Britney and Sam on 1-16-08. This was after the incident where she refused to handover her sons on 1-3 and before she was put on a psychiatric hold on 1-31.

I’m going to get this out of the way first – Sam Lutfi is a scary, manipulative lying bastard. That doesn’t mean I’m discounting everything he claims, and I’ll get to that in a moment, it just means that I find his credibility to be nil. To recap: Lutfi was in Britney’s life at the time of her breakdown in late 2007 into early 2008. He’s now suing her family for defamation, right after the three year restraining order against him has expired. By most all accounts, Lutfi was trying to control Britney. He conspired to gain access to her, according to Britney’s former assistant. Lutfi had three other restraining orders against him by different people before he even met Britney. When Britney’s mom, Lynn, met Lutfi, she found that he had disabled access to Britney’s phones and cars so that she could not leave or contact anyone without his permission. What’s more is that Lutfi bragged to Britney’s mom that he regularly mashed up prescription drugs and put them in Britney’s food without her knowledge. (This linked article has excepts from a declaration Lynn gave on Lutfi if you’d like to read more about it.)

So there’s no doubt that Lutfi tried to control Britney, that he scammed to drug her, and that a lot of her bizarre behavior at the time was due to the drugs she was on. Only in Lutfi’s version, told at trial yesterday, it was Britney who was taking uppers on her own volition. That could be true, but it’s not like the guy was innocent and blameless. His lawyer also told a story about how Lutfi allegedly hired a drug-sniffing dog who found meth in Britney’s mansion. This guy is trying to squeeze money out of Britney’s estate, and he needs to turn it around like he was the one helping her. Here’s more, thanks to E! for their summary:

An attorney for Sam Lutfi, who is suing Jamie and Lynne Spears for libel, described in court his client as a concerned friend who “worked very hard to keep Britney Spears off drugs” before a psychiatric episode in 2008 led to her father establishing a conservatorship for her estate and pushing Lutfi out of the picture with a restraining order.

Claims he was a “scapegoat” for Britney’s drug abuse
“My client was made a scapegoat for the drug abuse and erratic behavior of Britney Spears,” Lutfi’s lawyer, Joseph Schleimer, said today in his opening statement. “She liked to use amphetamines—speed or uppers. She liked to take that drug. And most of the things that went wrong were related to that drug.”

Jamie and Lynn, who are divorced, sat together in the courtroom. They took notes during Schleimer’s statement and during breaks were seen huddling with their attorneys in the hallway outside.
Schleimer told the court that Lutfi met Britney in a nightclub at a point in her life when “30 or 40” paparazzi would be following her at any given time. Once he became part of her life, Schleimer continued, Lutfi would alert the paps to their comings and goings to encourage some kind of order amid the frenzy.

When she met Lutfi, Britney had already completed a stint in rehab (she went to Promises in Malibu in early 2007), fired her other managers and distanced herself from her parents, Schleimer said. She first referred to Lutfi as her manager when she brought him along to a meeting with record execs to discuss Blackout and, when they wanted him to leave, she insisted he was her manager.

Claims he tried to keep Britney off drugs
Schleimer continued his statement claiming that Lutfi agreed to work for Britney in July 2007 for 15 percent of her earnings and under the condition that she stay clean and let him bring drug-sniffing dogs to search her house. The dogs, the attorney claimed, turned up a bag of crystal meth in a trap door and “hot spots” of residue on the carpet—which Lutfi later had ripped out and replaced.

To illustrate his point about the place Britney was at in her life when Lutfi was with her, Schleimer flashed on a screen for the jury to see the infamous photo of Britney, sporting a newly shaved head and an angry sneer, banging on a car with an umbrella.

Britney, still under the thumb of the conservatorship, has been excused from testifying or appearing in court during these proceedings.

In obtaining a restraining order against Lufti, Jamie and Lynne Spears had accused him of crushing up pills in Britney’s food, hiding her cell phone, encouraging paparazzi to follow her and otherwise bothering their daughter.

Lutfi sued them in February 2009 for breach of contract and defamation based on several chapters in a memoir Lynne wrote in which she described Britney’s once-constant companion as a manipulator. The conservatorship, meanwhile, is seeking to reclaim $93,000 in attorney fees from Lutfi.

Lutfi and Britney, Schleimer continued after the afternoon break, had a “strong artistic relationship” and his client advised her to go to Las Vegas to work on her dancing for the good of her health…

On what preceded Britney’s breakdown
In January 2008, Britney obtained 30 pills of prescription amphetamines, according to Schleimer’s statement in court, and took “all or most” of them in 36 hours. She then locked herself in the bathroom with Jayden and refused to turn the child over to his father, Kevin Federline. An ambulance was called and Britney ended up hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center.

On the night of Jan. 28, Schleimer recounted, they had been returning to her home to meet with a doctor when Britney jumped out of the car inside her gated community and plopped down on the sidewalk, holding her dog. Schleimer showed a paparazzo’s video of the incident to the court.

When Britney’s parents showed up at the house after seeing the media coverage, Jamie threatened to “beat the hell out of” Lutfi if he didn’t get out of his daughter’s life and punched him in the stomach, Schleimer said.

Britney was again transported to the hospital in the wee hours of Jan. 31 and placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold. Lutfi was initially denied entry into the waiting area, but was ultimately allowed in at around 2:30 a.m.

“My client has never been paid for serving as her manager,” the lawyer concluded. “He was made famous as the guy who drugged Britney Spears and put her in the hospital. The evidence will show the defendants ruined my client’s reputation.”

[From E! Online]

E! did a very good recap of the testimony at trial. This is a money grab by Lutfi, who latched onto Britney like a leech. Honestly I believe that Britney took drugs willingly – at times. At other times, I believe Lutfi gave them to her without her knowledge. He talked openly about it to Britney’s mom. In that sworn declaration I mentioned, Lynn Spears told a disturbing story of Britney refusing to drink wine that Lutfi kept insisting she drink. Lynn drank the wine intended for Britney instead, and felt anxious and nervous like she had been drinking coffee.

Britney is a grown woman, and she was around 26 when Lutfi inserted himself into her life. Yes she’s responsible for taking drugs, for her own erratic behavior, and for shaving her head. (Lutfi’s lawyer claims she did it to evade drug testing.) As I mentioned I do think she did drugs on her own volition. I’m not calling Lutfi responsible for Britney’s breakdown. I don’t doubt that Lutfi was giving Britney drugs to keep her more compliant. This is his ammunition to try and get more cash. He didn’t have some kind of sterling reputation before he met Britney, he was a scumbag with three restraining orders against him who was looking for another target.

TMZ has a video of Lutfi claiming back in March, 2010 that Britney shaved her head as a means of “expressing her independence and freedom.” Except now that he’s suing Britney’s family it’s evidence that she was whacked out of her mind on drugs he worked to keep her off of. I’m so sure he just had Britney’s best interests at heart.

Britney and Sam on 1-20-08. Credit: WENN.com