• Home
• /
• Entertainment

Celebrity publicist sought in Mel Gibson case

LOS ANGELES - Investigators in the Mel Gibson domestic-violence probe want to question a celebrity publicist who briefly represented Oksana Grigorieva.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that authorities are interested in learning from Howard Bragman where Grigorieva got the funds to pay him and whether those funds might have come from the sale of the secret audio recordings she made of telephone conversations with Gibson.

They also want to know if Grigorieva told Bragman anything about Gibson’s alleged abuse of her or their baby.

Bragman declined comment on the matter as did Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Gibson’s spokesperson also had no comment. (TMZ.com reported on July 30 that Bragman dropped Grigorieva before he had officially signed on.)

Bragman is known for managing the coming-out of such gay stars as Chely Wright, Meredith Baxter and Chaz Bono.

The sheriff’s department has confirmed that it is investigating Grigorieva’s abuse allegations and whether she used the audio recordings to extort money from Gibson. Days after a judge ordered the recordings sealed, they turned up on RadarOnline.com.

The authorities are looking into whether Grigorieva’s sister sold the audio recordings to RadarOnline. If there is evidence that Grigorieva was involved in the sale of the audio recordings or any other sealed evidence in the dispute, she could be found to be in violation of a court order.