Unless you're a paparazzo, it's next-to-impossible to get an audience with Britney Spears — she bails on her court hearings, backs out of booked cover stories with magazines, and hasn't had a publicist in ages. So what do you do if you're trying to get an interview with her?

Rolling Stone came up with an idea, detailed in the magazine's new issue — why not pretend to be willing to pay upward of $2 million for a sit-down and see if anyone bites? Now, one of the men associated with the deal, Danish businessman Claus Hjelmbak, says the magazine did more than just misrepresent itself, accusing the magazine of fraud, defamation and slander.

"I just want to get the truth out," Hjelmbak added. "The way she wrote the whole article, it makes me look shady. I'm consulting my lawyers to take legal action about this. It's slander, defamation and fraud. They're selling a lot of issues with a lot of lies."

Let's back up a bit.

"Trying to get an interview with Britney is a whole other level of craziness," Vanessa Grigoriadis wrote in the RS story. "A friend of a friend sets me up with a guy she says will introduce me to Britney, but it has to happen right away. The man insists that I have a signed contract for Rolling Stone, and he's going to want money. I tell her to make the meeting."

During her first meeting, Grigoriadis claimed that Hjelmbak asked for $1 million to $2 million in order to connect her with the pop star, who is a friend of his. She wrote that when she first met Hjelmbak in person, he wanted to see the contract from Rolling Stone and asked her, "For the interview, are you offering $2 million?" (Hjelmbak disputed this, telling MTV News that Grigoriadis was the one to bring up money. "It would have been very different had I said, 'Give me $2 million,' " he said. "But she offered the money.")

Grigoriadis then wrote, "Of course, I have zero dollars to offer him, but I decide to play along." Playing along extended to having a series of meetings with Hjelmbak and his business associates, where they discussed different rates and logistics as far as stylists, makeup artists and photographers are concerned (she said she was asked to provide five of each).

At first, Grigoriadis wrote, it's suggested that the money be held in escrow, with the singer not to receive any until she completes the interview and photo shoot (to provide insurance against her bailing as she has in the past for cover stories with OK! magazine and Allure). Hjelmbak and his associates would get a "10 percent finder's fee, payable whether or not she shows up," Grigoriadis wrote. Then, she wrote, "Claus ... has a new plan: He will tell Britney that he's going to give her $1 million. I'll give him the $1 million, and then he'll give it to her. 'This way, no one will ever know that Rolling Stone bent over to pay Queen Britney.' "

Hjelmbak told MTV News, however, that Rolling Stone was actually "paranoid" that people would think they had paid for the interview, which is technically legal but considered something only less-legitimate publications do. So Grigoriadis asked for confidentiality, Hjelmbak said, and they drafted a nondisclosure agreement. "[Grigoriadis] was nervous," Hjelmbak said. "She was shaking. She said they were paranoid that it would get out, that they would be exposed. They were going to use advertising money [to make it seem like the funds weren't from editorial]. She was begging me to get her to [Spears' manager/friend] Sam [Lutfi], [cousin] Alli [Sims] and Britney. She couldn't get in touch with anyone, and Rolling Stone was desperate to get an exclusive. They wanted to do a big Britney story, and her whole ambition was to get an interview."

The subject of money, however, was instigated by Rolling Stone, Hjelmbak insisted. "They contacted me with the offer," he said. "She came to me. She offered to purchase [the interview]." Hjelmbak said the reason Grigoriadis wrote her article "like she was undercover" and "turned this into a spy story" is that she's "trying to cover her ass" since the deal went south when it was discovered she was misrepresenting herself. Grigoriadis wrote in her story: "After explaining to Claus that there is no money, I write to Lutfi many times, explaining that we are still very interested in interviewing Britney and telling her side of the story. No response."

Hjelmbak said that he had the meetings with Grigoriadis "to make sure she was for real" and to be able to pass along the information to Spears, who has a right to choose "who to tell her story to," Hjelmbak said. "I didn't want to represent Britney," he said. "I'm not authorized to speak on her behalf. But Britney is certainly welcome to tell her story, if she wants."

Which is why, he said, he was willing to play middleman and pass along the offer if he thought it was valid, acting as the singer's agent (hence the 10 percent fee). There are other little details in the Rolling Stone story, he said, that are erroneous as well. He corrects an instance where Grigoriadis claims he left to go to a birthday party for someone else — it was his birthday party, he said, adding that she "wasted" his birthday with her false offer. And he disputed a quote about wanting to be reimbursed for buying Britney a birthday cake. "Do you really think I need the $50?" he asked in indignation. "One thing I am not is cheap."

Rolling Stone, in the meantime, backs up Grigoriadis, who was unavailable for comment because she was on deadline. The magazine's rep, Beth Jacobson, told MTV News, "We stand by our reporting."