Britney Spears Conservatorship: Jamie Spears Will be Deposed About Alleged Surveillance
A judge ruled that Britney Spears‘s father, Jamie Spears, will be deposed by her legal team regarding his alleged use of a private security firm for surveillance. The music icon claimed her father had her bedroom bugged and listened to her private conversations while heading a conservatorship over her estate.
Britney Spears accused Jamie Spears of hiring a security firm to spy on her
According to Britney Spears, her father put her under intrusive surveillance while overseeing the conservatorship. She claimed to the court that Jamie Spears used his status to control and exploit her. Supposedly, he hired a security firm that monitored her private conversations on her phone and in her bedroom to help in his efforts to supervise her (per Variety.)
Her legal team also accused Tri Star Sports & Entertainment of working with him to keep her in the conservatorship while they were in charge of managing her business between 2008 and 2020. They argue the collective goal was to take money from the pop star.
The conservatorship ended in November 2021, and now it seems Spears wants to see her “corrupt” family answer to her accusations. Her legal team asked Judge Brenda Penny to make her father answer some questions, which he didn’t seem to want to do. According to them, he ignored their requests for a deposition for nine months.
Britney Spears’s legal team will depose Jamie Spears
Judge Penny agreed with Britney Spears’s team’s argument that Jamie Spears should answer questions about the allegations against him. They will depose him in Los Angeles by court order within the next 30 days. Furthermore, he must hand over all documentation related to the surveillance of his daughter while he was the conservator of her estate.
His counsel requested access to documents collected by her team, and argued the upcoming deposition shouldn’t be handled like “an ambush,” but Judge Penny denied their request.
Jamie Spears’s lawyer wants Britney Spears deposed because she might be a ‘treasure trove of information’
Meanwhile, Judge Penny did not yet decide whether Britney Spears would have to sit for a deposition for her father’s legal team. But the judge started to hear arguments from both sides as to why she should — or should not — be deposed.
Jamie Spears’s lawyer Alex Weingarten claimed it is the only way to ensure his client receives fair due process. “Based on what I know,” he argued, “I suspect that Ms. Spears will be a treasure trove of information.”
“I appreciate that it’s en vogue to trash Jamie Spears,” Weingarten also said. “But he has rights … In this country, you’re innocent until proven guilty.”
Britney Spears’s attorney Mathew Rosengart disagreed. “You don’t sit down a victim for a deposition to be deposed by the victimizer,” Rosengart contended. He said it risked “re-traumatizing” the singer, who married Sam Ashgari following the conservatorship’s termination.
Rosengart concluded his client “has no knowledge or documents” to provide to the opposing team. Judge Penny continued the motion and will decide at a hearing later this month.
