RUSSELL SEEKS BRAND AID

Sex abuse suits pile up on both sides of pond

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JUST days before being slammed with criminal rape charges in Britain, tarnished star Russell Brand desperately begged a New York City judge to hit the brakes on a scandalous sexual abuse civil lawsuit against him.

Sources say the Forgetting Sarah Marshall funnyman is sweating bullets over a potential deposition in the civil case because it could cook his goose in criminal proceedings.