A US security firm hired by Britney Spears’ father monitored the pop singer’s phone calls and text messages during the court-sanctioned conservatorship she has lived under since 2008, according to a New York Times documentary released on Friday.
In Controlling Britney Spears, Alex Vlasov, a former Black Box Security employee who said he worked with the singer’s team for nearly nine years, said the company “mirrored” the pop singer’s phone on an iPad by logging in to her iCloud account.
A listening device also was placed in her bedroom, Vlasov said.
He told the filmmakers that he was asked to encrypt some of Spears’ text conversations so they could be sent to her father, Jamie Spears, and an employee of a business management firm he had hired.
When Vlasov questioned the monitoring, he said he was told that Britney Spears’ communications were reviewed “for her own security and protection” and that the court overseeing the conservatorship was “aware of it”, as was her lawyer at the time.
The monitoring included discussions between Britney Spears and her lawyer, Sam Ingham, according to Vlasov.
Vivian Thoreen, a lawyer for Jamie Spears, did not discuss specific allegations, but said that his actions “were well within the parameters of the authority conferred upon him by the court”, and “were done with knowledge and consent of Britney, her court-appointed lawyer and/or the court”.