In Leaving Neverland, Michael Jackson accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck painstakingly recount the alleged sexual abuse they say they faced at the hands of Jackson when they were children, both while on tour with the pop star and during visits to his famed Neverland Ranch. Both men go into graphic detail, describing various locations and circumstances in which they were allegedly abused as minors. All of which prompts a couple questions: where were Jackson’s staff, handlers, and security detail when the abuse was allegedly being perpetrated? And how could they, as well as his friends and family, ignore the reported stream of young boys Jackson entertained in his inner sanctum?

As Vanity Fair’s Maureen Orth bluntly explained in her 1994 investigative feature “Nightmare in Neverland,”, Jackson was “such a highly prized corporate moneymaking machine, such a valuable product . . . that almost no one, especially those C.E.O.s and moguls who make millions off him, has ever really questioned his motives: why this reclusive man-child with no known history of romantic relationships prefers to live a fantasy life in the company of children.” Additionally, any staff member who spoke out against the superstar—who was worth an estimated $150 million in the 90s—jeopardized their employment. Most guests to Neverland Ranch were also forced to sign confidentiality agreements, ensuring they would not speak to press or write about what went on inside Jackson’s Santa Barbara estate.

And, as Orth later wrote in her 2004 feature “Neverland’s Lost Boys,” Jackson used other intimidation tactics as well: “In 1993 armed members of tough South-Central L.A. gangs, including the notorious Bloods, were transported to Neverland. The employment of these toughs was said to have sent a strong message to Neverland employees who might have considered cooperating in the Jordie Chandler investigation, not to mention the subliminal message it gave out to other boys and their families who might have been thinking of coming forward.”

There were some people from Jackson’s inner circle—family members, friends, and former employees—who did speak out against Jackson, but their credibility was, in most cases, swiftly dismantled by Jackson’s high-powered team of lawyers. As a reporter for The Observer noted in 2005, “At no stage did any witness or victim report Jackson to the police. Or try to stop the alleged abuse. They went to lawyers, tabloid editors, and television reporters, but never to social services.”

Ahead, a look back at the members of Jackson’s inner circle who spoke out against the singer—and the ways in which many of them were called into question.

La Toya Jackson, Michael’s older sister: In 1993, La Toya broke with the family’s united front—that Jackson did not abuse 13-year-old Jordan Chandler, as he had been accused of doing—to make a bombshell claim. During a televised interview with Today’s Katie Couric, La Toya alleged that her family knew something was amiss with Michael. Though she did not provide concrete evidence to support her claims, La Toya said that her and Michael’s mother, Katherine, had been “outraged” to discover “checks that were written to . . . the parents of the little boys that would sleep over.” La Toya claimed the checks were found around 1984, and “were for a substantial amount of money.” La Toya claimed that Katherine said, in response to the discovery, “I can’t stand this. He’s nothing but a fag.”

Asked why Katherine had not come forward, La Toya explained, “She denies it, because she has no [financial] support [otherwise]. In other words, if she were to go and tell the truth, Michael would drop everything, and she would probably be out on the streets. So she has to stand by him.”