TMZ has learned ... Rachel Uchitel has hired Daniel Horowitz and Marty Garbus -- the attorneys who represented Oksana Grigorieva in her epic custody battle against Mel Gibson -- to go after the New York Post over a story insinuating she was happy her fiance died during 9/11.

TMZ has obtained a demand letter Horowitz sent to the New York Post, which ran a teaser for an upcoming article about Rachel and her deceased fiance, James Andrew O'Grady, who died during the 9/11 attack.

The teaser includes alleged statements from Rachel -- "I believe Andy was meant to die because he was too good," adding, "It would have been tragic if we got into fights and then divorced ... I'm glad I didn't get to see any flaws that time brings on everyone.  I would otherwise be a fat housewife with three kids living in Sands Port, Long Island."

In his letter, Horowitz claims the story conveys "a disastrously false impression of my client," adding the story is "attacking, degrading and extraordinarily inaccurate." 

Rachel tells TMZ she feels she's the victim of a hit piece and the reporter went into it not liking her.

Horowitz also has words for the author:  "You created a work of miserable and demeaning fiction.  You should be ashamed of yourself."

Horowitz wants an apology to Rachel, and wants the "false words" withdrawn, although he is not specific as to how they would be withdrawn. The full story is supposed to come out tomorrow.

We called the New York Post yesterday, and a rep said "We stand by our story."

Oksana Grigorieva and her very first lawyer settled their legal dispute over fees, TMZ has learned.



Eric George, a prominent Beverly Hills attorney, scored a $15 million settlement last May for Oksana in her custody dispute with Mel Gibson. Oksana later disavowed the settlement, but George claimed he had sealed the deal and was entitled to his 10% fee.

George's firm and Oksana have been fighting it out in arbitration, but we've learned the case settled Thursday. George and Daniel Horowitz, Oksana's current lawyer, tell TMZ, George and Oksana "have in good faith resolved all matters between them and will proceed cooperatively in the future."

The financial terms of the settlement are under wraps.

What do you do after a grueling day of explaining to a judge that you're not courting the press? If you're Oksana Grigorieva, you go to paparazzi staple BOA, of course!


Oksana rolled over to the celebrity haven last night with attorney Dan Horowitz after part 4 of her ongoing deposition in the Mel Gibson custody battle -- where both were pretty chatty with our photog.

Oksana almost missed her depo due to the flu -- but nothing cures what ails ya like a big, fat juicy serving of ... spotlight!

Oksana Grigorieva's lawyers are entangled in a legal brawl with the lawyer who negotiated her $15 mil settlement with Mel Gibson ... trying to muzzle him from saying too much to the  L.A. County Sheriff's Department.



Daniel Horowitz, Oksana's current attorney, has told TMZ Oksana is an "open book" with "nothing to hide."  But TMZ has obtained a chain of emails between Horowitz and Eric George -- which is now in the hands of Sheriff's investigators -- in which Horowitz threatens George that he spills Oksana's secrets at his own peril.

What started all of this was a story TMZ posted about a declaration Oksana submitted to the court, in which she waived the attorney-client privilege.

On November 17, George -- whom we're told is eager to talk to Sheriff's investigators about his discussions with Oksana -- sent Horowitz an email in which he told Horowitz, "I will regard the attorney-client privilege ... to have been waived, and will endeavor to resume with the L.A. Sheriff's Department detectives those portions of my earlier interview for which I had been obliged to invoke the privilege."

Horowitz emailed back on November 20, "You do not have permission to waive or disclose any privileged matters." And then Horowitz threatened, "If you unilaterally waive privilege as you seem to intend to do, you must take full responsibility for those choices.  Nothing that we have said or done authorizes you to do this."

Click here... it's not over yet

Team Oksana Grigorieva lied to TMZ when they denied she had an intimate relationship with her convicted felon/former bodyguard ... at least according to several emails between the bodyguard and Oksana's lawyer.  But Oksana's lawyers say there's more to the story.


TMZ broke the story .... Kristian Herzog -- who has served time in jail for impersonating a cop -- claimed to have been in an intimate relationship with Oksana that began in May. Oksana's lawyer, Dan Horowitz, told TMZ last month -- with Oksana looking on -- Herzog's claim was "ridiculous".

But TMZ has obtained an email Herzog sent to Martin Garbus, another one of Oksana's lawyers, on November 6. The email reads: "Martin: Do you agree that Team Oksana at some point, needs to admit Oksana and Dan LIED to TMZ and you need to tell TMZ the truth that in fact Oksana and I were intimate?"

The next morning, Garbus responded with one word: "Yes."

Dan Horowitz explains the emails this way: "Marty's job was to placate Kris, because once he got cut out of Oksana's world completely, we assessed him to be a clear and present danger to her life. By stringing him along and making him feel important, we hoped that he would just fade away rather than explode and hurt somebody."

TMZ has also obtained photos (above) showing Oksana in a nightgown, sitting on a bed with Herzog at her home. But Horowitz tells us the pictures were taken during a PEOPLE magazine photo shoot and were in no way intimate.

The judge in the custody case issued a restraining order against Herzog last month, concluding he was a danger to Lucia and prohibiting him from going near her.

Oksana Grigorieva just lost her motion to keep the L.A. County Sheriff's Department away from the stuff in her computer ... in connection with the extortion investigation.


The judge told Oksana, "For me to begin to limit law enforcement functions in the investigation is premature at this time ...  therefore this motion is denied."

Oksana's team was visibly upset with the decision.

The Sheriff's Department wants full access to O.G.'s computer, to determine if there's evidence she tried to extort Mel Gibson.

The judge complimented Daniel Horowitz on his "tenacity" but the Sheriff's Department was the clear winner.

The Sheriff's Dept. told Judge Gordon it hasn't even begun looking at the material in the computer.  Investigators are trying to convert the material into a viewable format.

Oksana Grigorieva and her lawyer just lashed out at her former bodyguard, claiming he's a liar and claims that he had an intimate relationship with her are "ridiculous."


Oksana and attorney Daniel Horowitz spoke with TMZ at the downtown L.A. civil courthouse, where Horowitz called bodyguard Kristian Herzog "Half blackmailer, and half psychopath."

Oksana says, "He betrayed me," referring to our story that Herzog is writing a tell-all book, claiming he had an intimate relationship with her.

Horowitz says Herzog is a "complete liar," who got the job by lying and saying he was Jack Nicholson's bodyguard.

Oksana also said Herzog, a convicted felon who served jail time for gun-related charges, has "never been around Lucia" and she is obeying the court order to keep him away from the baby.

Oksana added, "I don't speak to him either. I don't communicate with him ... I follow the court orders."

How's this for an argument ... Mel Gibson was the opposite of an extortion victim during his mediation with Oksana Grigorieva.  Mel actually made money off the mediation ... according to legal docs filed by Oksana's lawyer and obtained by TMZ.



Oksana's lawyer, Daniel Horowitz, filed a declaration in the search warrant motion, stating, "Mel Gibson received a substantial financial benefit from the [mediation] agreement."

So how did Horowitz reach his conclusion?  He says the actual value of the mediation deal for Oksana was somewhere between $1.2 and $2 million -- not $15 million.

And, Horowitz says, Mel got a sweet financial deal by only giving Lucia $10 million under the mediation deal.  Horowitz says Lucia was actually entitled to 1/8 of Mel Gibson's trust -- money she would share with Mel's other 7 children.  But under the mediation, Oksana gave up Lucia's rights under the trust, which Horowitz says would have given her way more money than the $10 mil.

So his point -- How can you be an extortion victim when you make money? 

Interesting.

TMZ has learned ... Oksana Grigorieva's lawyer will go to court tomorrow and ask a judge to tell the L.A. County Sheriff's Department ... personal information in her computer that is not related to the criminal investigation should be off-limits.



The judge in question signed a search warrant a while back, authorizing the Sheriff's Department to seize Oksana's home computer.  Thing is ... the judge didn't set any limits on what info was fair game and what was not.

We've learned Oksana's lawyer, Daniel Horowitz, has already filed legal papers and will argue tomorrow that the Sheriff's Department can look at anything related to the domestic violence and extortion investigations, including emails, photos and recordings.  But Horowitz does not want unrelated personal matters to be scrutinized.  So photos of alleged injuries -- OK.  Emails to her gynecologist -- not OK.

And this is interesting ...  We've learned the judge who signed the warrant authorizing the Sheriff to seize Oksana's computer is none other than Scott Gordon, who is presiding over her custody war with Mel Gibson.  Interesting that the Sheriff's Department went to Gordon.

Stay tuned...

The lawyer who scored Oksana Grigorieva a $15 million parting deal with Mel Gibson has fired off a letter to one of Oksana's current lawyers, telling him to stop talking trash about him ... or else.



Eric George sent a letter to Dan Horowitz Tuesday -- a copy of which Horowitz gave to TMZ -- in which George mentions Horowitz's "veritable media blitz you recently initiated ..."

George takes issue with Horowitz's statement that Oksana signed the mediation agreement "because she was threatened and told she would go to jail, be deported and lose immediate possession of her children."  George says there was "never any threat or comment of any such nature ever discussed ..."

And George is ticked at Horowitz's comment that the mediation is "morally ambiguous."

George tells Horowitz to "cease and desist" with the false statements.

Here's what's really interesting -- George mentions ... by talking about the mediation, he could be blowing up the attorney-client privilege for Oksana, which could really be interesting if George is allowed to tell the whole story.

For his part, Horowitz sent George a conciliatory email saying, "Nothing negative intended toward you.  Hope to work together and resolve existing differences."

Oksana Grigorieva's lawyer Daniel Horowitz dropped by for TMZ Live today to field all of your questions -- and Harvey's -- about the Mel/Oksana case.  The domestic violence allegations... the extortion claims ... even the infamous audio tapes -- it was all fair game.


You'll definitely want to check it out.