London, July 12 (IANS): Pop legend Michael Jackson's elder sister La Toya has claimed that the singer was murdered by people conspiring to lay their hands on his $1.6 billion assets.
"Michael was murdered, and we don't think just one person was involved. Rather, it was a conspiracy of people. I feel it was all about money. Michael was worth well over a billion in music publishing assets and somebody killed him for that. He was worth more dead than alive," she said in a four-hour interview to the News of the World.
La Toya, 53, however, refused to name people involved and said: "I can't say who I believe is responsible as I don't want to jeopardize the police investigation."
She also said that Jackson feared he could be targeted in a conspiracy.
"A couple of years ago, Michael told me he was worried that people were out to get him. He said that 'they're gonna kill me for my publishing. They want my catalogues and they're gonna kill me for these'," she said.
"Michael was being controlled. No one could get through to him...Michael was being inappropriately treated by people who got him hooked on drugs," she added.
Millions of dollars in cash and jewels disappeared from the "Thriller" star's house the day he died in his rented Los Angeles mansion June 25, she claimed.
"Michael always had cash in his homes, usually around 2 million pounds which he used to keep. People said he wasn't wealthy, but Michael always had money with him," she said.
"When I went to the house later that day, there was no cash or jewellery. So many people had been through that house before I got there. Someone went in there and did a good job. It was very strange," she added.
She also revealed that the staff loyal to the pop star were fired within hours of his death.
"When the family returned to his rented Holmby Hills mansion at 11:30 p.m. on the day of his death, we were told all the guys loyal to Michael had been fired. I couldn't work it out."