Neverland Ranch foreclosure auction canceled

updated 9:49 p.m. ET May 12, 2008

LOS ANGELES - foreclosure auction scheduled this week for Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch was canceled after an investment company bought the loan.

Colony Capital LLC spokeswoman Caroline Luz said the loan purchase was recently made by Colony and the auction slated for Wednesday was off, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

In a statement released Sunday by a Jackson spokesman who identified himself as B. Michael, the singer said he was “pleased with recent developments involving Neverland Ranch ... that would allow me to focus on the future.”

Jackson had gone into default on the $24.5 million he owes on the 2,500-acre spread in Santa Barbara County. He has struggled to pay his debts in recent years after his financial empire crumbled following his arrest in 2003 on child molestation charges. A jury later acquitted him and he hasn’t lived at Neverland for the past two years.

Jackson’s attorney, L. Londell McMillan, declined to comment to The Associated Press on Sunday. A call by the AP to Colony Capital was referred to a public relations firm.

Jackson bought the property in 1988 and turned it into a miniature amusement park with rides, including a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and roller coaster, and a zoo.

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