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* Police R&id Home of Pop © Star’s Advisor. ! Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, CA Section/Page: B3 Date: Monday, February 2, 2004 tite: POLICE RAID HOME OF POP STAR'S ADVISOR Character or Classification: Submitting Office: LOS ANGELES A producer of gay porn who has worked with Michael Jackson is being investigated. By CHucK PHILIPS | Times Staff Writer Santa Barbara authorities — have raided the home of a pro- ' ducer of gay pornography and | close business associate to Mi- ' ¢chael Jackson in:connection with , the pop star’s recent arrest on ; multiple counts of child molesta- tion, law enforcement sources» said Sunday. Police seized computers and » other items-Saturday from the Calabasas residence of F. Mark © Schaffel, a Jackson advisor who ' produced and sold footage of | Jackson holding hands with a. - boy at his Neverland ranch to | Fox TV in February 2003, police | sources said. Santa Barbara detectives have been tracking Schaffel’s movements since November, | when they received a phone call | from the FBI in Los Angeles in- forming them that Schaffel was | under investigation for alleged | involvement in child pornogra- phy in Budapest, law enforce- | ment sources said. Schaffel could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Tom Byrne, did not return calls over the week- end, but denied last month that Schaffel had done anything wrong. “Mr. Schaffel has nothing to do with child porn,” Byrne said. | “I don’t know anything about ' any investigation by the FBI or ; the Santa Barbara police.” The Santa Barbara Sheriff's | Department declined to com- ' ment. Attorneys for Jackson did not return-phone calls. FBI officials also declined to ' comment, but law enforcement sources said the agency last year investigated a videotape filmed ‘, and produced by Schaffel that involved alleged child pornogra- |' phy. The outcome of the FBI probe was unclear, but sources |, said the latest charges against ' Jackson renewed the agency's |) interest in Schaffel’s activities. The initial FBI probe was launched in the autumn of 2001 ; after the agency received a com- | plaint from someone who pro- , vided a copy of a videotape -' filmed by Schaffel in Budapest :' that allegedly included footage | of boys performing sex acts, sources said. Los Angeles Police Department detectives were also given a copy of the tape at ° the time — as were representa- ‘ tives of Jackson, sources said. Santa Barbara detectives did ' not receive a copy of the Buda- ; pest video until December, after the boy featured in the Fox TV footage alleged to police that Jackson had molested him. Schaffel’s association with | Jackson first surfaced publicly in — September 2002 after The Times reported that he had produced the pop: stars charity single, “What More Can I Give” — fea- ' turing two dozen stars including Ricky Martin, Reba McEntire and Mariah Carey. Schaffel had ‘| never produced a musical re- cording before and had no ex- :' perience in the record business. At the time, Jackson was in a. 1 bitter, public feud with his re- cord company, Sony.Music En- tertainment. He had organized a fan protest at Sony’s New York headquarters and blamed “rac- ist” executives at the company for blocking the release of the charity single, which he said was recorded to benefit victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It was later learned that Sony had backed off the project at the request of Jackson’s own advi- sors, after they discovered that Schaffel had produced arid di- rected dozens of gay pornogra- phy videos. Jackson’s advisors investi- gated ‘Schaffel and found out that he and his business partner, Paul Hugo, once owned an adult film house calied Sosume Indus- tries, which distributed movies made by Schaffel through a sub- sidiary called Renegade Video. Schaffel. also operated several: gay porn sites on the Internet. But Jackson apparently held . Schaffel in high esteem. The pop star singled out Schaffel for praise in the liner notes of his “Invincible? CD and secretly signed over the rights to “What More Can I Give” to Schaffel. That decision stunned Jackson’s legal team, causing many to wonder why an entertainer known for shrewd deal making would simply give away valuable | | rights to a music-industry novice Z0dA- LA- 836 4 1752 0 Di’