Britney Spears in secret cell phone plot with Sam Lutfi to escape father’s control?

As we reported a few days ago, those in orbit around Planet Britney are turning her life into a second-rate spy novel. And the plot, like the intrigue, just keeps getting thicker.

Christina Lutfi, sister of Britney’s former manager, Sam, told a Los Angeles court yesterday that she secretly gave the star a cellphone to allow her to talk to Sam, according to sources at People.

Spears, 27, has been given strict rules about using a phone by her Father, but asked Christina to get her the phone so she and Sam could work out a way to loosen her Father’s control. “Britney told me she wanted to get hold of Sam,” Christina, 25, told the court. “She wanted him to help find a Lawyer, but she was scared because her father was blackmailing her over visitation rights with her kids.”

The two arranged to meet at the Peninsula Hotel on January 18, where Christina gave Britney the taboo telecom, which the singer then hid in a locker. But it was later found by her security team and removed, so Spears never got to call Sam at all.

In earlier testimony, Blair Berk, a lawyer for Britney’s father, Jamie, said his client’s daughter was so frightened of Sam, she wanted to get him arrested. Mr. Berk also said a bootleg recording of a call in which Ms. Spears is allegedly asking a Lawyer to end her father’s control could be dismissed as a fake, as the singer has repeatedly denied doing any such thing.

Over a year ago, a probate court made a ruling that Britney ‘lacks the capacity’ to hire legal counsel herself. The purpose of these L.A. proceedings is to decide whether a restraining order now against Mr. Lutfi, 34, should be extended. The main argument in favor is her father’s assertion that Mr. Lutfi is trying to end Pappa Spear’s control over Britney’s life. This is strongly denied by Mr Lutfi’s attorney, “Sam’s only crime was trying to help out a friend,” Bryan Freedman told reporters. “When someone asks for your help, that person is obviously not scared of you or in need of a restraining order.”

Britney’s father and his Attorney were given indefinite legal control over her life by a court in 2008, after two emergency hospitalizations. This control can only be broken when and if she can prove – backed by Doctors’ opinions — that she can manage her life by herself. Closing arguments in the Sam Lutfi case are scheduled for April 21, until which time Mr. Lutfi is forbidden to make any contact.

The case, like the intrigue is not over yet. Check in with us daily and we’ll keep you informed.