Sam Lutfi played a key role in engineering the ruse that landed Amanda Bynes in treatment, but is his continued involvement in her saga cause for concern?
As previously reported, Amanda Bynes was placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold at a Pasadena mental hospital last week after flying back to Los Angeles from N.Y.
Her friend Sam Lutfi, who was once Britney Spears’ manager and bizarrely linked to that star at the time of her 5150 hold, was instrumental in getting her there.
Not surprisingly, Bynes is far from pleased about all of this.
Already deeply distrustful of her family and friends, she’s incredibly pissed at her parents and the ruse that landed her in a mental institution against her will.
Yet Lutfi, who convinced her she was meeting with an attorney to sue her parents, is reportedly still close to Bynes’ parents and is even giving them advice.
“Amanda is disgusted with Sam and has been openly telling anyone who will listen that she hates him for inserting himself into her family,” a source says.
“Even though Amanda is suffering from serious mental health issues, she is lucid enough to know that Sam is someone she wants nothing to do with.”
“The more troubling development is that Amanda’s parents have become enthralled with him. In particular, her dad Rick thinks Sam is a great guy.”
“Sam is even giving Rick legal advice! What law school did he go to?!”
We don’t know about this story, most notably because how would Amanda’s inner thoughts be known by Radar when she’s being monitored by a team of doctors?
Also, she trusted Lutfi a lot as recently as last week.
According to the allegd insider, reports that Amanda “hates” her parents “are clearly exaggerated,” however. “Is Amanda angry at her parents? Of course.”
However, “she was the last time when she was placed on a involuntary psychiatric hold” and once she stabilizes, the source adds, things “will reset for the better.”
“Stories focusing on Amanda’s feelings towards her parents are clearly being planted by people in Sam Lutfi’s camp,” the source added, for reasons unknown.
“Remember, this is someone who has absolutely no professional experience managing or dealing with celebrities [beyond] being Britney Spears’ errand boy.”
We remember.
The sleuth notes that at the mental facility Friday, Lutfi had his lawyers present, despite the fact the Bynes family attorney was already there with her parents.
“It was shocking that Sam had the nerve to send his own attorneys … what was Sam’s motivation? His attorneys have no knowledge of Amanda’s case and history.”
“All it did was create a more chaotic environment. The problem is that Amanda’s dad, Rick, thinks that Sam has some credibility, despite his track record.”
“Rick believes that Sam is trying to redeem himself after all of the Britney drama,” although it sounds like fortunately, “Lynn is definitely more skeptical of Sam.”
