BRITNEY SPEARS - LUTFI HIRES PUBLICIST FOR IMAGE TURNAROUND

LUTFI HIRES PUBLICIST FOR IMAGE TURNAROUND

BRITNEY SPEARS' estranged manager SAM LUTFI has hired PR guru MICHAEL SANDS - just days after he quit as spokesman for the lawyer of the Toxic star's ex-husband KEVIN FEDERLINE. Lutfi hired the publicist in a desperate bid to rehabilitate his image as the troubled singer's "saviour" - with Sands telling reporters at a press conference last week (07Feb08) the controversial figure is on a mission to "rescue Britney Spears". Sands tells MTV News, "We want to get her back onstage and doing the right thing. So I'm working with Sam to reinvent her image." As the publicist for Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan, Sands previously worked to damage Lutfi's reputation - but agreed to become his rep after doing his own "research" and concluding "he's squeaky-clean". Sands resigned as spokesperson for Kaplan last week (ends08Feb08) fearing the attorney had overstepped his bounds in Spears' ongoing custody battle with Federline - and felt he could no longer be part of his team.