Britney Spears accuses former business managers of receiving at least $18 million from conservatorship
The singer’s lawyer has presented new filings showing that Tri Star was directly involved with creating the legal arrangement that gave her father complete control of her finances for 13 years
Britney Spears may have been released from a 13-year-long conservatorship last September, but her legal battle has only just begun. According to Variety magazine, the singer’s lawyer, Matthew Rosengart, has claimed in a new court filing that her former business manager Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group and its employees, Taylor and Robin Greenhill, were directly involved with creating the conservatorship that allowed her father, Jamie Spears, complete legal control over her finances and day-to-day existence from its signing in 2008. According to the court document, the group received at least $18 million from the legal arrangement.
Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group and its founder, Lou Taylor, as well as its director, Robin Greenhill, were in charge of managing Spears’ career between 2008 and 2020 – a period that covers 12 of the 13 years the singer was under the conservatorship. Indeed, it was Spears’ father who hired the business managers.
“Tri Star, Lou Taylor and Robin Greenhill have all denied that Tri Star was involved in the creation of the conservatorship,” Rosengart’s filing states, referencing a sworn declaration from Greenhill that said: “At the time, the conservatorship [...] was established by this court in early 2008, Tri Star had no role in Ms. Spears’ affairs.”
According to Variety, the court filing includes emails allegedly sent by Lou Taylor regarding the conservatorship. Some exchanges even pre-date its creation, such as messages between the founder of Tri Star, Jamie Spears and his former lawyer, Geraldine Wyle, in which all parties express a desire to work together.
For its part, Tri Star told Variety that it did not have any relationship with the singer’s father prior to the conservatorship. “Tri Star was not even the business manager for the conservatorship when it was established,” Scott Edelman, the lawyer for the group, told the magazine. “Cherry-picked excerpts from emails cannot change the facts, which is why this nonsense will all end once and for all when records are unsealed.” He added: “This is materially misleading. As all the evidence makes abundantly clear, the conservatorship was set up on the recommendation of legal counsel, not Tri Star, and approved by the court for more than 12 years.”
Tri Star is accused in the filing of receiving at least $18 million of the Spears’ estate while she was under the conservatorship, and of building “its company on the back of Britney Spears.” The firm now represents stars ranging from the Kardashian family to singer Travis Scott.
The 40-year-old singer spoke out against her former business manager back in February, accusing Tri Star and its two main managers, Taylor and Greenhill, of wanting to kill her. “My dad worshipped those two women and would have done anything they asked of him!” she wrote in an Instagram post in February. “I lived through all of it and I remember all of it! I will sue the shit out of Tri Star!”
Tri Star is not the only one to be accused of profiting from Spears’ conservatorship. The singer’s lawyer also claims her father paid himself $6.3 million from her money.
While a judge decides whether to proceed with the case against Tri Star, Britney Spears continues to celebrate her recent marriage to 28-year-old Iranian model and personal trainer Sam Asghari. The pair were married last June, just six months after Spear’s was from the legal guardianship. The wedding was held in California, in an intimate ceremony with around 60 guests, including Madonna, Paris Hilton, Selena Gomez and Donatella Versace, who designed Spears’ wedding dress.
