Michael Jackson feared someone was trying to kill him shortly before he died. The pop superstar expired on Thursday, June 25, after a suspected heart attack, but longtime Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman claims the “Thriller” hitmaker was terrified that he would be murdered for his money or the music publishing rights he owned, which included his own work and over 200 songs from the Beatles back catalogue.

“He feared somebody wanted to kill him. He was even concerned people would kill him to somehow try to take control of the Beatles back catalogue,” Oxman said in an interview with Life & Style this week.

Oxman also claims family members believed Michael – who died of a suspected cardiac arrest last Thursday – was deliberately being kept in a drugged state by people aiming to manipulate him.