Every move made by Britney Spears allegedly was followed
Britney Spears’ father and the security company he hired to protect her ran an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored her communications and secretly captured audio recordings from her bedroom, including her interactions and conversations with her boyfriend and children, according to a former employee of the company.
Alex Vlasov, the employee, supported his claims with emails, text messages and audio recordings he was privy to in his nine years as an executive assistant and operations and cybersecurity manager for Black Box, the security company. He came forward for a new documentary by The New York Times, “Controlling Britney Spears,” which was released Friday.
Recording conversations in a private place and mirroring text messages without the consent of both parties can be a violation of the law. It is unclear if the court overseeing Spears’ conservatorship was aware of or had approved the surveillance.
Vlasov’s account, and his trove of materials, create the most detailed portrait yet of what Spears’ life has been like under the conservatorship for the past 13 years. Vlasov said the relentless surveillance operation had helped several people linked to the conservatorship — primarily her father, James P. Spears — control nearly every aspect of her life.
“It really reminded me of somebody that was in prison,” said Vlasov, 30. “And security was put in a position to be the prison guards essentially.”
In response to detailed questions from the Times, a lawyer for James Spears issued a statement: “All of his actions were well within the parameters of the authority conferred upon him by the court. His actions were done with the knowledge and consent of Britney, her court-appointed attorney and/or the court. Jamie’s record as conservator — and the court’s approval of his actions — speak for themselves.”
Edan Yemini, chief executive and founder of Black Box Security, also did not respond to questions. In a statement, his lawyer said, “Mr. Yemini and Black Box have always conducted themselves within professional, ethical and legal bounds, and they are particularly proud of their work in keeping Ms. Spears safe for many years.”
Britney Spears’ lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, said in a statement: “Any unauthorized intercepting or monitoring of Britney’s communications — especially attorney-client communications, which are a sacrosanct part of the legal system — would represent a shameful violation of her privacy rights and a striking example of the deprivation of her civil liberties.
“Placing a listening device in Britney’s bedroom would be particularly inexcusable and disgraceful, and corroborates so much of her compelling, poignant
testimony,” Rosengart said. “These actions must be fully and aggressively investigated.”
Vlasov said his superiors often had told him that the severe surveillance measures were necessary to properly protect Britney Spears and that she wanted to be in the conservatorship. He said he had felt compelled to share his information after hearing her comments to the court in June, when she excoriated the judicial system, her conservators and her managers. She called the arrangement abusive.
Her father, who is known as Jamie, was appointed conservator in 2008, shortly after Britney Spears twice was taken to the hospital by ambulance for involuntary psychiatric evaluations amid a series of public struggles and concerns about her mental health and potential substance abuse. He was given broad control over her life and estate, including the power to retain around-the-clock security for his daughter.
Jamie Spears and others involved in the conservatorship have insisted that it was a smooth-running operation that worked in the best interest of his daughter. But in the wake of Britney Spears’ comments in court in June, the judge authorized her to choose her own lawyer, Rosengart, for the first time. Rosengart swiftly filed to remove Jamie Spears as the conservator of the singer’s estate. After consistently arguing that there were no grounds for his removal, Jamie
Spears abruptly asked the court Sept. 7 to consider whether to terminate the conservatorship entirely.
Rosengart’s and Jamie Spears’ requests are expected to be considered at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
The security company
The security team’s role has long been a mystery.
Yemini, the Black Box Security founder, was born in Israel and is described on a company website as having a background in the Israeli Special Forces. The Spears account helped Black Box grow from a tiny operation to a prominent player in the celebrity security industry. It counts the Kardashians, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey among its clients.
Vlasov joined Black Box in 2012 as a 21-year-old college student, excited by the opportunity to master the security industry. He started as Yemini’s assistant and grew into a role that encompassed wide responsibilities over operations and digital management.
“I did everything from write his messages, write his emails, to be on all phone conversations in order to take notes for him,” Vlasov said. “I was the only person at Black Box that knew everything, really.”
He generally worked at Black Box’s office in Woodland Hills and seldom saw Britney Spears in person, he said. But through the surveillance apparatus and his close work with Yemini and his colleagues, Vlasov said, he had a uniquely comprehensive view of her life.
Vlasov said Britney Spears’ phone was monitored using a clever tech setup: The iCloud account on her phone was mirrored on an iPad and later on an iPod. Yemini would have Vlasov encrypt her digital communications captured on the iPad and iPod to send to Jamie Spears and Robin Greenhill, an employee of Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, the former business manager for the singer’s estate.
That arrangement allowed them to monitor all text messages, FaceTime calls, notes, browser history and photographs.
“Her own phone and her own private conversations were used so often to control her,” Vlasov said.
In response to questions about the surveillance operation, a lawyer for Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group said: “These allegations are not true. Ms. Greenhill was only involved in Ms. Spears’ security to the extent Ms. Spears requested her involvement, as well as Tri Star’s role of issuing the payments to the security company.”
The lawyer did not respond to follow-up questions specifically asking whether Greenhill had ever received copies of or reports on the contents of Britney Spears’ text communications.
Vlasov said the reason Yemini had given for monitoring her phone was to protect her from harm and bad influences. But Jamie Spears monitored his daughter’s text message conversations with her mother, her boyfriend, her close friends and even her court-appointed lawyer, according to screenshots of messages provided to the Times.
Vlasov’s accounts of how Britney Spears’ life was controlled by the security team were confirmed by others with firsthand knowledge of the conservatorship who requested anonymity. They said she essentially could not leave her home without the presence of security personnel, who would inform Yemini, Jamie Spears and Greenhill of the singer’s movements via group chat.
As conservator of the estate, Jamie Spears controls his 39-year-old daughter’s nearly $60 million fortune and has the authority to employ workers for her.
Vlasov said Yemini and another Black Box employee once had given him a portable USB drive and asked him to delete the audio recordings on it.
“I had them tell me what was on it,” Vlasov said. “They seemed very nervous and said that it was extremely sensitive, that nobody can ever know about this and that’s why I need to delete everything on it, so there’s no record of it.”
The drive, he discovered, contained audio recordings from a device that was secretly placed in Britney Spears’ bedroom — over 180 hours of recordings.
Vlasov said he had thought the timing was curious because some of the recordings were about the time a court investigator visited Britney Spears to perform a periodic review in September 2016.