Justin Bieber believes he was set up in his videotaped deposition by lawyers who baited him with insulting questions and planned all along to leak the tape to humiliate him.
The pop superstar was shown acting insolent and angry during the taped deposition in the California lawsuit over his bodyguard allegedly beating up photographer Jeffrey Binion.
Just two days after the deposition, the tape was leaked to TMZ, and Bieber’s outraged team is demanding to know if a payment was made in exchange for the tape.
A source exclusively tells Page Six: “The video was leaked so quickly that Justin’s legal team believes it was all a setup. The questions Justin was being asked, including questions about Usher, had nothing to do with the case.
“He was being harassed with extremely strange questions, and the chosen clips that were released, which show Justin to be frustrated, happened four and a half hours into the deposition.
“Justin’s team is considering making a request to the judge to order an audit to see if a payment was received by anybody on Binion’s side for the tape, which they believe is serious malpractice.”
Bieber was seen behaving like a brat as he was being grilled in the bodyguard-beatdown case. He appeared to be disrespectful of Usher, the man who made him a superstar. When quizzed if he even knew Usher, Bieber was nonchalant: “Yeah, Usher. That [name] sounds familiar.”
Then, asked directly if Usher discovered him and was “instrumental” to his career, Bieber took all the credit, with one slip-up: “I was found on YouTube. I think I was detrimental to my own career.”
At another point, Bieber almost lost it when asked about off-again, on-again flame Selena Gomez. With a stone-cold, angry glare, he said, “Don’t ask me about her again.”
Binion’s lawyer, Russell S. Adler, did not return our calls or e-mails Tuesday night, nor did Mark G. DiCowden, a personal injury lawyer identified as asking Justin questions on the taped deposition. TMZ reps didn’t get back to us either. Reps for Bieber declined to comment.