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OK! magazine's dramatically unspecific allegations yesterday that Larry Birkhead is not the upstanding, profoundly moral soul we'd expect an Anna Nicole Smith ex to be left us to speculate on our own about his torrid secrets. Now, TMZ dumps lighter fluid and a match on the smoldering coals with suspiciously well-timed rumors that MSNBC anchor Rita Cosby's dishy Anna Nicole tell-all — conveniently available Sept. 4! — claims Birkhead slipped Howard K. Stern something entirely different:

Rumors are swirling about the book, Blond Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death, due out next week. TMZ has heard Cosby will say she has documents that prove Larry Birkhead essentially bought the baby from Howard K. Stern. The publisher is mum until next Tuesday.

OK! magazine will preview the tome next week. Birkhead says, "OK! is on notice those allegations are false, and if they print them as truth, they will be sued as well." Birkhead adds, "I'll go after any media outlet that prints those lies from that book."

For the sake of Birkhead, so far the least skeezy-seeming party in this whole sordid epic, we hope it's not true — or, that he got a receipt with an exchange policy, because imagine the buyer's remorse from finding out you illegally paid for a baby that DNA tests claim should've been yours from the get-go for free.