Jamie Lynn revealed that it was through her Zoey 101 co-star Paul Butcher‘s family that Lynne Spears initially met Sam Lutfi, Britney’s controversial ex-manager.
“He tried to lure Momma into some jewelry scheme, hawking stones on HSN,” she wrote. “From the moment I met him, I knew he was bad news. I told Momma, ‘He’s creepy and makes my skin crawl.’ I didn’t want him anywhere near us. She met with him a second time and rejected his proposal.”
Weeks later, Sam introduced himself as a friend of Lynne’s when he met Britney at a nightclub, with Jamie Lynn alleging, “Britney became Sam’s target, and he painstakingly dismantled her life. Slowly, Britney’s previous team members were disappearing, and Sam began to take charge of everything in my sister’s world. To me he seemed both pathological and manipulative.”
In a statement provided to E! News by his lawyer, Sam denied Jamie Lynn’s claim.
“Jamie Lynn is lying. I never met her or Lynne before I met Britney. Britney told me that she wanted her mother to be financially independent, because no matter how much assistance she gave her, it was never enough,” Sam said. “So, I found a company willing to make Lynne the face of a cool jewelry line to be sold on QVC. It was not a “scheme”—I was not financially involved in any way. I was only trying to help. Lynne enjoyed the entire process until she decided to back out of the deal after a couple of months.”
Jamie Lynn went on to say she was “uncomfortable” around Sam and tried to get him to leave Britney’s house on several occasions.
“I was very suspicious of the situation. I sensed that drugs were readily available at the house,” she claimed. “Although I never saw anything, my sister’s erratic behavior was enough to make me cautious.”
Noting Britney seemed “skittish” around the “intimidating” Sam, Jamie Lynn said he was removed from her life after the “Toxic” singer got “the help she needed… the conservatorship was enacted, and a restraining order was issued to protect Britney from Sam.” (A permanent restraining order against Sam was granted in June 2019.)
“I have very little doubt that Sam was primarily responsible for complicating my sister’s preexisting emotional trauma,” Jamie Lynn stated.
“The spotlights on my sister were blinding and obscured her ability to recognize the dangers all around her—dangers that still exist,” she added. “Sometimes I feel like Britney’s light was too bright, and I should have done more to protect her.”
In Netflix’s 2021 documentary Britney Vs Spears, Sam denied allegations that he had drugged Britney, claiming, “We have 100 drug tests and blood tests the entire time I was with her, and she passed every single one of them.” He also st
