Sam Lutfi, the shady man who is legally required to stay away from Britney Spears, is now counterattacking, with the help of ... Michael Sands.

This may not seem significant to those of you who don't follow the Britney Spears saga for a living, but Michael Sands is the former media consultant for none other than Kevin Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan.

He was recently subpoenaed - by Britney's own legal team at Trope and Trope - in the battle over the troubled star's legal representation.

Sands, who knows a thing or two about crisis management, has been brought on board by Sam Lutfi to, "set the record straight" about who he is.

Sam Lutfi (right, with Britney Spears) has hired PR guru Michael Sands.

Sands cryptically told TMZ, who broke this story, that "I'm honored to work with a patriot like Sam Lutfi." We're not even gonna go there.

The irony? While Sands worked for Mark Vincent Kaplan, his mission was partly to dig up the dirt on Britney Spears' friend and former manager!

Sam Lutfi did say regarding that subject, "Michael did his research and found the truth." It's hard to see how a spin doctor helps Osama, though.

Think about it. This is a man so mysterious and seedy as to make Adnan Ghalib, Britney's paparazzi boyfriend, appear relatively normal!