Britney Spears' Former Security Member Claims He Has An 'Extremely Sensitive' Audio Recording The Pop Star's Team Wanted Deleted
Sept. 24 2021, Published 1:35 p.m. ET
A former longtime member of Britney Spears' security team claims he secretly kept a copy of an "extremely sensitive" audio recording that the pop star's team did not want anyone to "ever know about."
The ex-staffer makes the stunning allegation in the upcoming documentary, The New York Times Presents: Controlling Britney Spears, the unexpected yet highly anticipated follow-up to its bombshell predecessor, Framing Britney Spears.
"I did not wanna be complicit in whatever they were involved in, so I kept a copy because I don't wanna delete evidence," says the unnamed male employee – who worked for Spears for nine years – in a preview of the upcoming episode, which is set to debut Friday night.
After Britney's father, Jamie Spears, was named her conservator in 2008, he hired a man named Edan Yemini from a company called Black Box Security to allegedly protect his daughter.
"Edan and one of the agents working with him came into my office and handed me the audio recording device and a USB drive and asked me to wipe it," claimed the unnamed former staffer.
"I had them tell me what was on it," he continued. "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."
Black Box Security denied that Yemini ever acted improperly but did not address the allegation directly.
"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," a lawyer for the company's president told Good Morning America, while Jamie's attorney insisted that Edan's "actions were done with the knowledge and consent of Britney, her court-appointed attorney and/or the court."
Controlling Britney Spears will explore new allegations about how Britney's allegedly abusive conservatorship worked.
The creators of both NYT films say the singer's harrowing testimony in court earlier this summer – during which she claimed the legal arrangement was mentally, emotionally, physically and financially abusive – "motivated" people who had knowledge of the star's situation to come forward for part two.
"I think Britney speaking was really powerful," Samantha Stark told GMA. "These people in the film reached out to us because they wanted to share their story because they heard Britney speak."
Moreover, Stark said she and Liz Day obtained confidential court documents from 2014, 2016 and 2019 that showed the singer had actually been "expressing to the court she wanted out far earlier than anybody knew."
Regarding the aforementioned allegation by the unnamed ex-staffer, Day said he'll reveal "a portrait of the way the conservatorship monitored and managed nearly every aspect of Britney's life for the past 13 years."
"When Jamie was appointed Britney's conservator back in 2008, he was given the authority to hire security for Britney 24/7, and no one really knew what they did. They'd be in the background of photos with Britney," she added. "But the level of control and the ways that they monitored and surveilled her we certainly didn't know, and I don't know that anyone ever knew before."
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Months after Britney formally asked the court to end the conservatorship, her father filed for the same – but the pop star's new attorney cautioned that an investigation into his alleged abuse is still at top of mind.
The next hearing will take place on Sept. 29.
