Debra Opri Bills Birkhead King's Ransom

Posted Apr 1st 2007 3:10AM by TMZ Staff

Debra Opri, Larry Birkhead TMZ has learned Larry Birkhead got a Fed Ex on Saturday, and it was not good news. It was a bill for legal services from Debri Opri, the lawyer he fired two weeks ago. The total: $620,492.84.

Opri billed her services out at $475 an hour. Here are some of the charges:

- A total of three $1,500 monthly charges for Luck Media & Marketing, Opri's personal publicist.

- On March 1, 2007, the day before Anna's funeral, there is a charge of 10 hours for "preparation for and attendance in Bahamas re services and var. meetings re same." On the day of Anna's funeral, there is another 10 hour charge with the exact same language. Ironically, TMZ knows Birkhead asked Opri not to even attend the funeral, but she did anyway. On March 3, Opri charged yet another 10 hours for travel from Nassau back to L.A.

- On February 24, 2007, while Opri and Birkhead stayed at a private residence in Ft. Lauderdale during the Florida hearing, Opri billed $600 for Seafood World. We're told she brought four trays of lobster to the house. The bill says, "Dinner gift/Ft. Lauderdale house stay." But it was no gift to Larry. That same day, she billed $211 for items at Publix grocery store.

- March 8, 2007, Opri billed $161.65 for an Outback Steakhouse dinner. And get this -- the bill was for $111.65. Opri left a $50 tip and billed Birkhead, who wasn't even there!

- Opri billed Birkhead $4,265 for Cingular roaming service while she was in the Bahamas.

- Opri billed Birkhead 18 times for Diva Limos that took them to and from the Ft. Lauderdale courthouse to the private residence.

- October 22, 2006, Opri billed Birkhead $1,116.16 for a dinner at Graycliff, a restaurant in Nassau. The note next to the charge is "Alexiou atty mtg." Alexiou is Birkhead's lawyer in the Bahamas. Birkhead was not present.

- The next day, October 23, Opri billed $2,467.75 at Graycliff restaurant for another meal. The charge again was for "Alexiou atty mtg." Again, Birkhead was not present.

- Also on October 23, Birkhead was billed $25.75. The item -- "laundry service Zawacki." Zawacki is Opri's husband, who was present on the trip. Ouch!

- Opri's bill reveals that "20/20" is more than a TV show -- it's the number of hours she bills for a "20/20" interview with Larry Birkhead. Opri and Birkhead went from L.A. to New York City on December 9, 2006, did the interview and returned the next day. Opri billed 10 hours travel time each way.

In all, the packet of bills Birkhead received today totaled 112 pages. Opri offered Birkhead a bargain: Instead of the $620,492.84 bill, she offered him a discount at $511,365.09, but only if he accepts immediately. Opri wrote, "I'm still willing to accept the discounted billing at this time, but only without further discussion."

TMZ contacted James Levesque, Opri's publicist with Luck Media & Marketing. He said, "Debra Opri always gets paid. That's what she does for a living." Beyond that, he wouldn't comment on the bill. Opri could not be immediately reached for comment.

UPDATE: TMZ has just obtained a statement from David Owen, Opri's lawyer. He said, "We're pretty confident that her bills are fair and reasonable and he has not paid them. She is entitled to be paid and he stiffed her and her bills are fair and reasonable."

Filed under: Anna Nicole Smith

Comments [2873]

Digg it Del.icio.us My Yahoo Sphere RSS MySpace Permalink Email

Reader Comments

(Page 2 of 192)Previous 15 Comments | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

16. This is shocking!!! No wonder lawyers get a bad name.The charges are absolutely usurious! She is in it for the publicity and she got it...why does she need to be paid for it? Good luck getting paid Too bad she won't be able to get blood out of a turnip!

Posted at 9:56PM on Mar 31st 2007 by dalgal

17. excuse me~~~Do you also think it's ok for a child not to know her paternity? How do you excuse that????

Posted at 9:57PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Dink

18. She should just accept the publicity as payment... she will gain more clients from this..Johnny Cochran anyone?

Posted at 9:57PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Ms. Allison to you

19. I doubt he planned on paying for her husband's CLEANING!! Get real for Pete sake

Posted at 9:58PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Dink

20. While it may be true that Howard Stern did not cause the death of Anna Nicole Smith, at the same time, he did nothing to stop it. This woman was in obvious need of medical assistance. The combination of flu, high fever, a fall in the shower and her combined use of various medications should have sent that red flag up to those closest to her. Why would the man who “loved her so much” leave a desperately ill woman in order to finalize the details of a boat purchase? Let’s pretend that she took no drugs. With the symptoms of her flu, high temperature and the shower fall alone, would that not facilitate a reason to have someone at least stand watch over her, which someone was paid by Anna Nicole to do, I should add, if you really loved that person? A reasonable person would say yes.

My opinion is that if it looks like a rat, smells like a rat, and walks like a rat then guess what? It ain’t a dog! This whole case is reeking of the “there’s more to this story” than what is known. For example. What really happened to Daniel? Why would a son, who obviously loved his mother deeply, overdose in her hospital room on one of the happiest days of her life?

I don’t believe that Howard and Anna ran to the Bahamas, but rather they ran away from the U.S. For what reason? I believe because of their lax laws on paternity. Howard is a lawyer, afterall. He knows that in the U.S., his right to Dannilyn would have been easily questioned and measures would have quickly been in place to challenge his rights to her. I also believe that her so called "guard" and his wife were part of a conspiracy - what other explaination would there be to wait a full 30 minutes to call an ambulance. I think it was to make sure she was dead.

Posted at 9:59PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Joanne

21. Yes I agree! Let's find a way to help Larry. ET you stay away with your dirty money!

Posted at 10:00PM on Mar 31st 2007 by CAW

22. A slime for wanting to know if Dannielynn is his child? Maybe Stern is the slime for not allwoing this child HER right to know her biology....unbelievable comment!

Posted at 10:00PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Dink

23. Wow! Good representation sure is expensive!

Posted at 10:00PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Jim

24. That why the call them ambulance chasers, hell he's lucky she didn't bill him for time she was in the restroom!!!

Posted at 10:01PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Lenn K

25. Deb, cut Larry some slack.... These bills are outrageous! How you take advantage
of this man. Opri you are not looking to good right now.
Larry B, really has gotten screwed during the entire process. LARRY WE NEED TO
SET YOU UP a fund!

Posted at 10:01PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Teresa

26. If someone can talk him into hiring her back, I'll help out!

Posted at 10:01PM on Mar 31st 2007 by G Ben Thompson

27.
Opri's a disgusting greedy pig. Since when did lawyers have publicists? Everybody wants to be famous these days.

Posted at 10:01PM on Mar 31st 2007 by tricia

28. BILLING FOR THE FUNERAL. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND LADY!!!11

Posted at 10:01PM on Mar 31st 2007 by butterfly

29. Attorneys are expensive. If I ever get my ass in a crack-- well-- LOL

I do not have that kind of money to pay out.

Posted at 10:01PM on Mar 31st 2007 by Kennedy

30. AUTOPSY: DANIEL'S TISSUES NOT TESTED FOR CHLORAL HYDRATE
Editorial
© 2007 The Houston Chronicle
Mar 31 2007

Dr. Joshua Perper, the chief medical examiner in Broward County in Florida, said he would have never sent Anna's tissues out for testing for Chloral Hydrate because the drug is such an antiquated sleeping aid. As a matter of course, he said, coroners just don't check for it anymore. The only reason he tested for it is that a bottle of the drug was found on the scene of the death.

Prior to the testing for Chloral Hydrate and subsequent discovery of the drug in Anna's tissues, Dr. Perper was prepared to label Anna's Cause of Death as "Natural," brought about by the "natural process of disease," such disease being infection of the blood with intestinal flu as a contributing factor.

However, once the test for Chloral Hydrate confirmed the drug was in Anna's tissues, Dr. Perper had a new piece of the puzzle and, accordingly, changed the cause of death from "Natural" to "Accidental."

Dr. Eroshevich, Anna Nicole's friend and psychiatrist, wrote the prescription for Chloral Hydrate in Howard K. Stern's name, but the drug was intended for Anna Nicole Smith. The therapeutic dosage was written as 2 tablespoons at bedtime.

Toxicology tests revealed Anna had 300% the amount of the therapeutic dosage (or 6 tablespoons) in her system at time of death.

If the bottle of Chloral Hydrate had never been found, the test for the sleeping aid never would have been conducted, thereby leaving Anna's Cause of Death as "Natural."

Last September, a Bahamian coroner conducted an autopsy on Daniel's remains. Because the sudden death of a 20-year-old is automatically labeled as "suspicious," the coroner related as much in a statement to the press and that she, acting as Magistrate, would be holding an Inquest into Daniel's death in October.

In the Bahamas, the coroner is also a Magistrate. It is the Magistrate's duty to preside over all Inquest hearings. She slated the Inquest for October.

Anna's attorney, upon hearing the Bahamian coroner's assertion that Daniel's death was "suspicious," lambasted the coroner's statement, claiming that, because the Bahamian coroner was not an investigator, she had acted beyond her scope as coroner and had no business releasing such an inflammatory statement.

The chief magistrate removed the coroner from Daniel's case. It would now be up to the chief magistrate as to whether an Inquest would be held at all. He also saw to it that the coroner's autopsy findings remained sealed.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, known in some circles as "coroner for hire" and "coroner to the stars," was hired by Anna Nicole to conduct an independent autopsy on her son. His findings revealed that Daniel died from a lethal combination of three drugs found in his system: Lexipro, Zoloft (both anti-depressants) and methadone (a pain killer). Wecht reported that the concentration of all three drugs was at low levels.

Perhaps due to the tremendous media focus and public outcry in the Bahamas, the chief magistrate decided to go forward with an Inquest into Daniel's death. Moreover, the chief magistrate said he would preside over the Inquest himself. The Inquest was to begin last week.

The autopsy results from Daniel's original autopsy have yet to be made public. However, rumors have surfaced alleging that the amount of methadone that Dr. Wecht reported in Daniel's system was profoundly under reported. Dr. Wecht vehemently denies the rumors, calling them "utterly ridiculous" and the result of "media speculation spun out of control."

Additionally, Dr. Wecht's findings failed to note the presence of several other drugs that were supposedly noted in the original autopsy report. The contents of the original report are rumored to be revealed at Daniel's Inquest

When Dr. Wecht was asked on a recent talk show what he thought about Vergie Arthur's wish to have Daniel's remains exhumed for further study, Dr. Wecht lost his cool. Ms. Arthur, Anna Nicole's mother, has suggested that a better explanation for her grandson's death would shed a new light on the investigation.

Dr. Wecht's position as an independent medical examiner would ordinarily afford him the inherent reputation of a disinterested party. However, his overt verbal attacks of Ms. Arthur on television appear to undermine that reputation. Rather than displaying the impartiality of a doctor, he has managed to paint himself as a man who is deeply and personally involved in the case and incapable of divorcing his emotional state of being from that of an academician embedded in scientific fact.

Apart from the facts that Dr. Wecht has dozens of indictments hovering over his head and was forced to leave his state job under the cloud of ethics violations, media outlets continue to hire him to offer his expert opinions. As if Dr. Wecht's scholarly reputation could possibly undergo further damage, his outbursts and apparent collusory ties to those that hired him appear to have ruined any chance he might have had of portraying himself as a credible consultant.

Consequently, the reliability Dr. Wecht's results from Daniel's autopsy report has been cast under a new and doubtful cloud. Renewed interest into whether a possible cover-up has occurred may prompt the exhumation of Daniel's remains to determine if, indeed, Dr. Wecht's findings are accurate and complete.

Anna Nicole's remains would not have yielded the chloral hydrate in her system if the bottle had not been found on the scene of her death. Dr. Wecht did not test Daniel's tissue for the presence of chloral hydrate. Dr. Wecht tested for and discovered traces of the drugs that were found in the hospital room where he died.