It appears paparazzi agency X17 and its ethically questionable founders Brandy and François Navarre – who don't care much when their photographers nearly kill people – are reaching some sort of settlement agreement with Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, who launched a $40 million suit libel against the pap company in December after X17 claimed Parker cheated on Longoria with French model Alexandra Paressant.

This nondescript apology – originally riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes, even referring to themselves as "X7," but since corrected – was buried on X17Online.com:

In December 2007, X17online.com published over ten articles concerning Tony Parker and a woman named Alexandra Paressant. Various of the articles asserted that, after Mr. Parker was introduced to Ms. Paressant by Thierry Henry at this wedding to Eva Longoria, Mr. Parker engaged in sexual relations with Ms. Paressant. Since the publication of these articles, X17online.com and X17, Inc. have discovered that Mr. Parker has never met with, or spoken to, Ms. Paressant nor has he ever had sexual relations with her. X17online.com and X17, Inc. regret having been misled by Ms. Paressant and her representatives and apologize to Mr. Parker for any damage or inconvenience this may have caused him or his wife.

Even more interesting: It's paparazzi photo purchaser TMZ.com who took a turn dumping on the agency over the weekend.

In the fallout from X17's irresponsibility, the ones piling it on the most are their own commenters, who are leaving notes like, "Guys, guys. Don't be so hard on x-17. It's gotta be hard to see all the facts when you're stuck up Britney's ass 24 hours a day," "ROFLMFAO!!!!!! YOU BEEN SLAPPED DOWN ASS HOLES. I HOPE BRITS DAD AND MOM GET YOUR ASSES TOO FUCKERS," and one particular doozy.

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Yesterday's New York University panel about celebrity gossip and its players, sponsored by The Atlantic magazine and aptly titled "The Britney Show," brought together heavyweights like Page Six's Richard Johnson, Star's Bonnie Fuller, and X17's Brandy and François Navarre, who were kind enough to leave their six million dollar Pacific Palisades home to hang in the city.

Johnson shot himself in the foot when he called celebrity blogs "parasites," accusing them of not "generat[ing] their own news stories," which is amusing since Page Six wouldn't get through the day without lifting items from many of these bottom-feeding blogs, and the brand's own effort at competing with them failed after just three months.

And the always quotable Brandy Navarre, who is building a cache of Miley Cyrus photos in the hopes she becomes the next trainwreck poptart, admits her agency is "trying to get the shots before they go into rehab."

And that's when her God complex shines through: "Mr. Navarre suggested that a pack of paparazzi may have been able to prevent John Lennon's murder in 1980; Ms. Navarre said photos of partying starlets have sometimes spurred their families to get professional help," reports AdAge.

And the little matter of X17's own photogs allegedly brutally assaulting individuals to within an inch of their life? Well, so long as they're not celebrities, preventing their murders isn't really the Navarres' concern.

The sordid tale of paparazzi agency X17 continues this week with a lawsuit filed against it by photographer Alison Silva (the man pictured), who claims that on March 5, three X17 operatives beat the crap out of him after he managed to take the lead in chasing Britney Spears.

Silva is suing for unspecified damages on a whole list of charges, including battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotion distress, negligence, negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention of unfit employees. (See the court documents here; PDF.)

The photo evidence, his attorney says, speaks for itself.

The allegations, which surfaced on HollywoodBubble.com, detail the story: "Silva was severely beaten by three X17 paparazzi following a Britney Spears chase because he had the top spot behind her vehicle. Once the confrontation happened, we hear three paparazzi knocked him out and continued to kick him while on the ground, pressing his head against the asphalt, breaking his nose and causing head injuries. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. A police investigation is currently underway."

"Three witnesses called 911, and Silva was taken by ambulance to the emergency room with a police escort, according to the police report," says MTV. "One of the witnesses told police officers that he heard one of the attackers say, 'Let's go f— him up, there are 10 of us here,' saw one of the attackers go get a metal tube from his car for that purpose, and heard another attacker say, 'Don't kill him! Don't kill him!', according to the report."

Not that X17 owners Brandy (pictured) and François Navarre are too concerned over Silva's well-being, or their own culpability in the assault. Since X17's photographers are all freelancers, or independent contractors, the millionaire paparazzi twosome behind the agency believe themselves to be completely off the hook. They initially refused to comment to MTV on the matter, and then, when prompted about the police investigation, Brandy said, "I don't think the suit against us will hold up." Added François: "They give me their pictures but whatever they do on their own is their own business." (The Navarres and their attorney John Tehranian have not responded to request for comment.)

And "their own business" could include knowingly breaking the law. In an interview with The Atlantic that the Navarres also participated in, one of X17's paparazzi insisted, "To be a pap, you have to be ready to do anything, legal or illegal."

Indeed. The three men accused are said to be turning themselves into police custody today.

Brandy and François Navarre would make a lovely Hollywood "It" couple, if only they weren't the ones behind paparazzi agency X17, trafficking celebrity schlop to the highest bidder. Brandy, aka "Kelly", and François, aka "Regis" (they use pseudonyms because they once had dreams of doing something legitimate with their lives) are the subjects of the much ballyhooed issue of The Atlantic that has Britney Spears on the cover.

With their five million dollar Pacific Palisades home (they're neighbors with Adam Sandler, who they also tail), Porche Cayenne, and $80,000 from a single photo sale, it's clear who's profiting from Ms. Spears' troubles. Admitting to working with Sam Lufti to target Britney Spears, or Michael Lohan to go after Lindsay, at least one rival made the argument to us that this twosome is responsible for tearing more families apart than Dr. Phil is responsible for bringing together.

Even the staffers working for X17's website recognize how crude their employers are; they refuse to post items under their real names, fearing they'll never get another job in the future. And favorite-playing Brandy shamelessly admits to outright lying about the celebrities she covers: "We’ll put up a picture that’s so obviously negative and we just write something so completely ignorant of the focus of the picture and let the commenters online take care of it." Husband François is just as pleased with his misdeeds: "I don’t want to say anything, but in a way, X17 put three stars into rehab, if not in jail, this year." How surprising is it, then, to learn they met at the funeral of Frank Sinatra? They weren't invited guests; they were staking it out.

And don't even start on the photographers, who willingly admit to being prepared to break the law. One paparazzo, Felix, says, "To be a pap, you have to be ready to do anything, legal or illegal." That's quite the business model.

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In 2005, the New York Times ran a front page story on Britney Spears. Prior and since then, Ms. Spears has appeared on hundreds, if not thousands, of tabloid magazine covers. And now, The Atlantic.

The high brow rag's cover story "The Britney Show" is getting plenty of flack – we're guessing most of it's from people who don't even read the magazine, but actual readers are apt to be pissed, too – for lowering its standards to include the decade's biggest celebrity trainwreck in its reportage.

Until this incident, it appeared owner David Bradley was New Yorker-ifying his magazine. Hiring The Week's Justin Smith to head things up, he put more focus on ad sales to boost the bottom line, ramped up its functionally terrible online presence by removing the pay wall (The New Yorker now posts most of its content on its website after posting almost zero), and learned about the fat margins of slapping its name on events like the Aspen Ideas Festival (The New Yorker Festival, anyone?). The only thing it had left to do was serialize its entire back catalogue on CD-ROM.

So why the about face? Though Smith would deny it has anything to do with a five-year plan to turn the magazine around into profitable territory, circulation and newsstand sales are down. And you know what can be a newsstand boon? A Britney Spears cover. (But not a Christina Aguilera one.)

To be sure, we're not looking at an Us Weekly Britney Spears cover story here; rather, The Atlantic's article goes inside The Britney Economy. Who are all those hangers-on? What's the role of the paparazzi? Is she going broke? are the questions we imagine they're trying to answer.

So if The Atlantic isn't a new People magazine, perhaps it's taking a page from the celebrity-meets-finance website MainStreet.com: Take elements of pop culture and use them as a newspeg for launching into your standard editorial voice.

And if we follow this strategy, the next issue will have a cover story on Emperor’s Club, Eliot Spitzer's agency of choice, and how its shuttering, along with all the unusable free publicity from cable news tlaking heads, will affect the global call girl economy. We'd read it.

In photographing and videotaping Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen while they walked the streets of Paris, paparazzi agency X17 may have broken French and international law.

The French have much stricter privacy laws protecting non-public officials than America does, keeping even the most famous of celebrities out of public eye, since individuals must give their permission to be hounded by photogs. (After the death of Princess Diana in 1997 in Paris, a campaign was launched to further tighten regulations for civilians.)

But that didn't keep the agency helmed by Francois and Brandy Navarre from harassing the Olsen twins on the street and while they dined inside Cafe de Flore.

Possibly, X17 could claim they only photographed the Olsens inside France's borders, but did not sell photos there. And that strategy might work — if those photos only circulate inside the U.S., where privacy laws are nil.

But if those photos are sold inside any part of Europe, X17 may face trouble.

In 2004, Princess Caroline of Monaco successfully sued photographers for snapping her in France and then selling the pictures to German magazines. The defense that "we didn't sell them in France" didn't hold weight before the European Court of Human Rights, as Caroline claimed a violation under Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention, which protects one's right to private and family life. Even Britain, which has looser laws than France (which goes so far as to ban photographs of crime suspects in handcuffs, because it could sway public opinion against someone presumed innocent) but stricter than the U.S., must now take the ruling "into account" when making its own right to privacy rulings. In Italy, prison terms are being threatened against invasive photogs.

The regulations in France are so tight, the tabloid magazines there are essentially forced to focus on foreign celebrities, including Americans, because they cannot secure legal photos of their own stars. But when those Americans, like Mary-Kate and Ashley, step into France's borders, they're afforded the same protections as citizens. And foreign photographers who follow them, like X17, are afforded the same legal liabilities for hounding them.

Here's a lecture series we're sad to be missing. Loyola Law School Entertainment & Sports Law Society is hosting a symposium titled ""The Paparazzi, Celebrity Bloggers…and the Lawyers Who Represent Them." On the panel: Warner Bros. Entertainment SVP and general counsel Jeremy Williams (read: TMZ's attorney), Perez Hilton legal counsel Michael Amir, and John Tehranian (the fellow pictured here), a Loyola visiting professor and the attorney to Perez foe X17 (who we've had our own share of dealings with).

Now go get schooled by a group of men who will all cite case law to tell you why they're important.

Brandy Navarre, the dealer of paparazzi pics, chats with Radar about how her agency X17 doesn't just stalk Britney Spears, but acts as her best friend: "Sure, you do start to feel for her. It may sound ridiculous, but I think of her almost like a friend. In a way, we're her only friends at this point. Which is kind of sad. The photographers are worried about her. When they have the video camera on her, they're always very friendly to her. They always say nice things and compliment her. They say nice things because they feel for her and they want to boost her morale." This is the same person who denies she has a financial deal with Britney, hires less-than-professional photographers, and whose lensmen have such questionable driving capabilities other agencies claim they've been driven off the road.

But are there some lines she won't cross? Maybe! There are some photos she absolutely refuses to publish.

CONTINUED »

Forget morality, paparazzi are dropping out of the Britney Scene because it’s become too dangerous. “Real” photographers are leaving the Britney trail because “real” gang members realize that you don’t need a Masters in Fine Arts to violate the privacy of a former teen idol.

Noted class act agency X17 denies the charge, saying their photographers just look like gang members, but are not actual gang members. Yeah, it would be so unlike X17 to violate whatever decency there is in the celeb-photo business.

PAPA-NAZIS It's cute watching Brandy Navarre's beleaguered photo agency X17 deny claims they pay Britney Spears for access. Maybe they'll be more forthright with their finances if the inquiry into their books that we've been hearing rumors about comes to fruition. [LAT]

You're waking up to rampant grabs for exclusive news that Angelina Jolie is once again pregnant … with twins! Star magazine's senior exec editor Martin Gould sent out a late-night email claiming its their exclusive and "PLEASE ENSURE YOU CREDIT STAR AND LINK TO THE STARMAGAZINE.COM" (o-kay!).

Photo agency Bauer Griffin is hyping its own website scoop: "Sources have told only Bauer Griffin Online that not only is the pregnancy rumor true, and it’s twins, but that Angelina was spotted at the OB GYN office of the doctor who helped Nicole Richie." That doctor is Dr. Jason Rothbart, whose fees just doubled.

Us Weekly seems to be falling behind, with only a Jan. 16 item that quotes George Clooney shooting down rumors of the pregnancy. Clearly he's a stupid moron!

Even the disreputable photo agency X17 is claiming an "X17 XCLUSIVE," with the balls to say that "other news outlets have been speculating that Angelina Jolie is once again with child, but an X17online inside source confirms that she's not only pregnant, she's expecting twins!" How xclusive!

Most surprising, however, is neither TMZ.com nor People have yet to post a story about it. It's as if they're waiting for a confirmation or something! And Bauer's Life & Style and In Touch, which last week published one of its regular Angelina "Pregnancy News" cover stories – which is suddenly more relevant than the "Britney Spears: 'I'm Not Crazy'" cover that hit newsstands Wednesday – is also absent from the conversation. And they live for Brangelina!

And if you think the new MySpace Celebrity has any updates for you, well, you're probably one of those people who never decamped MySpace for Facebook.

If you've been reading our Britney Spears coverage, then today's item in Page Six is of little surprise: Britney "calls the paparazzi before she goes out. We know 15 minutes before she leaves the house," Brazilian paparazzo Alison Silva says. "It's all staged."

Silva, of course, is most famous for getting run over by Keanu Reaves' black Porsche last year. (Silva ended up in the hospital. Reeves ended up handcuffed, investigated by the LAPD, and sued.)

But Britney's collusion with the paparazzi has long been talked about inside the industry, as well as on this blog. Not only did her relationship with Finalpixxx's Adnan Ghalib result in photos worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (which Spears likely saw none of), but she's also said to be paid by pap agency X17.

And, just taking a guess, but Britney's probably not the only one who's got photogs on speed dial.

The symbiotic relationship between Britney Spears and ethically challenged paparazzi agency X17 continues this week, with the pop fart inviting the agency's photogs into her home to TELL ALL about her relationship with Adnan Ghalib, the lensmen from rival agency Finalpixxx that padded his pocket with sales of photos snapped while the twosome dated.

Late Sunday night, Britney's manager Sam Lufti opened his client's doors to two photogs from X17, which is said to pay Spears under the table to secure exclusive access to her. Though no cameras were allowed, the late night champagne party chatted about how, after a month of dating and buying pregnancy tests together, the duo have ended their relationship … and celebrated with an alleged restraining order.

Though the LAPD says it has yet to receive any request to require Ghalib to keep his distance, Britney's camp insists they're taking the legal route to ensure he stays away.

And how might a restraining order help Britney's relationship … with X17? It potentially could keep competitor Finalpixxx away from their prized subject, since the agency's star paparazzo would be under court order to back off. Or at least use a telephoto lens.

[Photo]

Is Britney Spears' death wish really worth $120 million to the American economy? (Does a mortgage lender crap his pants?) That's what Portfolio claimed earlier this week, taking into account sales of her paparazzi photos, tabloid magazine revenue, perfume trafficking, endorsements, the spill-off that Kevin Federline is able to suck up in nightclub appearances, and that other career she has selling records and touring.

Photo agencies X17 and Splash News went on record to say Britney's pics account for 30 percent and 15 percent of their business, respectively.

Last year, says X17, they shoveled $2.5 million in Britney pics; $500k from those head-shaving shots alone. And while conversations we've had with competing agencies lend credibility to those figures for overall revenue, many are poking holes in claims from X17 that a single Britney shot can score upwards of $100,000.

"Nobody in the U.S. is really offering those prices," says one veteran paparazzi insider. "Britney covers don't sell as well as you think, and the [celebrity] weeklies know this, so they can't budget very large sums for these photos. Especially when they're splashed all over the blogs anyhow. They're pulling that number out of their ass."

It's also well rumored that X17 funds Britney's bank account (which continues to be juiced up with about $750k a month) in exchange for exclusive access, so it's in their best interest to boast about price tags.

Splash, meanwhile, said it made off with $200,000 from sales of Brit in a hot tub. But that's gross sales to all outlets, not to a single buyer.

Ben Bernanke isn't the only one who has to deal with inflation scares.

Supposed Tony Parker homewrecker Alexandra Paressant is a total fraud, as enterprising reporter Dana Kennedy discovers. The storytelling model claims that she bed Eva Longoria's husband after meeting at their wedding – which landed disgraced paparazzi agency X17 with a $20 million defamation lawsuit – are a total farce. As her core, Paressant is a pathological liar, and a poor one at that: When caught in a lie, she goes on the attack instead of just explaining it away and moving on, like a skilled cheat.