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Funk, Yeah: Another Spears Subpoena

Wed., Aug. 15, 2007 8:56 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Another day, another subpoena issued to a member of Britney Spears' rapidly deteriorating inner circle.

The legally embattled singer's most recently excused assistant, Shannon Funk, was the latest member of the entourage to be served with a subpoena by Kevin Federline's legal team, requiring her to testify about Spears' parenting skills in the couple's ongoing custody case.

The 21-year-old Funk, who served as Spears assistant for just under a month, before getting the ax in the wake of a disastrous cover shoot with OK! magazine, was served with the legal papers Tuesday by Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, just after touching down at Southern California's Long Beach Airport.

Funk had just returned from a short stay in New York City, where she was snapped by paparazzi enjoying a girls' night out with, ironically enough, senior members of the OK! magazine staff.

Spears may not have too much to worry about, though. In the upcoming issue of the tabloid. Funk tells the magazine that she remains a full-fledged member of Team Britney.

"I love that girl," Funk said. "I will do what I can to protect her."

Funk is the third former member of Spears' payroll to have been caught in Team Kevin's legal crosshairs this week. On Sunday, Kaplan and crew kicked off the subpoena bonanza, hiring former Israeli commando turned security expert Aaron Cohen to serve Spears' sidekick (and reputed cousin) Alli Sims with a subpoena as she exited a Hollywood house party.

The following day, Cohen succeeded in serving Spears' former bodyguard and manny Daimon Shippen as he was getting out of his car in Santa Monica while working security for another client.

And that may not be the last of the subpoenas issued by Federline.

A source close to the onetime aspiring rapper told E! Online he is currently weighing whether or not to serve Spears' parents to testify in the custody case—in particular, Spears' mother, Lynne.

"Lynne Spears has stopped short of criticizing Britney in public, choosing instead to support Kevin behind closed doors," the source said. "But that's become such a sore spot between Brit and her mom.

"Britney really resents her parents for backing Kevin. And if Kevin drags them all in court, it's going to get so ugly."

Well, uglier.

The string of subpoenas comes about two weeks after a judge finalized the Spears-Federline divorce, granting the exes joint custody of Sean Preston and Jayden James. However, last Friday, Federline went to court to seek primary physical custody of the boys. Sources say he is concerned over his sons' well-being when in Spears' custody due to her increasingly erratic public behavior.

The couple's lawyers were in court Tuesday for a hearing, but the matter was postponed until Sept. 17 while the court commissioner overseeing the case weighed a request to release certain details to the press.

Alonzo Wickers IV, an attorney representing both People magazine and Los Angeles' NBC affiliate, KNBC-TV, argued that the release of basic pertinent, though not personal, information concerning child and spousal support would not cause harm to the kids.

Lawyers for 25-year-old Spears and 29-year-old Federline are due back in court on Sept. 14—the day Sean Preston celebrates his second birthday—to argue why the documents should remain under seal.