Tulisa Contostavlos is reportedly planning to sue The Sun’s Mazher Mahmood after her drugs trial collapsed last month.
The singer (pictured, Reuters) was accused of boasting that she could "sort out" cocaine for Mahmood, an undercover reporter dubbed the Fake Sheikh, and put him in touch with her rapper friend Mike GLC, who supplied the Class A drug.
Mahmood posed as a wealthy film producer called Samir Khan when he met her at a string of luxury hotels and restaurants, jurors at London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
Contostavlos vehemently denied brokering the deal, which was exposed in The Sun on Sunday last June.
Judge Alistair McCreath told the jury that the case "cannot go any further" because there were "strong grounds to believe" that Mahmood had "lied" at a hearing before the trial started.
Following the trial collapse, Mahmood was suspended by The Sun.
And yesterday the Sunday People reported that Contostavlos is set to sue Mahmood in both the UK and the United States.
The newspapers quotes "a source close to the star" as saying: “She is furious and distressed that she was accused of fixing a cocaine deal.
“She was unable to work for a year and her career and reputation were in the gutter. Because Tulisa was flown to Las Vegas for talks on the movie she was promised a role in, she is able to make the claim in the States and in the UK. What she had to go through was dreadful. She was absolutely broken.
“She lost her reputation and money so she wants to be compensated.
“Gradually Tulisa is piecing her life back together. As much as she wants the financial compensation she also wants the world to know she was set up.”
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