Jamie Spears’ lawyer says his conservatorship suspension is ‘a loss for Britney’
Britney Spears’ father has criticised his suspension as controller of the star’s $60m estate – with his lawyer saying the result is “a loss” for his daughter and that the court “was wrong” to replace him rather than terminating the controversial conservatorship.
At a milestone court hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Judge Brenda Penny ruled that Jamie Spears should be removed as conservator and replaced by accountant John Zabel on a temporary basis, before setting a date to consider ending the legal agreement entirely in November.
It came after Mr Spears, who had controlled the estate for 13 years, filed a legal petition earlier in September to end the conservatorship, amid mounting pressure following claims of abuse made by his daughter at court hearings in June and July.
Spears demanded the end of the ‘abusive’ arrangement at a previous hearing in June. Pic: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
However, Spears‘ recently appointed lawyer Mathew Rosengart argued for her father to be removed first before the agreement is wound up for good.
On Thursday, Mr Spears’ lawyer Vivian Thoreen, from the Holland & Knight law firm, released a statement on the judge’s decision, saying her client “loves his daughter unconditionally” and has “tried to do what is in her best interests, whether as a conservator or her father”, since the legal arrangement began in 2008.
Spears “voluntarily entered into the conservatorship”, she said, and the agreement helped the star “revive her career and re-establish a relationship with her children”.
Ms Thoreen accused members of the public, the media, and Mr Rosengart of “false, speculative, and unsubstantiated attacks” on Mr Spears and said the outcome of the latest court hearing was “disappointing, and frankly, a loss for Britney”.
She added: “Respectfully, the court was wrong to suspend Mr Spears, put a stranger in his place to manage Britney’s estate, and extend the very conservatorship that Britney begged the court to terminate earlier this summer.
“Again, it was Mr Spears who took the initiative to file the petition to terminate the conservatorship when neither Britney’s former court-appointed counsel nor her new privately-retained attorney would do so. It was Mr Spears who asked the court at yesterday’s hearing to immediately terminate the conservatorship while Britney’s own attorney argued against it.”
The star’s attorney Mathew Rosengart says Mr Spears needed to be removed from the legal agreement before it could be wound up completely
Despite his suspension, Mr Spears “will continue to look out for the best interests of his daughter and work in good faith towards a positive resolution of all matters”, Ms Thoreen concluded.
In court on Wednesday, Mr Rosengart had argued forcefully for Mr Spears’ removal, demanding an end to the star’s “Kafka-esque nightmare”.
He told the hearing that the estate was being run into the ground and reiterated a vow made by the singer not to perform again while her father is in control.
#FreeBritney supporters were once again outside court for the latest hearing
“Sometimes judges are asked to make very hard decisions,” he said. “This is not such a decision. This is not such a case. This is a very easy decision.”
He also alleged that Mr Spears now wants the conservatorship terminated to avoid having his files closely examined. “What he is afraid of is the revelation of his corruption,” Mr Rosengart said.
While it is essential the conservatorship is terminated, it needs to be done in an “orderly fashion”, the lawyer told the court.
Spears’ conservatorship began in 2008 after she suffered a reported mental breakdown. The arrangement came back under the spotlight in November 2020, when Spears said she would not perform live again while her father was in control.
It made headlines again following the release of the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears, which explored her treatment at the hands of the paparazzi and the terms of the legal agreement.
In June, Spears delivered bombshell testimony in open court for the first time, demanding the end of the “abusive” arrangement. During a shocking 23-minute speech, she claimed she was being forced to use a contraceptive device to prevent her having more children and that she was unable to get married.
The following month Spears returned to court and called for her father to be prosecuted for conservator abuse.
Entertainment
Harvey Weinstein accuser says film mogul ‘took her soul’ during alleged sexual assault
An ex-model has tearfully told a court that being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was 16 was the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault
Kaja Sokola told the film producer’s retrial that he ordered her to remove her blouse, put his hand in her underwear, and made her touch his genitals.
She said he’d stared at her in the mirror with “black and scary” eyes and told her to stay quiet about the alleged assault in a Manhattan hotel in 2002.
Ms Sokola told the New York court that Weinstein had dropped names such as Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow, and said he could help fulfil her Hollywood dream.
“I’d never been in a situation like this,” said Polish-born Ms Sokola. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”
Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone and is back in court for a retrial after his conviction was overturned last year.
Read more: Weinstein is back in court – but what has happened to the #MeToo movement since 2017?
Weinstein denies the allegations. Pic: Reuters
The 73-year-old is not charged over the alleged sexual assault because it happened too long ago to bring criminal charges.
However, he is facing charges over an incident four years later when he’s said to have forced Ms Sokola to perform oral sex on him.
Prosecutors claim it happened after Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra in a film.
“My soul was removed from me,” she told the court of the alleged 2006 assault, describing how she tried to push Weinstein away but that he held her down.
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Ms Sokola – who’s waived her right to anonymity – is the second of three women to testify and the only one who wasn’t part of the first trial in 2020.
Miriam Haley testified previously in the retrial. Pic: AP
Miriam Haley last week told the court that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The other accuser, Jessica Mann, is yet to appear.
Claims against the film mogul were a major driver for the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse in 2017.
Weinstein’s lawyers allege the women consented to sexual activity in the hope of getting film and TV work and that they stayed in contact with him for a while afterwards.
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