http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/20..._stars_la.html
Two months after David Beckham filed a lawsuit against In Touch Weekly for publishing a cover story claiming he cheated on wife Victoria, the magazine is fighting back ? with more scandalous allegations.
The celebrity mag alleged in September that Beckham, 35, had sex with former "high-class call girl" Irma Nici on at least two occasions, once with another woman joining them.
According to a court declaration from Nov. 18 obtained by RadarOnline.com, Executive Editor Deborah Baer claims, "Well before we received the information concerning Mr. Beckham's relationship with Irma Nici that is described in the article, the magazine had for months been working on other stories that built on Beckham's reputation for adultery."
Baer goes on to detail tips the mag received about Beckham allegedly spending time with a lingerie saleswoman in Los Angeles.
"Ultimately, she denied the story of an affair, as did Mr. Beckham, and we elected not to publish the article," Baer says. "But we continued to believe that Mr. Beckham did have a relationship with this lingerie saleswoman."
Though Beckham's reported friend Shery Shabani has denied her own husband's accusation she had an affair with the soccer star, Baer claims in the declaration that the soccer stud's nanny found "suggestive text messages" between the two implying a relationship.
Baer also claims In Touch has evidence Beckham visited hotels with women other than his wife multiple times.
Beckham is reportedly suing the magazine for $25 million.
His lawsuit claims "the case arises from defendants' publication of lies to make money for themselves and to embarrass and inflict emotional distress upon Beckham, a world-famous athlete. Defendants published these statements with actual malice and with intent to profit by causing harm to Beckham."
The magazine, however, is seeking to have the case dismissed, arguing it "did nothing more than report what it believed was absolutely true ? based on the firsthand recollections of Irma Nici as confirmed by [madam] Kristin Davis and the other woman."
In its filing, In Touch asserts it published "a story whose many details were independently verified by the magazine and one that was entirely consistent with the magazine's own prior reporting, as well as previous widespread reports of other affairs by Beckham, including at least one with another prostitute."
The magazine acknowledges that Beckham's camp dismissed the story before it was published, noting that "In the face of this evidence, Beckham provided only a general denial. In the end, the magazine and its editors absolutely believed in the truth of the story and most certainly had no serious doubts about its accuracy."
In short, the documents claim "Beckham?offers nothing other than his word to dispute the well-researched, well-sourced story that In Touch Weekly published."
But a Beckham friend says the sports superstar is undeterred by the mag's seemingly hard stance.
"This is a smokescreen and it is not going to hold up in court," the source told Radar. "He is not backing down, he plans to go full throttle in this matter and this posturing, with no evidence and no facts, isn't going to stall the inevitable."