Spears’ Friend Has To Stay Away

AP
Published: March 16, 2008

  LOS ANGELES (AP) - Britney Spears’ friend Sam Lutfi has agreed
to stay away from her for at least another month, delaying a
hearing that could have made a restraining order against him
permanent, The Associated Press learned Sunday.
    Lutfi and conservators for Spears’ estate agreed to have the
restraining order extended for 30 days, said a person close to the
pop star who spoke on condition of anonymity because the extension
had not yet been formally approved.
    A judge was expected to approve it Monday.
    Lutfi did not immediately return a phone message Sunday seeking
comment. Phone messages and e-mails to lawyers for Spears and her
estate co-conservators, which include her father, also were not
immediately returned.
    A Superior Court commissioner last month ordered Lutfi to stay
250 yards from Spears and her home.
    Spears’ mother, Lynne, requested the order based on allegations
that Lufti - Spears’ frequent companion and sometime manager - had
held the singer hostage in her own home, drugged her and taken over
her finances.
    Spears’ father, James, was named one of two co-conservators of
her estate after the singer was hospitalized twice in January. The
conservatorship has been extended until July 31.
    Conservatorships are granted for people deemed unable to take
care of themselves or their affairs.
    Before her hospitalization, Spears had shown increasingly
erratic behavior. She shaved her head, was seen in public without
underwear, ran over a celebrity photographer’s foot and attacked a
vehicle with an umbrella.
    Spears has since had very limited contact with her toddler sons
who are under the sole physical and legal custody of her
ex-husband, Kevin Federline.