The owner of US charter airline company Xtrajet has been ordered to pay $12 million for secretly videotaping Michael Jackson and his lawyer in 2003.

Jackson and his lawyer, Mark Geragos, were using the airline to travel from Las Vegas to Santa Barbra where the pop star was due to answer molestation charges.

In 2006, Xtrajet’s owner Jeffery Borer and a co-defendant confessed to installing digital cameras on the aircraft.

It’s believed that a third-party then attempted to sell the recordings to major television and radio outlets, all of whom declined to broadcast to footage.

Borer’s lawyer said that he planned on appealing against the decision, according to AP.

Jackson was acquitted of the molestation charges in 2005 following a lengthy public trial.

(by Jason Gregory)