LOS ANGELES — The owner of the Staples Center arena said the city attorney bullied and threatened him in an effort to recover millions of dollars the city spent to police Michael Jackson’s memorial service.
The city attorney’s office countered that Anschutz Entertainment Group is a political heavyweight used to getting its way and is upset at not getting a free ride.
“No one, no matter how much political pull you have in the city of Los Angeles, is above the law,” City Attorney Carmen Trutanich told Los Angeles radio station KNX.
The ongoing squabble came as the city struggles with a budget deficit.
“I wouldn’t say it was extortion. I would say it’s a bully tactic,” AEG president and chief executive Tim Leiweke told the Los Angeles Times.
Leiweke said Trutanich asked the company for $6 million and that he offered to defray a portion of $1.3 million in costs. The Associated Press
