Jamie Spears Accused of Trying to Extort Britney Out of $2 Million to Leave Conservatorship

Spears. Photo: Getty Images

Britney Spears’s lawyer has filed court papers accusing the singer’s father of attempting to extort or barter his removal as her conservator for $2 million in payments. Mat Rosengart’s filing on August 30 suggests that Jamie Spears’s requests for payments are more evidence that he should be removed as conservator over his daughter’s finances.

“Britney Spears will not be bullied or extorted by her father,� Rosengart said in a statement to Vulture. “Nor does Mr. Spears have the right to try to hold his daughter hostage by setting the terms of his removal.  This is not about him, it is about the best interests of his daughter, which as a matter of law, mandate his removal.  Even putting aside the legal issues requiring his prompt removal, if he loves his daughter, Mr. Spears should resign now, today, before he is suspended.  It would be the correct and decent thing to do.�

Rosengart accused Jamie of engaging in “abusive and bullying conduct while also elevating his own personal and financial interests above those of his daughter� for more than a decade.

In the filing, Rosengart reminded the court that Britney’s team has already established that it would be in her “best interests� for her father to step down. He noted that Britney’s own medical team has stressed that Jamie’s removal is “critical to [Britney Spears’s] emotional health and well-being.�

Rosengart also pointed out that Jamie said in his own court papers filed on August 12 that a continued court battle over him staying in his current role in his daughter’s conservatorship would not be in Britney’s best interest. Yet, according to Rosengart, Jamie is dragging his feet about leaving and is clinging to his role as Britney’s conservator over her estate “until he feels sufficiently vindicated.� Rosengart claims the real reason for the delay is Jamie wants to receive or make large monetary payments.

According to Rosengart’s filing, Jamie is asking for payment from Britney for having to work with his lawyer to address media claims against him —including “major television and news articles, social media posts, global media inquiries, and documentary films.� Jamie also wants Britney to pay him for “continuing to do [his] best to keep current regarding the music, advertising, and entertainment business.�

Britney’s father also wants his daughter to pay his $1,356,293 in legal fees, as well as an additional $541,065.50 for “media matters,� according to the court papers. Rosengart said there was another request that Britney pay her former business manager Lou Taylor’s company Tri-Star Sports & Entertainment Group an “exorbitant post-hiatus $500,000.� Taylor resigned from the role last November without giving Britney prior notice, according to court papers.

Rosengart said the old status quo is “no longer tolerable and Britney Spears will not be extorted.� He called Jamie’s filing a “blatant attempt to barter suspension and removal in exchange for approximately $2 million in payments, on top of the millions already reaped from Ms. Spears’s estate by Mr. Spears and his associates� and “a non-starter.�

Rosengart stated that “Mr. Spears has no right to condition his departure on improper and extortionate demands for payment or blanket immunity. Instead, the only honorable, decent, and humane course of action is for Mr. Spears to resign now.�

Jamie Spears’s attorney has not responded to a request for comment.

Judge Brenda Penny will rule on Britney’s request to suspend or remove her father from serving as the conservator over her finances at a court hearing in Los Angeles on September 29.