Spears Pal Sam Lutfi Agrees To Stay Away

LOS ANGELES, March 16, 2008

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(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.

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