Evan Chandler

Evan Chandler (born Evan Robert Charmatz; January 25, 1944 – November 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter and dentist, and was perhaps best known for accusing pop icon Michael Jackson of child sexual abuse against his son Jordan.

Early Life

Evan Robert Charmatz was born in 1944 in Bronx, New York. ^[1] In 1973 he moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he subsequently changed his last name because Charmatz sounded too Jewish. ^[2]

Career

In her autobiographical book Shockaholic, Carrie Fisher claims that Chandler was her dentist, and was known as the "dentist to the stars," happily accommodating questionable requests by the famous in exchange for being associated with them. In the late 1980s, addict Fisher would get unnecessary dental surgery just to obtain morphine from him. Fisher claimed Chandler could be persuaded via financial incentives or "favors" to come to a patient's house to administer drugs. His license plate read "SLEEP MD". In the book, Fisher refers to Chandler as "strange", referring to him as "this freak", saying Chandler told her in the privacy of a dental visit that "My son is VERY (unsettling smile, raised eyebrows, maybe even a lewd wink) good looking...It was grotesque. This man was letting me know that he had this valuable thing that Michael Jackson 'wanted'". She describes how shortly afterwards, he reversed himself and in 1993 told Fisher he was bringing charges against Jackson, and at that time was "shocked with moral indignation". Fisher then states, "This was the time I knew I had to find another dentist. No drug can hide the feeling of one's skin crawling...I never thought that Michael's whole thing with kids was sexual. Never. As in Neverland. Granted, it was miles from appropriate, but just because it wasn't normal doesn't mean that it had to be perverse. Those aren't the only two choices for what can happen between an adult and an un-related child hanging out together...and yes, he had an amusement park, a zoo, a movie theatre, popcorn, candy and an elephant, but to draw a line under all that and add it up to the assumption that he fiendishly rubbed his hands together as he assembled this giant super spiderweb to lure and trap kids into it is just bad math."^[3] Chandler was also a screenwriter, co-writing the 1993 comedy film Robin Hood: Men in Tights.^[4]

Accusations against Michael Jackson and settlement

In 1993, Chandler accused Michael Jackson of molesting Chandler's son Jordan after his son told him of the allegations while under the influence of sodium amytal during a routine dental procedure. At the time, Chandler was in the midst of a custody battle for the boy with his ex-wife, June Chandler-Schwartz. The 1993 molestation case ended after Jackson reached a settlement with Chandler for a reported U.S. $20 million,^[5][6] although this amount was never confirmed by Jackson and no formal charges were brought after two independent grand juries decided not to indict the pop star.^[7][8]

Court documents released in 2002 revealed the settlement was actually $15 million^[9] and that Jackson's insurance carrier paid it without his consent, admitting only to "global claims of negligence" and stated, "The Parties recognize that the Settlement Payment are in settlement of claims by [Jordan Chandler], [Evan Chandler] and [June Chandler] for alleged compensatory damages for alleged personal injuries arising out of claims of negligence and not for claims of intentional or wrongful acts of sexual molestation". The document also stated Jordan was not prevented from testifying against Jackson if the case was tried in criminal court, but specified that the Chandlers could not speak to the media, contrary to reports insisting the settlement halted a criminal proceeding.

During the 1993 investigation, Jackson's hired private investigator Anthony Pellicano released a recorded telephone conversation between Chandler and Dave Schwartz, the new husband of his ex-wife, June, and stepfather to Jordan. Jackson's defense cited this tape as proof that Chandler's allegations were nothing but an attempt to extort money from the star and regain custody of Jordan, especially considering Chandler was more than $60,000 behind child support payments and had already approached Jackson several times asking for money. Chandler was recorded saying, "If I go through with this, I win big time. There’s no way that I lose. I’ve checked that out inside out...I will get everything I want, and they will be totally — they will be destroyed forever. They will be destroyed. June is gonna lose Jordy. She will have no right to ever see him again." This phone call took place on July 8; Evan would claim Jordan had confessed the abuse to him on July 16.

Following the settlement, Chandler had multiple plastic surgeries to mask his identity as he claimed abuse and harassment from angry Jackson fans.^[10]

According to a USA Today article written by journalist DeWayne Wickham, in 1996, Chandler attempted to sue Jackson a second time, citing the star's HIStory album as a breach of their confidentiality agreement.

It is also believed he is the ghostwriter of All that Glitters, a book about the allegations written by his brother Raymond that was released in 2004 following a new set of molestation accusations against Jackson.

It was revealed by June Chandler-Schwartz during Jackson's 2005 trial that her son, who, according to his uncle, fled the country to avoid testifying against Jackson, had filed for legal emancipation from his parents and had no contact with his mother since 1994.^[11][12] In 2006, court documents filed in the state of New Jersey revealed that Evan Chandler was sued by Jordan after he nearly killed him with a barbell and mace in August 2005.^[13] Jordan obtained a permanent restraining order against his father as a result.

Death

Chandler's residence Liberty View Towers (towers to the left), where he lived until his death in 2009 in Jersey City, NJ.

Evan Chandler committed suicide (via self-inflicted gunshot) on November 5, 2009, in his luxury apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, four months and eleven days after the death of Michael Jackson. He was 65 years old when he died.^[14]

References