Britney Spears' mom says manager controlled the singer
A restraining order against Sam Lutfi says he ground up drugs to put in her food and disabled her phones and vehicles.
Britney Spears' companion Sam Lutfi exerted almost total control over the singer, cutting her phone lines, taking away her cellphone chargers, disabling her vehicles and grinding up pills to place in her food, Spears' mother alleged in a declaration seeking a restraining order against the sometime manager.
Lynne Spears said Lutfi told her, "You'd better learn that I control everything. . . . If you try to get rid of me, she'll be dead and I'll piss on her grave."
The recently approved restraining order, released by the court today, bars Lutfi from coming within 250 yards of Spears and is the latest bit of drama in the decline of the pop star, who is at UCLA Medical Center on a two-week psychiatric hold. Her father and an attorney have been granted temporary conservatorship over her.
Lutfi, 33, could not be reached for comment. Lutfi's first name was listed on the restraining order as Osama. According to Los Angeles County Superior Court records, a previous restraining order was issued against him under that name in 2004.
Lynne Spears, in her lengthy declaration, alleged that Lutfi "essentially moved into Britney's home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances."
"He yells at her. He claims to control everything -- Britney's business manager, her attorneys and the security guards at the gate," the filing alleges.
In the document, Lynne Spears described the night of Jan. 28, when she and a friend attempted a psychiatric intervention on her daughter.
Britney wasn't home, even though Lutfi had disabled her vehicles, her mother said. Lutfi had arranged for a paparazzo to take the singer away to prevent the intervention, Lynne Spears said.
"The paparazzi reported to Sam and addressed him with great respect. They treated him like a general," she wrote in her declaration.
While the women waited for Britney to return, Lutfi told them that he ground up the pop singer's sleeping pills and anti-psychotic medication and put them in her food and that's why she had been quiet for three days, Lynne Spears said in the document. Lutfi, she said, also told her that Spears' physician "is now trying to get her into a sleep-induced coma so they could give her drugs to heal her brain."
When the singer returned home, her mother alleges, she "became very agitated and could not stop moving. . . . Britney spoke to me in a tone and a level of understanding of a very young girl." The singer cleaned the house, changed her dogs' clothing three times and repeatedly asked to see "her babies." Lutfi told her to take her pills if she wanted to see her two young sons, Lynne Spears said.
Later that evening, the three women went to a drugstore to buy lipstick. When they left, Lutfi insisted they leave through the front door, Lynne Spears said, then put his arms around Lynne and Britney so the paparazzi could take pictures.
richard.winton@latimes.com
