Following the Money Pre CONservatorship : A Research Thread

[RebellionSparkles]

A summary of findings from the first 15 pages: https://exhale.breatheheavy.com/forums/topic/804460-following-the-money-pre-conservatorship-a-research-thread/?do=findComment&comment=17409017

^^read the summary if you want to join the super sleuth convo, but don't want to slog through the first 15 pages.

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The shadiness surrounding Britney’s money started wayyy before the CONservatorship began. In a 2008 court doc, Adam Streisand said Britney’s net worth was $40M, whereas Forbes had estimated $123M based on earnings. Let’s explore! Sunshine is the best disinfectant.

Britney’s spending has always been modest…ngl occasionally, ever-the-slightest-bit, embarrassingly frugal.

But that’s ok. Our gurl doesn’t have expensive tastes. She’s the people’s icon.

So, what happened to Britney’s money? Skimming off the top? Bad contracts with greedy corporations? Fake charitable donations?

Financial crimes are extremelyyyy common for private corporations like Britney Corp. Nearly half of companies fall prey to financial crimes like theft (Accounting Today)

Whatever financial shenanigans happened to Britney are happening to millions of other people…let’s see if we can identify the sources of money leaks in Britney’s situation before the CONservatorship began.

A good resource for early financial data are the WEG lawsuit--Johnny Wright, an early manager for Britney sues her team due to lack of payment. The complete docket now in the Britney Law Library. Another resource is the Spears Family non profits (tax returns in the library).

There are a lot of familiar names in the WEG lawsuit. People subpoenaed include: Laurence H. Rudolph of ReignDeer Entertainment, Reginald Covington (Britney’s uncle), David Jacobs of Gerber & Co (haven’t heard of him before), Louise M. Taylor (our fav), Shawne Blair (original TriStar), Stacey Smith (a former business manager), Richard Feldstein (Madonna’s business manager, and Jonah Hill’s father), Kenneth Hertz of Goldring, Hertz & Lichtenstein (haven’t heard of him before), Howard Grossman (B's last manager before the CON).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UI0jl9MrpXiRV7MjnxAvlzOSQO7ViQuq?usp=sharing

#Britneysupersleuths

[RebellionSparkles]

In the WEG lawsuit there is an SJB Trust sighting!

As of Dec 26, 2006 (the last time Johnny Wright got paid when the suit was filed), the SJB Trust was in the c/o RHF Management (now NKSFB) and the money was sitting in City National Bank.

[RebellionSparkles]

Other payments from the WEG case:

 

This payment (below) was from Stacy Smith

 

[RebellionSparkles]

Tri Star gives us more “Hollywood Accounting” (AKA lacks substance and is for entertainment purposes only)

WEG’s response to the accounting: the information you provided is useless. Answer the dam questions being asked! (paraphrased)

[RebellionSparkles]

The contracts that were provided for the “accounting” in the WEG suit.

[RebellionSparkles]

WEG complaint in a nutshell:

"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."…

”On or about November, 2003 representatives of WEG had discussions with representatives of SPEARS, and WEG was told that a new amendment to the Agreement was possible and that WEG would continue to receive its commissions.

WEG sent a request for earned commissions on record royalties for albums 2 and 3 (LPs 2, 3) and for an accounting under the Agreement, but SPEARS has failed to pay or properly account to WEG.

WEG also made good faith efforts to obtain complete accountings and audits from the inception of the Agreement with the various business managers hired and fired by SPEARS.

WEG sent additional requests to SPEARS in a good faith attempt to obtain audits, full accountings, and commissions from SPEARS. WEG’S communications were answered with inducements from SPEARS’ attorneys and agents to forbear legal action.

SPEARS’ actions, through her agents, induced WEG into inaction rather than to pursue WEG’S rights under the Agreement.”

[RebellionSparkles]

Companies listed as plaintiffs in WEG

BRITNEY TOURING, INC.;

BRIDGMORE TIMBER, LLC;

BRITNEY BRANDS, INC.;

BRITNEY FILMS, LTD.;

BRITNEY TELEVISION, LLC;

THE BRITNEY SPEARS FOUNDATION;

BRITNEY ON-LINE, INC.;

BRITNEY MANAGEMENT CORPORATION;

SPEARS MANAGEMENT INC.;

ONE MORE TIME MUSIC, INC.;

PARKLANE PRODUCTIONS, LLC;

COASTAL OPERATIVES;

FAIRY ZONE PRODUCTIONS, INC.;

VISTA PEACE PRODUCTIONS, LLC;

LOVESHACK TRUST;

SJB REVOCABLE TRUST; and

SJB INSURANCE TRUST

[RebellionSparkles]

Pre-CONservatorship timeline of Britney's business managers (that handled the finances)

THIS TIMELINE IS FROM TEAM CON…I NEED TO ADD @Steel Magnolia dates from the BH timeline for comparison.

UPDATE: no reliable timeline currently exists for Britney’s biz management pre CON.

the timeline below is what Team CON submitted as fact in the WEG lawsuit, but it is inaccurate.

(1) Bert Padell

Padell, Nadell, Fine & Weinberger, LLP

59 Maiden Lane, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10038-4647

(about August 1997 to March 2003)

 

(2) Stacy Smith

Stacy Smith & Associates P.C.

1503 Colley Ave., Norfolk, VA 23517

(April 2003 to October 2004)

 

(3) Todd Gelfand

Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, LLP

1880 Century Park East, Suite 1600, Los Angeles, CA 90067

(October 2004 to May 2006)

 

( 4) Richard Feldstein

Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein, LLP (previously named RHF Management)

10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1300, Los Angeles, CA 90067

(May 2006 to August 2007)

 

(5) Howard Grossman

Goldman, Lichtenberg, Wasserman & Grossman, Inc.

10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1725, Los Angeles, CA 90024

(August 2007 to February 2008)

 

(6) Selwyn Gerber

Gerber & Co.

1880 Century Park East, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90067

(March 2008 to sometime 2008 or 2009)

[RebellionSparkles]

Britney’s contract with WEG (Johnny Wright)

 

Amendment to agreement below:

[Moscow]

Thanks for putting it out together, a great read @PokemonSpears @Slayercan you mainpage it?

[RebellionSparkles]

thanks - i tried my best to summarize the WEG case. It's over 200 documents! so its a ton of new information added to our Britney court document repository

[RebellionSparkles]

one more check that was an exhibit in the WEG lawsuit.

[RebellionSparkles]

This Forbes article from March 2000 is also relevant

11 million BOMT albums sold in 1999.

"So SFX, the concert promoter, guaranteed her at least $200,000 per show for a 100-show tour"

"She signed with Jive Records in 1997, and with no track record, got paid accordingly: a $250,000 advance and a royalty rate, after fees, of less than $1 per record sold. Stars like Madonna or Celine Dion command royalties of $2.20 or more."

"All of this haggling will take place out of view of Spears and her parents, who still live in Kentwood, La. "Larry handles the money stuff," Britney shrugs."

"When Jive executives explained their plans for her first video--Superhero Britney fights animated monsters--she balked: "I was like, no, I can't do that. It was out of the question." Instead, Spears suggested a video that featured her and a group of dancers shimmying through high school. " She's the best. so iconic.

https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2000/0320/6507162a.html?sh=545654291391#:~:text=she sold 11 million copies of her debut album in the U.S.%2C more than any other individual artist. Her 1999 earnings%3A %2415 million.

 

[blackingouthenegativity]

Thank you for putting this together. A few months ago I posted a thread asking if anyone had info about her money pre-conservatorship. 

Am I remembering wrong, or didn't somewhere during the 2003 Diane Sawyer interview, it was stated that one of her uncles ran her money?? 

I'm wondering how long they've been taking her money. From what I can tell, it seems like they controlled it for a bit and she started to really rebel in late 2006. Magically 1.5 years later, the Spears family finds a legal arrangement where they can continue what they were doing before but on st.er0ids. 

[RebellionSparkles]

@Steel Magnolia a while ago you mentioned Lynne took out a re-mortgage for $50k around the time Britney was forced into Promises in 2007; how can I find that?

^^that 💯% belongs in this thread

[RebellionSparkles]

3 minutes ago, blackingouthenegativity said:

Thank you for putting this together. A few months ago I posted a thread asking if anyone had info about her money pre-conservatorship. 

Am I remembering wrong, or didn't somewhere during the 2003 Diane Sawyer interview, it was stated that one of her uncles ran her money?? 

I'm wondering how long they've been taking her money. From what I can tell, it seems like they controlled it for a bit and she started to really rebel in late 2006. Magically 1.5 years later, the Spears family finds a legal arrangement where they can continue what they were doing before but on st.er0ids. 

Yes you are right about the uncle…it’s uncle Regi (Reginald Covington, Lynne’s side).This comes up in the WEG case and it’s very odd. It seems like Uncle Regi is getting 1% of Britney’s money, but WEG's legal team doesn’t know about this until later in the case and there seems to be no contract to prove/disprove the legitimacy.

[RebellionSparkles]

We see the uncle Regi money show up at the beginning of the CONservator case, bc the court is like WTF is going on there? But by the time the first CON accounting is submitted there is only a few hundred thousand in that Louisiana bank account.

[Steel Magnolia]

4 minutes ago, RebellionSparkles said:

@Steel Magnolia a while ago you mentioned Lynne took out a re-mortgage for $50k around the time Britney was forced into Promises in 2007; how can I find that?

^^that 💯% belongs in this thread

A mortgage appears to have been taken out one week after Britney was admitted to Promises (Rehab #3).

If my memory serves me correctly, it would have been around Feb. 28, 2007.

I found it by searching the Land Registry for Tangipahoa Parish:

https://cotthosting.com/LATangipahoa/User/Login.aspx

Key Date:

Feb. 21, 2007 - At 10:33 pm: "Extra" reports that Britney is driven to Promises by her mother Lynne and checks back into rehab for the third time. In a third article, "Extra" claims video exists of Britney and Lynne entering the gates of Promises for a minimum 30-day stay.

[Steel Magnolia]

For those wanting a bit more background on the WEG lawsuit, it can be found here:

I've also inputted some of the earlier dates from the WEG docs into the Chronological Timeline, but haven't had a chance to input anything from the time the CON was created going forwards:

 

 

[RebellionSparkles]

11 minutes ago, blackingouthenegativity said:

From what I can tell, it seems like they controlled it for a bit and she started to really rebel in late 2006. Magically 1.5 years later, the Spears family finds a legal arrangement where they can continue what they were doing before but on st.er0ids. 

An ongoing theory of mine is that Britney’s money she made as a minor was held in a trust in Florida, which meant her parents (custodians) would have been in charge of that money until she turned 25. So I think Britney’s family was cut off for only about 1 year before they put her in a conservatorship