WEG vs. Brand Sense — Diverted Commissions, Racketeering, and "Sneaky and Underhanded" Dealings : A Research Thread

[Steel Magnolia]

A large part of the discussion around the conservatorship involves Britney's finances.

Let's compare two lawsuits — the WEG lawsuit and the Brand Sense lawsuit — to see if they offer up any clues as to how her finances have been managed both before and after the conservatorship.

Shall we?  

The WEG Lawsuit:

In October of 2007, Britney's former manager, Johnny Wright, sued Britney and her company "Britney Touring, Inc." for unpaid commissions he claimed she owed him. Johnny alleged that Britney stopped paying him in December of 2006, just as she split from Kevin Federline. The commissions dated back to 2003, when Britney and Johnny parted ways, and included album advances for "In The Zone" and "Greatest Hits." The fact that "Britney Touring, Inc." was also named in the lawsuit hints that Johnny felt she owed him commissions on the "Onyx Hotel Tour," as well as possibly the "House of Blues Tour."  Johnny claimed he didn't know how much she owed since he hadn't received accounting reports since 2003.

Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1047435/wright-sues-spears-for-breach-of-contract/

Within the court documents it stated:

"Upon information and belief, SPEARS and BTI concealed from WEG a series of negotiations and agreements for otherwise commissionable Gross Receipts payable to WEG, thus diverting those commissions to SPEARS directly or indirectly, or to corporate entities without the knowledge, consent, or agreement of WEG, both before and after the termination Agreement."

The Brand Sense Lawsuit:

In March of 2011, a company called Brand Sense Partners, LLC sued Britney for unpaid commissions they claimed she owed them. They claimed a compromise deal was orchestrated by Jamie Spears and Lou M. Taylor, which delivered perfume royalties from Elizabeth Arden directly to Britney.

Source: https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/03/exclusive-britney-spears-being-sued-10m-ex-business-partner/

Within the court documents it stated:

“Britney secretly made a separate deal with Elizabeth Arden in a sneaky underhanded effort to circumvent and evade its obligations to Brand Sense.” ... “Brand Sense had a contractual right to a 35% commission on any Britney Spears-branded fragrance sold by Elizabeth Arden” ... “But Mr. Spears complained that the commission was too high and said that Britney did not want to pay it.”

Both lawsuits were settled by the conservatorship, and included large payments to Johnny Wright and Brand Sense Partners.

The SJB Revocable Trust:

In July of 2004, Britney's estimated $100-million fortune was placed into the SJB Revocable Trust. Britney was named as the sole Trustee.

Source: https://people.com/crime/whos-in-charge-of-britney-spearss-money/

Adam Streisand:

In February of 2008, lawyer Adam Streisand attempted to represent Britney in the first hearing for the proposed conservatorship. Before being ejected from the courtroom, Streisand claimed Britney had told him her estate was worth $40-million, encompassed 15 separate entities, and was in the middle of a $17-million IRS audit with Jive Records. Streisand says Britney has expressed a "very strong desire" for her father, Jamie Spears, not to be the conservator of her estate, and asked the court to name Northern Trust Bank and her business manager Howard Grossman as co-conservators.

Source: https://www.mtv.com/news/1580917/britney-spears-lawyer-ejected-from-courtroom-after-judge-doesnt-recognize-him-as-her-counsel/

Michael Sands:

In February 2008, following Adam Streisand's unsuccessful attempts to represent Britney, lawyer Jon Eardley filed documents with the court claiming she had been robbed. Eardley's spokesman, Michael Sands (who was also the spokesman for Sam Lutfi) claimed that RICO Act violations had taken place. He claimed the theft was on a grand scale, involving racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, and that the theft "occurred prior to the conservatorship taking place and continues still."

Source: https://www.mtv.com/news/1582277/britney-spears-has-been-robbed-her-self-proclaimed-lawyer-insists/

Bryan Spears:

In July of 2020, Britney's older brother Bryan Spears sat down for an interview where he talked about taking over the financial end of the "family business."

13:20 - "It was 2003 that I took over, until 2009."

12:20 - "We didn't have anyone that was overseeing the actual financial business development, next step kind of thing for Brit. We had managers, we had business managers, we had agents. Everything. But no one was looking at what the left hand was doing and looking at what the right hand was doing. There was no top cop, basically, who was looking out for her best interests. So we, as a family, as we always do, vote and come up with a family decision. We all thought that would be a good idea for me to oversee all of it...Making sure money is being put away, new business is being formed, brands are being formed, trying to make money while we sleep so we're not so focused on having to tour."

14:42 - "Looking at a situation...if I feel like I don't have a really good handle on it, or if I feel like I don't have the expertise to conquer it, I go and hire or find the person or company that can. So, I went and hired Ernst & Young out of Nashville, brought them in and did an entire audit of every single detail of her business from publishing to branding to merchandising...we had a huge doll line. Tour merch, and all of that. And I had those guys give me a report that showed me, and we all broke it down. And then I went back, assessed it, and then I wound up having to make a lot of adjustments after that." Interviewer: "So how did you feel when you got that report?" Bryan: "I was not very well liked, you could put it that way, amongst the team." Interviewer: "Did you give a rat's ***? I mean, if they're stealing from your sister?" Bryan: "Looking back on it, I did what was right." Interviewer: "What did you do? Did you clean house?" Bryan: "Ya. Everyone but the manager."

17:22 - "My thing was new business development, that's what I kind of focused on. Which was the branding, and creating the Elizabeth Arden fragrance line with her. Just that alone has done over a $100-billion in sales...If your brand is producing those kind of numbers globally, in a 10-year span, that's a lot of money."

Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS9Gyo7JdO8

Britney's Access to Money:

In October 2006, Britney hired Sean Phillip to work for her as a personal trainer. He claims Britney had no access to her money in the months prior to the conservatorship:

“It was crazy. They took away her credit cards, her phone went, she wasn’t even given the access code to her own house.

“All she had financially — and this is long before the s*** hit the fan, this is before the head shaving incident — all she had was a piece of paper with one credit card number on to pay for things.

“But she didn’t actually have the card in her hands. It was a black Amex which was assigned to her manager’s business. So we would be left with bills for things that we couldn’t really afford."

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/15614693/britney-spears-pills-cash-hell-pal/

On March 2, 2007, while Britney was in rehab, a tabloid reported a similar story that occurred the morning after she shaved her head:

"Spears, 25, stumbled into the swanky Hollywood hotel on the morning of February 17 - wearing an electric blue wig to cover her newly shaved head.

The pop princess tried to book a room but was refused when it emerged she had no credit card or cash - just half a credit card number scrawled on a piece of paper."

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-439732/Britney-Be-friend.html

Connecting the Dots:

In 1999, Britney hired Johnny Wright to manage her career alongside entertainment lawyer Larry Rudolph. At this time, Britney signed a 10-year contract with Johnny and his management company, Wright Entertainment Group (WEG) which specified that "sunset payments" for deals he negotiated for her were to be paid through February of 2009.

Following her split with Justin Timberlake in 2003, Britney parted ways with Johnny Wright. She remained with her other manager, Larry Rudolph.

Around this time, Britney's older brother, Bryan Spears, took over the financial end of the "family business." He brought in a team of accountants to do a financial audit. Upon seeing the results, Bryan fired everyone except Larry Rudolph. He went on to focus on business development, including a multi-billion-dollar perfume line with Elizabeth Arden.

Not long after, the SJB Revocable Trust was created to protect Britney's fortune, which was estimated to be around $100-million. All of her stocks, furnishings, jewelry, and all other assets were placed in the Trust. Britney was named as the sole Trustee. Were Britney to become incapacitated, both Bryan Spears and lawyer Ivan Taback would become co-Trustees.

Two and a half years later, Britney split with husband Kevin Federline. Following their separation, Britney did not have access to her own bank account. She had nothing but a number for a black Amex credit card for her manager's business scrawled on a piece of paper. By the time she'd returned from her first trip to rehab in Antigua in mid-February 2007, she only had half of the number remaining on the piece of paper.

According to Johnny Wright, payments to WEG stopped shortly after her split with Kevin. Further, Johnny claimed he did not know exactly how much Britney owed him because he had not received an accounting report since they had parted ways in 2003.

Less than a year later, in October 2007, Johnny Wright filed a lawsuit against Britney and her company "Britney Touring, Inc." In the court documents, Johnny alleged that new corporations may have been created to divert the commissions owed to him.

Within four months, Jamie Spears, working with the "Spears Family Spokesperson" and owner of Tri-Star Entertainment, Lou M. Taylor, applied for a temporary conservatorship over Britney. As Britney attempted to fight the conservatorship in court, it was revealed that her $100-million fortune was now worth only $40-million.

At the time, Bryan Spears remained in charge of overseeing the financial end of the "family business."

With Britney deemed incompetent by the court, Bryan and Ivan Taback were named Co-Trustees of the SJB Trust. Within weeks, they transferred "Britney Touring, Inc." to the newly formed Estate, to be managed by Jamie Spears and Andrew Wallet.

Two years later, in 2011, a second allegation of "diverted commissions" was made in court — this time by Brand Sense Partners, LLC. The company had brokered a deal with Elizabeth Arden to create a new line of fragrances for Britney. However, Jamie Spears and Lou M. Taylor were accused in court documents of diverting commissions from Brand Sense Partners in a "sneaky underhanded" way.

Both the WEG lawsuit and the Brand Sense lawsuit were eventually settled by the conservatorship, with large payouts to both to rightly compensate them for the diverted commissions.

 

For reference...

A Chronological Timeline:

So...

What does all of this tell us about Britney's family's role in managing her finances?

Please discuss.

#ResearchThread #BritneySuperSleuths #FreeBritney

[Switchy]

So many shady dealings!

[DuranDuran]

It's interesting, that in 2009 Johnny spoke warmly about Britney and stood up for her. So I have a feeling that he never personally blamed her for what happened.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-30394255.html

Quote

Wright, who parted ways with Spears in 2003, insists she's not ready to return to the spotlight.

He tells America's 'OK!' magazine, "A comeback is not what I wish for Britney. What I wish for her is to settle down and find real happiness. All her essential relationships have been torn apart. She's been divorced twice, she doesn't have custody of her kids, she's being pushed back into being a money machine.

"I want her to be happy in her heart, then go back to the business because she wants to, not because people are convincing her she has to, or that it would be good therapy for her. It's too soon for her to be a part of a manufactured machine that is pushing her to have to be a success.

"It was very telling when I found out Wade and Andre were no longer with the tour. They helped create the best tours we ever had with Britney. Wade is a really good influence and understands her. When I heard he was no longer involved, I knew there was a problem, and it is probably just the beginning of more problems to come.

"Britney has to rival Madonna out there, but Madonna really wants to do it. Seeing Britney do it by the numbers isn't a good sign. It means she might not want it as much as those around her do... Her career can wait. Now it should be about spending time with her kids. That's where she'll bring herself back to herself. But she's gearing up for much more time away from them while on the road.

"Even if she's gone for a month, the growth of those boys during that period is significant. She won't see that and will really miss that. Those are moments she's not going to get back."

 

[DuranDuran]

38 minutes ago, Steel Magnolia said:

Within the court documents it stated:

“Britney secretly made a separate deal with Elizabeth Arden in a sneaky underhanded effort to circumvent and evade its obligations to Brand Sense.” ... “Brand Sense had a contractual right to a 35% commission on any Britney Spears-branded fragrance sold by Elizabeth Arden” ... “But Mr. Spears complained that the commission was too high and said that Britney did not want to pay it.”

Both lawsuits were settled by the conservatorship, and included large payments to Johnny Wright and Brand Sense Partners.

Heh, funny how Jamie blamed it on Britney, although we know she pretty much has no say in it.

[Steel Magnolia]

38 minutes ago, DuranDuran said:

Heh, funny how Jamie blamed it on Britney, although we know she pretty much has no say in it.

He and Bryan seem quite content to throw Britney under the bus when it suits them, don't they?

[Steel Magnolia]

If anyone has any information they can add to this thread, please do.

Now that I've finally watched Bryan's interview from back in July, I'm looking at the past 12 years in an entirely new light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS9Gyo7JdO8

[CenterOfTheRing98]

Long story short: everyone around Britney ****ed up her finances and stole from her, but at the end of the day, she’s the one paying for it via personal and professional conservatorship to save everyone’s *****.

You think she (ALLEGEDLY, from what was put out there shortly after the fact) went broke going to gas stations and Starbucks? Hell no. It was just the first time she had direct access to her money. The claims that she was “going broke” during 2007-08 are from  everyone around her not taking care of things, which is why she was pushed out in the spotlight so quickly and why she was “technically forced” to keep working from 2009-18 (wether that be touring, TV, music, photo shoots, etc). She had to go out and save everyone’s ***** from ruining everything she worked for - which they ended up doing anyways. 

[Steel Magnolia]

Does anyone know who Britney's business manager was from 2003 to 2007?

[Steel Magnolia]

Also...

A $17-million IRS audit with Jive in February 2008?

What were the details on that? 

[Neydelinska Spearsi]

well **** me sideways b stans would be the best detectives in the world

the dedication and the amount of details... jesus. other stan bases def cant relate

 

[GregReid]

9 hours ago, DuranDuran said:

It's interesting, that in 2009 Johnny spoke warmly about Britney and stood up for her. So I have a feeling that he never personally blamed her for what happened.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-30394255.html

 

the fact this man shows more compassion, concern and love than her own father or longtime manager Larry is just.... 

[Anticonformity]

2 hours ago, Grumpy Cat said:

well **** me sideways b stans would be the best detectives in the world

the dedication and the amount of details... jesus. other stan bases def cant relate

 

Nah, I've always said we need Swifties to team up with us and we'd have this all wrapped up by now...

[icybaby]

Her family i mean Jamie being in charge of the billion $estate and choosing companies like tri star to manage it is so dificult to understand. He should hire professionals at first place if he was making decisions in her not his own favour. 

With so much money even family member can become ur worst nighmare

[Steel Magnolia]

The IRS audit with Jive Records...

I hope Adam Streisand clarifies this in the upcoming documentary...

But does that mean that by February 2007, Britney owed the IRS around $17-million in back taxes on her album profits?

At the same time, Johnny Wright was claiming she owed him commissions on her album advances for "In The Zone" and "Greatest Hits."

So, it makes sense that the IRS also didn't get paid on those same two albums, as well as possibly the profits of the Onyx Hotel Tour (if there were any, since the insurance company had refused to pay after it was cancelled — and I'm not sure how that turned out.)

Either way...

Bryan claims that he was the "top cop" of her financials until 2009.

So Bryan was either not paying attention, or Bryan was woefully out of his league.

[Saoru]

5 hours ago, Anticonformity said:

Nah, I've always said we need Swifties to team up with us and we'd have this all wrapped up by now...

The more the merrier 

I still bop to 1989 

[DuranDuran]

1 hour ago, Steel Magnolia said:

But does that mean that by February 2007, Britney owed the IRS around $17-million in back taxes on her album profits?

 I think this was an IRS audit of income, but not debt. At least that's how I understood Adam's statement.

[DuranDuran]

 

18 hours ago, Steel Magnolia said:

Michael Sands:

In February 2008, following Adam Streisand's unsuccessful attempts to represent Britney, lawyer Jon Eardley filed documents with the court claiming she had been robbed. Eardley's spokesman, Michael Sands (who was also the spokesman for Sam Lutfi) claimed that RICO Act violations had taken place. He claimed the theft was on a grand scale, involving racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, and that the theft "occurred prior to the conservatorship taking place and continues still."

Source: https://www.mtv.com/news/1582277/britney-spears-has-been-robbed-her-self-proclaimed-lawyer-insists/

Wow, an interesting article,  I read it only today. Thank you!

Quote

In papers filed Friday, Eardley claims he'll offer the court evidence that Spears has been robbed (proof of which he said he'd file under seal on Monday), and that he needed more time to meet the court's deadline but was concerned for the "emotional and physical safety of Britney," because in addition to allegedly being robbed, she's also allegedly being abused.

....

Sands claimed that there is an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter, but declined to say which agency was involved. As a result, he said, his office has been broken into and documents have been allegedly stolen and/or erased from his computer. "Lives have been threatened," Sands said. "People are being intimidated. It's terrorism. I don't want to make any accusations, but we're talking the financial r*** of Britney Spears."

It's all beyond shady... If it's true, then it seems like Britney was put under сship not only because they wanted to steal from her in the future, but also because they had already started stealing from her before it and wanted to save their *****... =((

 

2 hours ago, Steel Magnolia said:

Bryan claims that he was the "top cop" of her financials until 2009.

So Bryan was either not paying attention, or Bryan was woefully out of his league.

I think her big mistake was that she let family members into the business. Her uncle, her brother...

[Steel Magnolia]

5 minutes ago, DuranDuran said:

 

Wow, an interesting article,  I read it only today. Thank you!

It's all beyond shady... If it's true, then it seems like Britney was put under сship not only because they wanted to steal from her in the future, but also because they had already started stealing from her before it and wanted to save their *****... =((

 

I think her big mistake was that she let family members into the business. Her uncle, her brother...

Yes! 

That is exactly why I started following the conservatorship so closely back then. As it was unfolding, I could see that there were a lot of questions arising around her finances. Not just "in the moment" back in February 2008, but earlier than that as well.

I followed Britney's story closely from 2006 until 2014, when I began attending grad school...so I haven't been as up to date with it in recent years. 

I had always wondered if her business manager at the time, Howard Grossman, was stealing from her...or Kevin...or somebody. But it wasn't until I watched that interview with Bryan Spears this week that I had a lightbulb moment  and realized that the conservatorship wasn't about covering up Britney's money troubles.

It was about covering up her family's possible financial crimes.
 

[DuranDuran]

31 minutes ago, Steel Magnolia said:

It was about covering up her family's possible financial crimes.

Yeah, it would also explain why Britney's mother was always sitting on the fence until recently, because I think if it was only about Jaime, she would have quickly thrown him under the bus...

In any case , poor Britney... how "lucky" she is to have such a family...

[PZHSB]

They have been stealing from her since day one. When she first started, her uncle was handling her finances. I remember Howard stern warning her and saying they needed to discuss that privately.