Michael Jackson's Former Friends Sue Estate for Sex Trafficking

8:10 PM PT -- Attorney Marty Singer tells TMZ ... “This lawsuit is a desperate money grab by additional members of the Cascio family who have hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank, who is already being sued in arbitration for civil extortion.

The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct. This new court filing is a transparent forum-shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies."
 
He continues ... "Statements by the Cascios, including those appearing in dozens of passages throughout Frank Cascio’s 2011 book, as well as in interviews with Oprah Winfrey and others, directly contradict what is being alleged now. Throughout, the Cascios consistently and repeatedly asserted that Michael never harmed any of them or anyone else."

Michael Jackson's former family friends, the Cascios, are suing his estate for sexual abuse ... alleging he sex trafficked them.

Edward Cascio, Dominic Cascio, Marie Porte and Aldo Cascio are suing The Michael Jackson Company for sex trafficking children by force, fraud or coercion ... claiming that over the course of a decade he "drugged, raped, and sexually assaulted each of the Plaintiffs, beginning when some of them were as young as seven or eight."

The siblings say Jackson pushed his way into their lives with gifts, access to his celebrity lifestyle and declarations of love ... before isolating each of them from one another and their families and abusing them.

There are numerous claims in the document ... including that each of the children were abused "on interstate and international trips" in places as varied as Switzerland, Florida, South Africa and the United Kingdom just to name a few.

One of the Plaintiffs -- Edward -- alleges he was abused in Elizabeth Taylor's Switzerland House and Elton John's United Kingom home.

The Cascios claim Michael normalized the abuse by showing them "pornography and pictures of unclothed children" which they say he referred to as "sweet."

They say Jackson was constantly under the influence of drugs ... like Xanax, Vicodin, and other prescription.

Jackson's support system enabled his alleged abuse, the Cascios claim ... and, they went to the Jackson estate for compensation after watching the documentary "Leaving Neverland" -- which they say received. Each of the siblings got $690K per year for five years. They now believe that to be an inadequare sum.

Worth noting ... the Cascios -- represented by Mark Geragos and Howard King -- flew to Los Angeles last month to nullify the settlement. Marty Singer, the estate's lawyer, claimed the siblings were just trying to extort the estate.

We spoke to King after the hearing ... and, he told us his clients deserved $200 million.