cardiac arrest. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 and received the maximum sentence of four years in prison, but was released early after one year and 11 months.
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Jackson's estate for comment on the Netflix series.
Michael Jackson: The Verdict is now streaming on Netflix.
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