Jackson: Management 'contract' was a forgery

Michael Jackson has claimed that his signature was forged on an agreement to pay his former business manager more than £9m.

The singer said he never met Myung-Ho Lee in Los Angeles in September when he is alleged to have signed a memorandum promising to pay for Mr Lee’s business counselling.

“I did not sign this document and have never seen it until a few weeks ago,” he states in an affidavit.

“I would never knowingly sign a document that expressly required me to pay over 13 million dollars to Mr Lee, or anyone else, alone in a room and without review.”

Jackson’s friend Frank Tyson, 21, has backed up his claim, declaring he has seen the star’s signature up to 500 times in the last five years and that the signature on the memo “does not to appear that of Mr Jackson”.

The legal dispute follows recent claims by Jackson that Sony Records boss Tommy Mottola was a racist and that record companies conspire to defraud their black artists.

Sony called the remarks “ludicrous, spiteful and hurtful” and suggested they may have been prompted by his poor record sales.

His latest album, Invincible, has only sold 2 million copies worldwide, a far cry from Thriller, which holds the world record with sales of 45 million.