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Back at the end of October 2012 Sam Lutfi, Britney Spears’ Svengali-like ex-manager during her infamous breakdown era revealed in court that Britney’s dad had tried to punch him in seemingly a slapstick scene in the family kitchen when suing Spears and her parents for breach of contract, defamation and libel to recoup unpaid earnings.

The long running court case would highlight how bad Britney’s drug use had got, but that the restraining order against Lutfi alleged that he drugged the troubled star (telegraph.co.uk, Feb. 2008), cut her phone lines to control her contact, took control of her finances and staff, subjected her to emotional abuse and took every opportunity to monitise the troubled stars plight, at one point rumoured to be attempting to sell her diary to the tabloids for some $2 million (ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com, Feb. 2008).

The judge tossed Lutfi’s case at the start of November (tmz.com, Nov. 2012) but after appealing it was was eventually settled after 7 years with a “low 6 figure” payment being made to Lutfi (tmz.com, Sept. 2016), a figure much lower than the estimated legal fees it would have cost Britney to continue to defend the lawsuit.

Lutfi would later try his luck with another troubled star, Amanda Bynes, after she was eventually involuntarily hospitalised: Sam Lutfi attempts to clear his name as “problem solver” to the stars in bizarre open letter (Pick of the Week 21st Oct. 2014).

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