Was Britney Railroaded into Rehab? : A Research Thread

[Steel Magnolia]

4 hours ago, Applejack said:

-Britney allegedly tried to hire a PI in late November 2007?

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Mark Vincent Kaplan Rips Britney Spears Over Investigator

by Free Britney at November 20, 2007 11:08 am.

Kevin Federline's attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, is speaking out about a recent report that Britney Spears has hired a private investigator to dig up dirt in their ongoing custody battle.

"I think that if that is what they need to do, or have to do, to have at it," said Kaplan. "I don't think it will, in any way, be a good use of funds. But I can't stop that from happening."

Mark Vincent Kaplan said it would be a waste of time for them to follow around K-Fed.

"I don't think he would be concerned about it, and I don't think he has to change anything he is doing in order to address that," the attorney added.

Meanwhile, Britney Spears' attorney, Anne Kiley, revealed Monday that Spears â€" who has been banned from driving with her kids in the car â€" has decided to hire a driver to avoid any dangerous incidents with the paparazzi.

Although Mark Vincent Kaplan said he hasn't seen proof that Britney Spears, 25, has hired a driver or read Kiley's statement, he said that "anything that puts the children in a car that reduces the risk ... I am all for that."

Kaplan said his client, Federline, tries his best not to take his kids out in front of the press: "He's pretty good about keeping the kids at home with him unless there is a compelling reason they need to be somewhere."

Hard to argue with that logic. Unless you're Britney.

It's been a tough day for Britney Spears, who we also learned lost her virginity to Reg Jones at age 14. But she's got George Clooney in her corner! The star commented on the celebrity news media following Britney:

"You look at the footage of Britney running that red light - there's eight guys with cameras at night in the middle of the street. There are no rules now," he told ET. "It's getting to a point where people that are not involved are getting hurt."

"What they're doing is dangerous and illegal," George Clooney added. "They are not trying to just catch me doing something stupid; they are trying to create something stupid. You don't get to break all these laws and then say, 'I'm just doing my job.' The guys that commit all these crimes are rewarded for it."

John Nazarian.

[Applejack]

8 hours ago, Steel Magnolia said:

John Nazarian.

while on this subject, do we know whether MVK hired a PI? I know Lutfi could have been the PI. But I was searching PIs, and the two high profile PIs at the time were Nazarian and Pellicano. Pellicano got busted for the same crimes Michael Sands claimed that happened. Wiretapping, racketeering, wire fraud, and computer fraud. He was working on divorces too. Maybe there is some connection between them? Is it possible to establish something like that?

[Steel Magnolia]

1 hour ago, Applejack said:

while on this subject, do we know whether MVK hired a PI? I know Lutfi could have been the PI. 

I'm assuming that MVK was relying on Aaron Cohen's IMS Security...Although, I'm not sure if that's considered old-school P.I. work, or something a little different.

IMS Security has now re-branded into "Cherries."

https://www.cherriescounterterror.com/

[Steel Magnolia]

1 hour ago, Applejack said:

But I was searching PIs, and the two high profile PIs at the time were Nazarian and Pellicano. Pellicano got busted for the same crimes Michael Sands claimed that happened. Wiretapping, racketeering, wire fraud, and computer fraud. He was working on divorces too. Maybe there is some connection between them? Is it possible to establish something like that?

Pellicano was a hot topic back in 2008.

My inbox in absolutely filled with email discussions between the super sleuths from back in the day...I'll try to dig through those over the weekend to see what comes up.

[Steel Magnolia]

March 18, 2006

"WHEN Hollywood publicist Michael Sands tried to hire celebrity divorce lawyer Dennis Wasser in a child custody case, he got a stern brushoff from the silver-haired, opera-loving attorney, best known for handling the breakups of such Hollywood luminaries as Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and J. Lo. "You don't need an army to destroy an ant," Sands recalled Wasser telling him.

Now this urbane family law specialist may find himself in the uncomfortable position of having to marshal his own legal army, as he's become a "person of interest" in the ongoing federal investigation of Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano. Pellicano has been indicted in an elaborate wiretapping and witness intimidation racket that federal prosecutors say illegally investigated such Hollywood figures as Garry Shandling, Sylvester Stallone and CAA honchos Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane."

Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20141023202621/https://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/18/entertainment/et-wasser18

[Steel Magnolia]

Carmela Kelly <carmkelly@***.net>
Wed 2009-09-02 4:32 PM
To: Steel Magnolia

Doesn't hurt to try and maybe his wheels will spin in a different
direction if he had any thoughts or design for me being the next Brandy.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:         query
Date:    Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:31:47 -0700
From:    Carmela Kelly <carmkelly@***.net>
To:      Sam Lutfi <samlutfi@xxxxx.com>

ok, I'll leave you alone or rather the ball is in your court.

If you do get a chance though who put the ***** in Britney's house --
the ones Lynne says you called her about?

Is or was there a mastermind behind everything we saw through January 2008?

I am in the mood to do some sleuthing.

Also wanted to follow up on Sands and his claims toward Pellicano-like
operations.

Was Berk ever Britney's attorney or did she work for Jamie or someone
else in Feb. 2007? Berk cited attorney-client privileges when I asked
her via email.

I also wanted to update that Christian publisher story with your side of
things.

Hope you have a wonderful afternoon.  I am off for a meeting.

Regards,

Carmela

p.s. I do get frustrated on this case and any lead to the under story
would be appreciated.

[RebellionSparkles]

I haven’t been able to catch up on super sleuth posts for the past couple of days! But, just saw this on Twitter…it’s a pre CON article that is sooo obviously pushes Mark Vincent Kaplan’s agenda.

[Ghoulia]

7 hours ago, RebellionSparkles said:

I haven’t been able to catch up on super sleuth posts for the past couple of days! But, just saw this on Twitter…it’s a pre CON article that is sooo obviously pushes Mark Vincent Kaplan’s agenda.

It's not showing up for meeeeee 

[LikeShatteredGlass]

This was a wild one to catch up on.

I'm interested in digging into Promises a bit more and what actually goes on there. Any allegations of misuse of funds, scams, medical record changes, etc. Plenty of "troubled" stars landed there back in the day. Let us not forget Lindsay ended up at Promises and was also entangled with Sam Lutfi and Lou. Coincidence? 

There's a TMZ article that talks about how Alli Simms tried to get Britney's **** test records from Promises and the records they are given are a hot mess because there are some issues where a report from her February stay is dated March 7.. long after she leaves. At any rate, it sounds like the **** tests were clear. https://www.tmz.com/2007/06/29/britney-claims-her-rehab-was-bogus/ 

Quote

We're told eventually the professionals believed Spears suffered from post-partum depression, made worse because she stopped taking Prozac. She was also emotionally crumbling because of a messy divorce and intense media scrutiny.

After leaving Promises, as paparazzi waited for the golden shot of Britney drinking again, she began getting angry that she was at a rehab facility in the first place. Britney and her assistant, Allie Sims, called Promises multiple times, asking for a copy of the report showing that she tested dirty for ***** and/or alcohol when she checked in.

We're told it took several days to get an answer. Only two reports were sent to Britney's rep, both showing no **** or alcohol use whatsoever. Most shocking, the first report was dated March 7, 15 days after Britney checked in.

Sources say one of Britney's reps then called the facility and asked for any evidence of a dirty test, but she was told there was nothing in the file. The question -- if the first test was taken more than two weeks after Britney checked in, how could they treat her if they didn't know the problem?

I found an old LA Times article that points a finger at treatment centers like Promises because they are not actually designed or licensed to provide any sort of medical care. They are for-profit and charge a small fortune for luxury services, and most require payment for a month of treatment up front even if the person leaves, is kicked out, etc. They can monitor people when detoxing, provide some individual or group counseling or education, but that's about it. The Times actually seems to have raised hell about this and went so far as to report centers like Promises for advertising physician services that they were not licensed to offer back in 2007. Around this same time, Promises is hit with a bunch of lawsuits for unfair business pracices. Promises was owned by its founder Richard Rogg until he sold it off in 2008. 

So if in 2007 Promises is involved in a mess of breach of contract and unfair business practices lawsuits with former patients and under investigation by the California Department of Alcohol and **** Programs, why send Britney there if we were supposed to believe she had a legitimate **** and alcohol problem? Was it a place they could send her off to while they worked on getting KFed what he wanted from the divorce/custody battle? Was it the start of the con? This whole rehab mess smells. 

[LikeShatteredGlass]

I don't know what I was looking for here, but I started tracking Britney's moves in late 2006 (not hard to do) because I was curious about how things seemingly turned against Britney so quickly after the divorce. As soon as the split is announced in November, she acts like she's preparing for a "comeback" but by January she's passing out in a club with Larry. 

From the official timeline

Nov. 7, 2006 - Britney files a petition for divorce from Kevin Federline. She requests legal and physical custody of their children.

Nov. 8, 2006 - Britney goes ice skating with Larry Rudolph at the Rockefeller Center rink in New York City. 

Dec. 2006 - In early December, Kalie Machado begins a three-month stint working for Britney as her assistant.

Dec. 2, 2006 - Britney turns 25, which is the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UMTA) age of majority in the state of Florida if the transferer/parent chooses. Otherwise, the age of majority in Florida is 21-years old.

Dec. 14, 2006 - Richard Feldstein, a trustee of the Love Shack Trust, assists in the purchase of a house located at 12094 Summit Circle in Beverly Hills.

Dec. 26, 2006 - Britney's business manager, Pat Marchese of RHF Management Group, LLC, makes a final payment of $58,301.00 on "2004 commissions" to Wright Entertainment Group (WEG). The cheque is issued by the SJB Revocable Trust c/o RHF Management Services, LLC, located at 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1300, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

Dec. 31, 2006 - By the end of this year, the Britney Spears Foundation is in a deficit of close to $200,000.

Jan. 1, 2007 - Britney passes out at a New Year's event at Pure Nightclub. It is alleged that her management plied her with pills in an attempt to revive her.

 

So she files for the divorce, which we heard in her letter to Andrew Gallery was a move her team encouraged. Larry steps right back in and takes her out ice skating in a desperate attempt to make it look like he's the greatest ever.

The same day she files for divorce (Nov. 7) she does that random surprise appearance on the David Letterman show. Another attempt likely by Larry to show her looking happy and perfect and most importantly without her wedding ring. Damage control for all the bad PR she got when she was with KFed. Fine.

November 21 she presents an award to Mary J. Blige at the American Music Awards. Again, she looks flawless. 

Paris and Britney host an AMA afterparty that night at Paris' house in West Hollywood. We get into prime Paris/Britney here as they go to Teddy's at the Roosevelt November 22, Hyde Lounge on November 24, shopping with Preston November 25 (and Hyde again). Britney is everywhere all day and all night at this point. Around her birthday, we see Britney and Larry out to dinner at Mr. Chow and then she's back over to Hyde with Paris. 

At this point, Britney is poised to lose some money in the divorce between legal fees and supporting KFed forever. Blackout is nowhere near ready. So the next logical source of income should be appearances. I know she was paid to party for New Years 2006/2007, but were most of these club appearances paid as well? I mean, why is she at Hyde every damn day? 

If she was in fact paid for most of these appearances, what were the real intentions? Did Larry just need her in the public eye for a comeback and it backfired or did he put her out there and set her up to fail? 

[RebellionSparkles]

I’m catching up on super sleuth comments from last week! @Steel Magnolia @Ghoulia @LikeShatteredGlass did I miss anything good last week?

[Ghoulia]

2 hours ago, RebellionSparkles said:

I’m catching up on super sleuth comments from last week! @Steel Magnolia @Ghoulia @LikeShatteredGlass did I miss anything good last week?

I have a question for you!!

Re: Dec. 2, 2006 - Britney turns 25, which is the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UMTA) age of majority in the state of Florida if the transferer/parent chooses. Otherwise, the age of majority in Florida is 21-years old.

I know I've seen this explained before, but what exactly does this mean?

 

In other news, I've just been working on making a connection between Bryan, Dan Dymtrow & Vivek Gupta, looking through this marvelous timeline https://docs.google.com/document/d/17jeZV78SCwgQGsOkad0H0PA8jqjgRsxgSqD9f_f1yAk/edit?usp=sharing, and thinking about this idea: Britney was "uninsurable" after the Onyx Hotel Tour because of the insurance lawsuit. @Justin Woodpond brought this idea up last summer:

Being "uninsurable" was something the media loved to say about Lindsay Lohan in 2009-2010. Britney was always part of the conversation with Lindsay.

See examples - 

1) https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=4554237&page=1   "...led to a reputation for being unreliable and worse yet for a film actress, insurance underwriters declared her uninsurable for a time."

2) https://web.archive.org/web/20220417012304/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/arts/31iht-31loha.5945089.html:  "So sad, everyone said, such a waste: so pretty, so talented — so uninsurable. Like Britney Spears before her..."

And then, look - OK! magazine straight up runs an article saying she needs the conservatorship to tour.  

https://web.archive.org/web/20090531073155/https://www.okmagazine.com:80/news/view/11129#: "Last fall, as her upcoming concert tour was being organized, Brit's camp discovered that because of the star's history, they could not purchase insurance to cover her tour unless she was still under the conservatorship of her father Jamie Spears. Until that point, the plan was for the conservatorship to be lifted on Dec. 31, followed by Britney, 27, heading to family court with a petition to regain custody of Preston and Jayden.

But an insider tells OK!, "The insurance situation changed everything."

And so, on Oct. 28, the singer agreed to indefinitely accept her father as her conservator – a decision which meant she would still legally be considered a child. No judge would give her custody of her kids, nor would her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, agree to it.

"Whether it was her decision or whether she was pressured into it, Britney's deal with the devil put the tour ahead of the kids," the insider tells OK!"

 

 

Where am I going with this?  I don't know! I guess the question is - who really needed Britney to tour?  We know it wasn't Britney herself 

[RebellionSparkles]

42 minutes ago, Ghoulia said:

Britney turns 25, which is the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UMTA) age of majority in the state of Florida if the transferer/parent chooses. Otherwise, the age of majority in Florida is 21-years old.

Britney made several millions before she turned 18 (BOMT 1999). Because Brit was a minor (17 at the time), her parents would have likely put her money in a custodial account. The parents are the custodian and control the account (therefore they can spend this money). After the minor reaches the age of majority (18-25 depending on state laws), the account must be legally handed over to the owner (Britney).

Given what we now know about the family, I’m guessing Lynne and Jamie would have tied up Brit’s money for as long as possible in a custodial account (age 25). But after Brit turns 25 there are no legal loop holes etc that would give Brit’s family access to her money through a custodial account.

what is interesting is that the banking options for a conservatee are essentially the same as a custodial account for a minor.

this is speculation, but I think it’s logically sound, that Lynne or Jamie had free access to at least some of Britney’s money until Brit turned 25. So after Brit turns 25, the family can only receive money if Brit agrees to give it to them. AKA this would have been the first time Brit’s ability to consent interfered with the family’s ability to get money from her.

Brit turning 25 might have been the catalyst for Lynne and/or Jamie to seek options that would grant them access to her money.

here is some general info on custodial accounts:

https://www.investopedia.com/best-custodial-accounts-5180409

[RebellionSparkles]

6 minutes ago, RebellionSparkles said:

Britney made several millions before she turned 18 (BOMT 1999). Because Brit was a minor (17 at the time), her parents would have likely put her money in a custodial account. The parents are the custodian and control the account (therefore they can spend this money). After the minor reaches the age of majority (18-25 depending on state laws), the account must be legally handed over to the owner (Britney).

Given what we now know about the family, I’m guessing Lynne and Jamie would have tied up Brit’s money for as long as possible in a custodial account (age 25). But after Brit turns 25 there are no legal loop holes etc that would give Brit’s family access to her money through a custodial account.

what is interesting is that the banking options for a conservatee are essentially the same as a custodial account for a minor.

this is speculation, but I think it’s logically sound, that Lynne or Jamie had free access to at least some of Britney’s money until Brit turned 25. So after Brit turns 25, the family can only receive money if Brit agrees to give it to them. AKA this would have been the first time Brit’s ability to consent interfered with the family’s ability to get money from her.

Brit turning 25 might have been the catalyst for Lynne and/or Jamie to seek options that would grant them access to her money.

here is some general info on custodial accounts:

https://www.investopedia.com/best-custodial-accounts-5180409

In the US the banking options for a minor (anyone under the age of 18) are weird…but there are so few minors with tons of money, so it’s not really a big issue.

what I found super interesting was that the banking options for a conservatee are essentially the same as the options for a minor.

[RebellionSparkles]

1 hour ago, Ghoulia said:

and thinking about this idea: Britney was "uninsurable" after the Onyx Hotel Tour because of the insurance lawsuit.

This makes 💯% sense to me. But it’s terrrrible…an insurance company is going to shut down Britney’s career because of ONE knee injury?!?

This is BEYOND plausible. The US is terrible for insurance and anything health related. Health insurance companies were allowed to refuse coverage based on pre existing conditions until 2008/2009. And the type of insurance required for a concert would be unregulated, so even worse stipulations than health insurance.

I did some research on the concert insurance industry at the time of B’s lawsuit—there was an essential monopoly for major concert insurance. Britney’s one knee injury 💯% could have made her “uninsurable” (and also because her team sued the one company in the concert insurance monopoly.

[RebellionSparkles]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:06 AM, Ghoulia said:

It's not showing up for meeeeee 

Here is the link to the original article.

a great trick i recently Learned is to use the Wayback machine to get around paywalls. If you use the “save page now” function on the Wayback machine you can read an article without a subscription 😁. 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-18-et-wasser18-story.html

@LikeShatteredGlass I’m one of those problematic people who don’t want to pay for news anymore. 😆

[Ghoulia]

7 hours ago, RebellionSparkles said:

Here is the link to the original article.

a great trick i recently Learned is to use the Wayback machine to get around paywalls. If you use the “save page now” function on the Wayback machine you can read an article without a subscription 😁. 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-18-et-wasser18-story.html

@LikeShatteredGlass I’m one of those problematic people who don’t want to pay for news anymore. 😆

TY! Nothing was showing up in the post!

So Nazarian had a good working relationship with Wasser AND Trope. Back to the idea of Larry feeding the tabloids gossip - maybe Lutfi was a Rudolph hire, after all? The bigwig divorce attorneys know to use a professional PI. Larry wants a “bagman” to do his dirty work, so he gets a guy who’s a little less professional. These are random thoughts! Happy Easter 🐣 

[LikeShatteredGlass]

13 hours ago, RebellionSparkles said:

I’m catching up on super sleuth comments from last week! @Steel Magnolia @Ghoulia @LikeShatteredGlass did I miss anything good last week?

Just me trying to figure out if 2006 Larry was setting Britney up for a comeback or a downfall 

[Steel Magnolia]

11 hours ago, Ghoulia said:

Re: Dec. 2, 2006 - Britney turns 25, which is the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UMTA) age of majority in the state of Florida if the transferer/parent chooses. Otherwise, the age of majority in Florida is 21-years old.

I know I've seen this explained before, but what exactly does this mean?

December 2, 2006

"Britney Spears celebrated her 25th birthday with – who else – new galpal Paris Hilton, and they added another third wheel to their coupling, at least for Saturday night – Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.

Sources say that the Britster dined at Mr. Chow's with her manager, Larry Rudolph, then nestled into a corner table with Paris and Fergie at L.A. hotspot Hyde, and walked "hand in hand" around the club until past 2 AM."

Link: https://www.tmz.com/2006/12/04/britney-parties-for-her-bd-paris-drops-bff/

This night out...

Were the days following this night out when the idea for the CON was born?

From this moment forward, Britney would have had full control of any funds sitting in a custodial account.

The SJB Revocable Trust was established in July 2004.

How might a custodial account interface with the SJB Revocable Trust?

What instructions did the business managers controlling the LLC's receive following this night out?

Or did the instructions come after she was released from Promises?

My gut tells me that Larry and her family attempted to make their moves quietly, so she wouldn't see the CON coming until it was already a done deal.

...

December 7, 2006

It’s been so long since I’ve been out on the town with friends. It’s also been 2 years since I’ve celebrated my birthday. Every move I make at this point has been magnified more than I expected, and I probably did take my new found freedom a little too far. Anyway, thank God for Victoria’s Secrets’ new underwear line! I look forward to a new year, new music, and a new me.

I’m just getting started….. Happy Holidays everyone!

Britney

[Steel Magnolia]

Making connections...

...

Dec. 2, 2006 - Britney turns 25, which is the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UMTA) age of majority in the state of Florida if the transferer/parent chooses. Otherwise, the age of majority in Florida is 21-years old.

Dec. 14, 2006 - Richard Feldstein, a trustee of the Love Shack Trust, assists in the purchase of a house located at 12094 Summit Circle in Beverly Hills.

Dec. 26, 2006 - Britney's business manager, Pat Marchese of RHF Management Group, LLC, makes a final payment of $58,301.00 on "2004 commissions" to Wright Entertainment Group (WEG). The cheque is issued by the SJB Revocable Trust c/o RHF Management Services, LLC, located at 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1300, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

...

Was Richard Feldstein's RHF Management Services, LLC fired by Britney following her 25th birthday?

Is this why the payments to WEG stopped?

Is this why it was necessary to intervene legally by railroading her into rehab via the "carrot on a stick" of physical custody of her children?

Who was hired to replace Feldstein?

And was Howard Grossman hired by Lutfi in August 2007 in an attempt to reign the situation in?

EDIT:

More connections...

Sean Phillip has told us that Britney did not have access to her funds or her house during this time period. She did not know the gate codes (to either the Malibu property or the Summit property, I'm not sure which), and by the time she was between rehab stays in February 2007 she had lost the black Amex card "belonging to her management" and was down to half an account number scrawled on a piece of paper. By that point, she couldn't even book a hotel room.

How does this play into the above scenario?

EDIT #2...

Dec. 31, 2006 - By the end of this year, the Britney Spears Foundation is in a deficit of close to $200,000.

So...

We know that the mailing address of the Britney Spears Foundation was Apt. 803.

Bryan Spears' personal mailing address also appears as if it could have been Apt. 803.

The Foundation fell under the umbrella of the SJB Revocable Trust.

...

What was the relationship between Bryan Spears and RHF Management Services?

Did Bryan have the ability to issue directions to RHF as "top cop" of Britney's finances?

EDIT #3...

Cross-posting this research thread about Apt. 803 for any journalists who might be following:
 

 

EDIT #4:

I've added a question above.

...

Was Richard Feldstein's RHF Management Services, LLC fired by Britney following her 25th birthday?

Is this why the payments to WEG stopped?

Is this why it was necessary to intervene legally by railroading her into rehab via the "carrot on a stick" of physical custody of her children?

Edited April 17, 2022 by Steel Magnolia