Britney Court Circus: Sam Attempts to Scapegoat Adnan

Says in court declaration he's only tried to contact Britney through intermediaries and that Adnan was the real culprit

By Gina Serpe Feb 27, 2009 8:35 PMTags
Sam Lutfi, Britney Spears, Adnan GhalibFame Pictures, Inc

Sam Lutfi is apparently willing to do anything to clear his name—even if that means trashing the name of fellow former Britney Spears hanger-on Adnan Ghalib.

The "Toxic" singer's litigious, pill-mashing former manager says in court papers that while he has not attempted any direct contact with the singer, her onetime paparazzo boyfriend has.

The allegation was made in a Los Angeles Superior Court declaration filed as part of his ongoing efforts to avoid a permanent restraining order barring him from any contact with Spears. A similar order is being sought against Ghalib and a lawyer accused of plotting to pry Britney loose from her papa-powered conservatorship.

"I did not initiate any direct communication with Britney Spears," Lutfi says in the voluminous filing. "Although I did receive text messages from her, all responses to those messages were conveyed to Britney through others, including…Adnan Ghalib."

Lutfi, who has been quietly abiding—or so we thought—under a temporary restraining order since last year, also said he has "exchanged test messages with Ms. Spears," but claims to have only done so through an intermediary and denies he ever threatened the pop star.

Earlier this week, Spears' head of security testified that he witnessed Lutfi attempt "to contact Ms. Spears by sending text messages" to the singer's hairstylist, Roberta Romero.

In a declaration filed Feb. 23, security team member Itamar Geldman stated that he called Lutfi on Dec. 28, in front of Romero and Spears, to tell him to stop trying to contact either woman.

Romero also took to the stand this week, telling the court Lutfi had sent her several "harassing" messages to "try to get information…about Britney," and that the singer asked her to cease all contact with him.

A printout of the alleged text messages shows that the first one, sent by Lutfi on Christmas Eve, asks Romero, "Can you wish her a merry Christmas for me?" All subsequent messages were sent Dec. 27 and Dec. 28.

Jamie Spears testified this week that Lutfi had sent his daughter texts on a prepaid cell phone, which he has since confiscated from Britney. He identified numbers on the phone as belonging to Lutfi and Ghalib.

Lutfi's new accusations couldn't have come at a worse time for Ghalib.

The shutterbug turned himself in earlier this week to face felony charges for allegedly ramming into the process server who was attempting to hand over the original restraining order earlier this month.

He pleaded not guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, battery and hit-and-run. No court date has yet been set.

—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum