The Works: Lou Taylor & the Davimos Dynasty
Lou is bequeathed her business and builds tithes that bind.
This is Part 2 in the Chronicle of Lou Taylor. Lou was Britney Spears’ business manager throughout the conservatorship. Here you can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 & Part 7.
Lou Taylor began her career in the sports and entertainment industry when she answered a classified ad in the local paper. In 1990, she relocated to Florida due to her husband’s job. Lou Taylor told the Hollywood Reporter she started her career at a company called Davimos.1 Through her work in business management at Davimos, Lou Taylor connected with Uptown Records, where she met Mary J. Blige and Diddy.
Which Davimos company did she work for? More specifically, which Davimos family member was she working for? The public needs more information to understand the scope of the power network Lou Taylor got plugged into.
Lou Taylor: America’s Most (Help) Wanted
In many interviews, Lou Taylor emphasizes that her early career revolved heavily around the music industry. However, her early work with professional athletes is often glossed over.
In 1990, her husband relocated to South Florida for work and she needed a job, so she answered an ad. She didn’t even know what a business manager was — she’d been an accountant at mega firm Arthur Andersen — when she joined a management firm called Davimos, where she worked with Uptown Records and met Sean “Diddy” Combs. “I was too dumb to know that women weren’t business managers,” she says.
- The Hollywood Reporter, October 10, 2019
A New Thought Paradigm
What happened to Britney Spears is not a function of an unsophisticated poor family from the sticks. This happened to Britney because very wealthy and powerful people executed a sophisticated plan to ensnare her in the conservatorship. These people have legacy power across major industries in the United States.
We can’t even say the word “elite” without being summarily dismissed as conspiracy theorists. Yet, exposing the nodes of this network may assist in revealing how the public was conditioned to accept her conservatorship. Culture snobs both dismiss Britney’s art as a corporate product and render her family as the central guilty party. However, corporations made far more money off of Britney’s forced labor than her family. Britney’s story demonstrates how the people who write the laws somehow never seem to officially break them. The über wealthy harm us all by hoarding essentials to life itself.
Do you see the classism at work?
The Patriarch
Richard ‘Dick’ Davimos, born in South Orange, New Jersey, had a notable career highlighted by a Harvard business degree, military service in Korea, and his purchase of a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1964.2 Dick had 9 children, and one of them, John Davimos, is relevant to our discussion. John appears to be the central player in laying the foundation for Lou Taylor’s career.
Dick and his wife Marilyn were extremely wealthy and eventually settled in South Florida. They had powerful connections, including Marilyn’s brother Arthur Cohen, who created the largest publicly traded real estate company in the United States.3 South Florida is home to many of the nation’s wealthiest and most connected individuals. These people were so wealthy that they became prime targets for Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the largest in U.S. history.4 Madoff’s investment scheme even ensnared Marilyn Davimos.5
What isn’t in Dick’s Obituary?
What Dick’s obituary did not mention was his work in the radio industry or how one of his companies got in trouble for defrauding customers. This is not a deep dive on Dick, but it reflects common themes you will see throughout the Chronicle of Lou Taylor series: fraud, self-dealing, and connections to the top 1% in the sports and entertainment industries.
It is amazing what connections Dick must have had!
In 1953, Dick was involved in a case where his company was fraudulently marketing products.6 By 1955, he had a cease and desist order from the Federal Trade Commission.7 Despite this, Dick and his partners had many mail-order companies, including one selling orchids.
Don’t worry! Everything turned out ok for Dick; he and his partners at the Smith Group attained a large stake in Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), which was “the world’s largest radio network.”8 Dick became President of MBS when they purchased it in 1959. At the same time, Malcolm E. Smith, Jr. of the Smith Group became Chairman of MBS.
Upon the purchase of MBS, many assumed that Dick and his partners probably bought MBS to promote their mail-order products.9 This is indeed what happened. If you control the medium, you control the message.
Smith first partnered with Dick on many ventures, including selling phonographic records of the ‘18 Top Hits’. The technology at that time required them to produce a set of three records that had three songs on each side! Other businesses include the budget record supplier Waldorf Music Hall, which went on to acquire more record lines. More partners were added, and then they founded Victor & Richards, an ad agency to advertise their growing businesses.10 Thus, early on, Lou Taylor was tuned into old-timers in the record business.
The consolidation of industries and the consequences of centralized power is a continuous theme throughout this series.
Let’s fast forward…
Dick & Davimos Sports Management
By the early 1980s, Dick was living the high life in Florida and was involved in the sports business. In the Davimos business dynasty, the template for taking legal custody of a talented (and potentially lucrative) individual is documented as occurring in 1986. The practice of business people taking custody of promising minor athletes is actually far more common than one might think.
Dick was president of Davimos Sports Management. He took legal guardianship of a promising 14-year-old Dominican basketball player named Kelly Horford.11 Kelly was already 6’5”, and his older brother, Tito (also very tall), had also been recruited as a minor to play basketball at a high school in Houston, TX.
Tito did end up in the NBA, but was infamous for his struggles off the court. An NCAA investigation took place into how Tito ended up in Houston and his family asserted many promises were made to them if Tito came to play basketball in the U.S..12
“I have told the NCAA that we were offered a supply of beef, food, medicine and money if Tito went to Louisiana State,” Tony Baltazar said. “I was offered a job in Houston if Tito went to Houston. But, as you can see . . . “ - Tito’s brother
Kelly Horford arrived in Boca Raton and was enrolled in a private preparatory high school. Dick quickly filed a hardship waiver to the school on Kelly’s behalf. This was Dick’s attempt to bypass the Florida High School Activities Association’s regulation that students live with their guardian for one year prior to being eligible to participate in athletics.13 The principal of Boca’s Pope John Paul II was deeply saddened by the news.
“I’m disappointed for (Kelly), I feel there was a lack of understanding (on the committee) about living conditions in the Dominican Republic.” - Rev. Sean Harlow
Deep Poverty; Deep Pockets
The sports ownership class is known for two things: exploiting young people from humble backgrounds, especially Black males, and being very close to many of the biggest white-collar crimes in history.
At this time, Dick was also the Executive Vice President of Shearson Lehman.14 Dick’s brokerage firm was acquired by American Express in 1981, and at that time, Dick relocated to Florida. In 1984, American Express merged with Lehman Brothers. This company is what we now know as Lehman Brothers. This company was the first domino to fall in the 2008 financial crisis. Executives at Lehman brothers were routinely committing accounting fraud and were heavily involved in the subprime mortgage crisis.
Dick’s son John Davimos inherited a career path, a fortune and Lou Taylor.
Bait & Switch: Davimos, Trinity, & Tri Star
“When Tri Star opened its doors in 1992, it had three big clients that followed from her old firm: baseball stars Tony Fernandez and Jesse Barfield, and boxer Michael Moorer, who gave Tri Star a big boost when he won the crown from Evander Holyfield.” - Variety15
Lou Taylor’s first business was called Tri Star Accounting Group, and it was incorporated in 1993. Although Moorer became a client of Lou Taylor, he did not in fact leave the Davimos family empire. John Davimos was originally Moorer’s business manager and then switched to being Moorer’s manager, which coincides with Lou Taylor coming on board and incorporating the first Tri Star.
Note: If you would like a more detailed list of Lou Taylor’s business entanglements, you can refer to SWAT Team for Britney’s Connection Map.
On the podcast This Nashville Life, Lou Taylor explains the difference between the role of a manager and a business manager:16
So Many Businesses
This can get confusing very quickly. The most important thing is the timeline. People create many businesses with similar names, names of businesses can change, as well as the people named on the business paperwork.
Remember, the patriarch Dick Davimos was a honcho on Wall Street before he moved to Florida. Dick incorporated Davimos Sports Management in 1983. Dick’s sons followed in their father’s footsteps and incorporated Davimos Advisors in 1985.
Davimos Sports Management
Dick (Richard) H. Davimos 3/14/1983-8/25/1995
Davimos Advisors, Inc. 12/30/1985-8/13/1993
Robert S. Davimos
John L. Davimos
Davimos Management, Inc. 9/25/1991-9/22/2000
Joseph Maenza17
John Davimos
Tri Star Accounting Group, Inc. 5/6/1993 - present
Lou Taylor
Shawne Blair
This business changed its name multiple times, including in 2000 to Trinity Management Group.
Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, Inc. 2/8/2002 - present
Lou Taylor
For our purposes, the most important thing to notice is that in 1993, Tri Star Accounting Group was incorporated, and Davimos Advisors became defunct. We know Lou inherited her first clients from the Davimos family. Lou said she started her first business in 1992, and one of her first clients was the baseball player Tony Fernandez18
In 1993 [Fernandez] helped lead the Blue Jays to the world championship but was not re-signed in 1994 because of salary demands. Fernandez, represented by the Davimos Group, was seeking a three-year, $8 million-plus contract, which the Blue Jays rejected.
This quote demonstrates that Tony Fernandez was likely working with someone in the Davimos family and Lou Taylor at the same time. But, a business called “Davimos Group” does not exist on Open Corporates or Florida’s Division of Corporations. It was likely John Davimos worked with Tony Fernandez at the same time as Lou Taylor.
The relationship between Lou Taylor and John Davimos is a key connection in the evolution of Lou Taylor’s career. Whichever Davimos company she started with, she more than likely planned the creation of Tri Star with John Davimos. There’s circumstantial evidence that she probably started with Dick’s Davimos Sports Management. This evidence is outlined in Part 3 of this series. In this podcast excerpt, Lou Taylor briefly describes the origin of Tri Star:19
Give Me Moorer
In 1993, she started Tri Star Accounting Group to serve similar clients. Some of Ms. Taylor’s early customers were amateur athletes who went pro.
- New York Times, December 19, 202120
Boxing: This, That and a Third
Lou’s first big score was when she got a cut of boxer Michael Moorer’s winnings (referred to in boxing as a purse) from when he fought Evander Holyfield.21 It is important to note that the New York Times was wrong about Lou Taylor’s first clients being amateur athletes. The amount of professional connections required to work with professional athletes is seismically different than for an amateur athlete.
Moorer fought Holyfield for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight championship in April of 1994. Moorer won his fight against Holyfield and became the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Boxers often had to pay 33% of their purse to their management team. This is an astronomical percentage compared to the percentage caps enforced by other sports leagues such as the NBA (3%) and NFL (4%).22 Boxing is reportedly a sport that is particularly more exploitative and corrupt than any other professional sport in the United States.23
Michael Moorer
Emanuel Steward was Moorer’s original patron, acting as his manager, trainer and father figure, Moorer moved into Steward’s house at 16 years old and stayed for four years as he continued to hone his boxing skills.
By July 1988, Moorer was a professional light heavyweight boxer and John Davimos was his business manager.24 John Davimos was a constant presence in Moorer’s life as he rose to becoming the Heavyweight Champion of the World. This HBO documentary describes some personal challenges Moorer faced as he rose to the top:25
This Forbes article from June 6, 1994 provides a good summary of John Davimos’ “investment” in Moorer:26
Los Angeles sports agent John Davimos, 32, is jubilant. In 1988 he went into a partnership with Emanuel Steward, the veteran trainer who had handled such champs as Thomas Hearns and Milton McCrory. Davimos acquired the rights to heavyweight Michael Moorer and five other startup boxers for $250,000. In return, he and Steward were to split a third of the boxers' winnings. But by 1992 three of the six boxers had left and Moorer was no longer speaking to Steward. Davimos bought out Steward for $350,000, raising the cash by spinning off a third of his stake to two other investors.
Moorer, who by then had 29 wins, was becoming a 218-pound millstone. Many boxers so feared his crushing left hooks that they refused to get in the ring unless Davimos gave them part of Moorer's purse. Moorer was seldom left with $100,000 per fight in winnings. Davimos was $1 million in the hole, and his original 33% equity stake was down to 22%.
But this April in La Vegas, the 26-year-old Moorer slugged his way to a twelfth-round decision over Evander Holyfield for the world championship. The take: $5 million. After six years of "sweat equity," Davimos was in the black. When Moorer defends his title in the fall Davimos should rake in $1 million free and clear. "All we had to do to be profitable," deadpans Davimos, "is to win the heavyweight title."
The Other Investors
To recap: John Davimos had acquired 33% equity in Moorer with the help of two other investors in 1992, which means he had a ~22% equity.
There was controversy after Moorer won the $5 million purse for the IBF & WBA heavyweight championship against Holyfield. John Davimos had sold 10% stake in Moorer to Holyfield’s de facto manager Shelly Finkel, which is a serious conflict of interest.27 Inquiring minds want to know who the third investor was and/or if there is a problem with the math:
22% Davimos + 10% Finkel + 1% X = 33% equity in Michael Moorer
By 1996, if Moorer and Mike Tyson were to go head-to-head for the heavyweight championship, Moorer could win $10 million for the fight.28 This is a lot of money for those with “equity” in Moorer. The mere notion of owning equity in a person is disgusting.
Rescuing Troubled Celebrities
Michael Moorer appears to be the beginning of a pattern of Lou Taylor specializing as a fixer for “troubled” athletes and celebrities. In 1991, Moorer broke the jaw of a police officer,29 and in 1993, he was involved in an altercation at a restaurant.30 At the time of his championship fight with Holyfield, he was being sued by his wife over a domestic dispute.31
Teddy Atlas, who was Moorer’s boxing trainer, shared the following anecdote in his memoir:32
Before one fight, [Moorer] called up [John] Davimos at two in the morning and said, "I'm sitting here in my room drinking a bottle of vodka and I've got a gun that I'm pointing at my head. Tell me why I shouldn't pull the trigger." Another time, he took a giant bowie knife and cut his legs up. The scars are still there.
When someone is as talented as Moorer, is there anything his equity holders wouldn’t do to get him to perform?
Lou’s Career Transitions
Based on this 2000 Sun Sentinel article, it appears that Lou Taylor’s business dealings were mainly with athletes from 1990 to 2000:33
Rumors meanwhile, are flying throughout the pretty-people industry that Niki, 25, will defect from Lou’s Tristar Management, which specializes in athletes, and sign with Elite Models. Since losing her Elizabeth Claiborne modeling contract last year, Niki has lost exposure in the industry sources said, she wants to be represented by a Gotham–based outfit instead of one based in Boca.
This rumor about Niki Taylor leaving Tri Star was reported only five months before Niki Taylor was in a life-threatening car crash. Niki Taylor had left drug rehab approximately two months before the car crash. This 2001 article refers to Tri Star as Niki Taylor’s handlers:34
Las Olas supermodel Niki Taylor later this week is scheduled to be released from a one-month voluntary drug rehab program.
A friend of the 25-year-old leggy blonde told Insider that Taylor became addicted to Vicodin, a prescription pain-killer whose strength was likened to heroin.
[Niki] Taylor’s handlers at Tristar Management in Boca wouldn’t comment, but her publicist, Lou Taylor (no relation), recently told Star mag that Niki started taking the stuff years ago while being treated for anxiety attacks.
A woman who answered the telephone at the posh Father Martin’s Ashley Treatment Center near D.C. said Taylor didn’t have access to a telephone when I tried to reach her.
Niki Taylor had a very close relationship with Lou Taylor, particularly after her life-threatening car crash in May 2001.35 They both relocated to Tennessee around the same time in 2002 and opened a clothing shop together. Lou Taylor appears to have solidified her behind-the-scenes reputation for working with “troubled” athletes and celebrities prior to the Britney Spears coup.
Overwhelmingly, #FreeBritney advocates describe Lou Taylor as an evil mastermind that emerged from the ether. Lou is not brilliant and was merely others’ blueprint for gaining personal and financial control over a star. Lou Taylor is often thought to have made her national television debut when she appeared as the Spears family spokesperson on Good Morning America in 2008.
However, Lou Taylor’s national television debut was at least seven years earlier outside an Atlanta hospital while inside, Niki Taylor was clinging to life.36
Dynasties of Power
The public must understand that Britney’s conservatorship is embedded within the business dealings of elites. The prevalence of conspiracy theories about elites routinely whir into the phantasmagorical. The ultra-wealthy have a class solidarity as hard as diamonds.
Britney’s story is actually very simple: she was too famous to be allowed to quit. We won’t know who is the most culpable until people start talking. There are two mainstream messaging narratives around Britney’s conservatorship: 1) We all owe her an apology, and 2) Maybe she needed the conservatorship. This pins culpability on the unsuspecting public despite hundreds (thousands?) of people with power and/or access knowing that something was horribly wrong for over a decade.
Regular folks only have access to public information when we are fighting people with excessive amounts of money, power, and access. We don’t know this world, but we can sketch its outlines and shine light on the shadows.
Final Thoughts
Lou Taylor's career trajectory reveals a disturbing pattern of exploiting troubled athletes and celebrities. From her early involvement with Michael Moorer to her later association with Niki Taylor and eventually Britney Spears, Taylor has consistently positioned herself as a fixer for those in distress. Her methods, often shrouded in secrecy and controversy, highlight the broader issue of how the ultra-wealthy and powerful manipulate vulnerable individuals for financial gain. Britney Spears' conservatorship is not an isolated case but rather a symptom of a deeply entrenched system where power and control are wielded by a select few. Understanding this context is crucial for advocating for justice and transparency in such cases.
Continue to Part 2 of the Chronicle of Lou Taylor:
Footnotes
Obituary for Richard H. Davimos. South Florida Sun Sentinel. September 27, 2017.
Arthur G. Cohen, Real Estate Developer, Is Dead at 84. New York Times. August 15, 2014.
Madoff Victim List. CBS News.
Court in Alexandria to Hear Fraud Case. Washington Post. July 7, 1953 (p.7).
Federal Register.. The National Archives of the United States. January 20th, 1955.
Radio Annual Television Year Book. Radio Daily Corp. 1959 (p. 262-273).
MBS Owners Use Net to Sell Own Products Through Own Agency. Advertising Age. May 11, 1959 (p. 8).
The Man Who Salvaged Mutual. Broadcasting. March 30, 1959. (p. 27).
Tito Hopes Mistakes Will Benefit Brother. South Florida Sun Sentinel. October 14,1986.
The Strange, Tangled Journey of Tito Horford, Basketball Star. Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1986
Horford Ruled Ineligible. South Florida Sun Times. November 4, 1986.
Tito Hopes Mistakes Will Benefit Brother. South Florida Sun Sentinel. October 14, 1986.
Lou Taylor’s Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Marks Its 25th Year in Business. Variety. October 17, 2017.
Everybody’s Italian, Everyone’s Got a Guy. This Nashville Life. January 21, 2020.
CEO Spotlight: Phenomenal Success of Joseph Maenza in Entertainment Industry. CEO World. February 27, 2020.
Directory of Hispanic Biography. Eds.: Joseph C. Tardiff & L. Mpho Mabunda. 1996 (p. 337).
Lou Taylor. Get Real with Caroline Hobby. May 16, 2017.
Britney Spears Felt Trapped. Her Business Manager Benefited. New York Times. December 19, 2021.
Hollywood Business Manager Lou Taylor Is “Ferociously” Breaking the Glass Ceiling. The Hollywood Reporter. October 10, 2019.
The View From Ringside: Inside the Tumultuous World of Boxing. Thomas Hauser. 2004. (p. 213).
Power: Don King. podcast by Sony.
Moorer Keeps Rising Despite Hearns’ Fall. South Florida Sun Sentinel. July 6, 1988.
The Tale of George Foreman vs Michael Moorer. HBO Legendary Nights. 2003.
A Piece of the Rocky. Forbes. June 6, 1994.
The View From Ringside: Inside the Tumultuous World of Boxing. Thomas Hauser. 2004. (p. 214).
Tyson-Seldon: What’s At Stake? South Florida Sun Sentinel. September 7, 1996.
Moorer Proves Pushy Outside of Ring, Too. New York Times. April 21, 1991.
BOXING; Can Master of Menace Master His Talents? New York Times. April 20, 1994.
BOXING; And the New Champion: Moorer by Decision in 12. New York Times. April, 25, 1994.
Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son’s Struggle to Become a Man. Teddy Atlas. 2006. (p. 171).
It’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Promoter Vs. Rock ‘N’ Roll Builder. South Florida Sun Sentinel. December 15, 2000.
The Truth Hurts, But One Tiny Lie Hurts Ex-Cop Even More. South Florida Sun Sentinel. February 19, 2001.
Supermodel Niki Taylor Critical After Crash. Getty Images. May 1, 2001.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta. CNN. March 24th, 2013.
DYING 🎶this is so good . Fucking didn’t know any any any of this . Can’t wait for the Florida prison labor making athletic uniforms and the gay conversion homes ( 1000s. Business is better than you think. I know . Blew my mind too ). Take your time and stay safe Melanie . ★♥︎♥︎♥︎Courtney Love “ the one they wished they killed when they could have” COBAIN . Laters. Fuck you lou “ I am a submissive pastors wife “ Taylor very much indeed . Wow . I know something about both diddy and Mary j bliges diametrically opposite financial portfolios. & I can’t wait for you to get into it . Even when cuomo was ag of New York State he tried and failed 3x to nail unifund . I wait with baited breathe . You go Mel . 💅🏻