SANTA MARIA, Dec 19: Michael Jackson was charged on Thursday with nine counts of molesting a young boy, including committing seven “lewd acts,” but the pop star’s lawyer called the case a “shakedown” motivated by greed and revenge.

The 45-year-old Jackson, a self-styled “Peter Pan,” is also accused of giving the boy, who is not identified in court papers, an “intoxicating agent” in order to make it easier to molest him. If found guilty, he could face more than 20 years in prison and be forced to register as a sex offender under California law.

All of the charges stem from allegations that Jackson molested a boy under the age of 14 at his Neverland Valley Ranch, in the hills above Santa Barbara, earlier this year.

A police report has said that the boy in question was the youth who was shown holding hands with Jackson during a British documentary that was broadcast in February. The singer said that they both slept in his bedroom, as had other children.

The self-declared “King of Pop,” who was arrested on suspicion of child molestation last month and released on $3 million bail, was not present when the charges were unsealed at a courthouse in the central California city of Santa Maria, near his Neverland Valley Ranch.

“Michael is innocent,” Jackson’s mother, Katherine, said in a written statement. “On behalf of the Jackson family we know these vicious lies are totally untrue, malicious and motivated by pure greed and revenge.”

She added that the family would “fight with every ounce of our energy to reveal the truth behind these false allegations and the motivations behind those who have falsely accused Michael.” —Reuters