WHERE DID BRITNEY’S MONEY GO?
Questions abound as Britney Spears’ new lawyer seeks to find out why her fortune dwindled under the conservatorship of father Jamie
Britney Spears has been desperate to regain control of her life. Earlier this summer, she made headlines after delivering a heartbreaking 24-minute statement in an LA court hearing in which she begged Judge Brenda Penny to help her escape the “hell” and “abuse” she says she’s endured over the past 13 years under a conservatorship led by her father, Jamie Spears, after she suffered an infamous mental breakdown in 2008. “It makes no sense whatsoever for the state of California to sit back and literally watch me … make a living for so many people and pay so many people … and be told I’m not good enough,” Britney said on June 23. “It’s been a long time since I’ve owned my money, and it's my wish and my dream for all of this to end.”
On Aug. 12, her dream partly came true. While Britney’s conservatorship remains intact, for now, Jamie, 69, has agreed to step down, saying a public battle with Britney, 39, over his role, is not “in her best interests.” But the fight is far from over. Britney’s newly hired attorney, Mathew Rosengart, says that though they’re “pleased” by this latest development, his team will continue “our vigorous investigation into the conduct of Mr. Spears, and others, over the past 13 years, while he reaped millions of dollars from his daughter’s estate.” Because, according to an earlier filing by Rosengart, Jamie’s been busy blowing through Britney’s cash for a while now. “They’re following the money trail,” says a source. “It’s time to get to the bottom of why, how and who helped deplete Britney’s fortune.”
MILLIONS PAID OUT
Nearly 20 years ago, Forbes named Britney the world’s most powerful celebrity thanks to her wild success and an estimated $40 million in earnings. She made tens of millions more while under the conservatorship, yet today, Forbes reports, her net worth — an estimated $60 million — is “shockingly low” compared to her pop star contemporaries. Rosengart has broken some of it down: He alleges that Jamie paid
himself $16,000 a month — which is $2,000 more a month than Britney herself is given to spend — plus an additional $2,000 for office space. “Britney’s been so deprived of her fortune while Jamie raked it in that, unlike other stars at her level, Target has become her goto store. She feels broke in comparison,” says the source, noting Britney on Aug. 3 revealed on Instagram that her new favorite blue bikini is from the discount retailer. “She can barely afford a manicure.”
In fact, during her June court statement, Britney complained that she went 12 months without “any self-care.” “I didn’t have my nails done, no hairstyling, no massages, no acupuncture,” the music icon lamented. “Nothing for a year. [But] I saw the maids in my home each week with their nails done different each time."
Jamie can afford plenty of pampering as well.
According to Rosengart's filing, Brit’s conservator father paid himself 1.5 percent of the gross revenues and merchandise earnings on her Las Vegas residency — totaling at least $2.1 million — and a 2.95 percent commission on her 2011 “Femme Fatale Tour,” which totaled about $500,000. All in all, Jamie’s reportedly been paid at least $5 million since February 2008, reports reveal. “Some believe he’s got secret accounts full of money that should belong to Britney,” says the source.
He’d also been paying other people using Britney’s money. According to the singer’s lawyer, Jamie recently racked up $1.3 million in legal bills at the firm Holland & Knight over nine months in 2020 and 2021 — and Britney’s on the hook for it. In April, the firm hit back after its fees were questioned by Britney’s mother, Lynne Spears, 66 — who divorced Jamie in 2002 — saying in a legal filing that it had to “properly defend Mr. Spears from specious allegations that have threatened to tarnish his reputation as a loving, caring father who has nothing to hide.” Jamie, the source counters, “wasted millions trying to control Britney — and maintain control over her fortune.”
Then there are the claims that Jamie paid some people more than they’re actually owed. Rosengart alleges Jamie in 2019 modified the compensation plan for Britney’s former business manager’s firm, Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, even though the singer was on a performing hiatus, to pay “a minimum annual fee of $500,000,” which Rosengart says is $300,000 more than was actually due. (Jamie has denied any wrongdoing.) Now, says the source, “everyone on Britney’s payroll is under the microscope.”
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?
Jamie’s been accused of lusting after things he expected his daughter to provide. “The only thing Jamie ever said to me was, ‘My daughter is going to be so rich she’s going to buy me a boat,’” Kim Kaiman, a former marketing exec at Britney’s Jive Records label recalled in the February documentary Framing Britney Spears. “That’s all I’m going to say about Jamie.” According to the source, Jamie has been careful not to flaunt his wealth. “He lives in an RV home,” says the source of his reported digs on the outskirts of town in Kentwood, La., in a storage facility parking lot. “He’s not a flashy guy.” Britney has been trying to get her dad off the payroll since 2016, court papers leaked in June revealed.
“She doesn’t think it’s fair that he was making more than her and has paid out all this money without her knowledge,” says the source, “but she cares about her freedom more.”
Now she’s one step closer to that goal. Though legal docs filed by Jamie contend that there are no “actual grounds for suspending or removing” him as conservator, he’s agreed to “step down when the time is right, but the transition needs to be orderly.” It can’t come soon enough for Britney — or her lawyer, Rosengart, who’s accused Jamie of “taking cheap shots at his own daughter.” “Mr. Spears should remain silent,” blasts the attorney, “and step aside immediately.”