WadeRobson_MJ
Wade Robson, defense witness for Michael Jackson's defense team departs the Santa Barbara County Superior Courthouse in Santa Maria, California. Wade Robson, the first defense witness in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial, exits the Santa Barbara County Superior Courthouse in Santa Maria, California following his testimony, May 5, 2005. Robson, an Australian-born choreographer and dancer, told jurors on Thursday that the pop star had never molested him or behaved in an inappropriate way during his 20 or so stays at Neverland. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Michael Jackson is said to have shelled out $35 million to buy the silence of boys he abused, secret files obtained by FBI from Anthony Pellicano, the artist's private investigator showed, according to UK’s Sunday People.

The tabloid, which said it had accessed the FBI files that contain the private investigator’s records and phone transcripts, said in a report on Sunday, that nearly 24 boys and their parents were paid off by the King of Pop over a period of 15 years, starting from 1989.

“Absolutely, people have been paid, there’s no question,” a source told the Daily News.

Most of the reports in the FBI’s possession were commissioned by Jackson himself to keep information about his private life from being exposed. According to the Sunday People, Jackson hired Pellicano to collect information from his past and to ensure it stayed out of the media's reach.

But, when Pellicano was investigated in 2002 for spying on celebrities, the files were seized by the FBI.

The information contained in the files could help Jackson’s former child friend Wade Robson’s case, the Daily News reported. Robson, a choreographer who has worked with Britney Spears and Demi Lovato claims he was abused by Jackson when he was seven years old.

Robson has asked his lawyers to contact the FBI regarding the files that were not produced in court, when Jackson was undergoing trial on child molestation charges, in 2005, the Daily News reported.

“Wade knows that if he stands shoulder to shoulder with another accuser, he might be viewed more sympathetically,” a source told the Daily News.

“He feels his case could be helped if he could get another child or even more to come out and accuse Michael of similar crimes. It has been over 20 years, but right now his prime concern is to build a case to show the world he is in the right.”

The Sunday People reported that the file names 17 boys, including five child actors and two dancers, who were allegedly abused by Jackson.