Pop star Britney Spears celebrates New Year's Eve with friends at Pure nightclub. Spears helped the Caesars Palace hot spot uncork a $2.1 million bonanza. Review-Journal photo

Katie Rees, the dethroned Miss Nevada USA 2007, partied in a Las Vegas topless club on New Year's Eve amid rumblings of a widening sex scandal.

Rees, who was spotted at the topless club Seamless in the wee hours of New Year's Day, is facing new allegations that involve two unnamed Las Vegas celebrities, sources say.

Rees, a former Florida resident who won the Nevada title in October, was stripped of her title last month after pornographic photos of her surfaced on a Web site associated with escort services.

Rees, 25, whose mother is a Miss America pageant director in Tampa, Fla., asked for the second chance that Miss USA Tara Connor received, saying her photo missteps were a one-time thing.

KVBC-TV, Channel 3, reporter Alicia Jacobs, who broke the initial story on Rees' bad behavior, reported Thursday that the Nevada Miss USA organizers had reason to believe the scandal was far from over.

More allegations are coming, Jacobs said in her report.

PURE PROFIT

Pure, the Caesars Palace hot spot, might be celebrating the richest one-night haul in U.S. history for a nightclub.

With Britney Spears pumping up interest, Pure grossed $2.1 million, with half of it coming from about 3,000 advance ticket sales at $300 apiece and the rest from VIP bottle service, bar sales and after-midnight admissions, according to Pure Management Group.

Adding to the windfall was the $50,000 that came from a high roller who requested a table next to Spears' group in the VIP section.

Sources say Pure and Tao, the 15-month-old restaurant and nightclub at The Venetian, grossed about $50 million in 2006.

Steve Wynn last month said Tryst, his main nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas, was on track to bring in $33 million for 2006, making it "the single most successful nightclub in America."

THE SCENE AND HEARD

KVBC's Jacobs has a new man. She was spotted at a private reception with Grammy winner Lionel Richie at Valentino's Italian restaurant at The Venetian on New Year's Eve. During Richie's concert, he dedicated three songs to Jacobs, a former Miss Nevada USA, including "Hello" and "(Lady) You Bring Me Up."

Suspicious minds are convinced that Pamela Anderson's decision to bring celebrity bodyguard Chuck Zito as her date for her hosting duties at Tao on New Year's Eve had to do with the Kid Rock-Tommy Lee drama that was likely to unfold. I'd wager plenty that Kid Rock is on the surveillance video with the two huge men who attempted to kick in a door at the Hard Rock Hotel at 6 a.m. Sunday, thinking that Lee was in the suite.

SIGHTINGS

Larry Birkhead, the paparazzo who sued Anna Nicole Smith to have DNA testing to show whether he is the father of her 4-month-old daughter, posing on the red carpet at Tao on New Year's Eve with Anderson. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that testing must be done by Jan. 23. "My birthday's the 22nd, and it's going to be a good day," Birkhead said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Birkhead said he was intimate with Smith at the time she was in Las Vegas for the 2005 New Year's Eve countdown at the Aladdin.

THE PUNCH LINE

"It wasn't exactly a divorce. I was traded." -- Tim Conway

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.