diff --git a/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py b/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py
index 0e9edc809e7..c5119924f5b 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/litellm_pre_call_utils.py
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@ from litellm.proxy._types import (
     UserAPIKeyAuth,
 )
 from litellm.proxy.common_utils.http_parsing_utils import _safe_get_request_headers
-from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import prisma_client, user_api_key_cache
-from litellm.proxy.auth.auth_checks import get_user_object
 
 # Cache special headers as a frozenset for O(1) lookup performance
 _SPECIAL_HEADERS_CACHE = frozenset(
@@ -739,15 +737,20 @@ class LiteLLMProxyRequestSetup:
             return user_api_key_dict
 
         # Quick email-ish heuristic
-        if isinstance(header_value, str) and re.match(r"^[^@\s]+@[^@\s]+\.[^@\s]+$", header_value):
+        if isinstance(header_value, str) and re.match(
+            r"^[^@\s]+@[^@\s]+\.[^@\s]+$", header_value
+        ):
             try:
-                # Import at runtime to avoid circular imports
-                if prisma_client is not None:
+                # Import at runtime to avoid circular imports.
+                from litellm.proxy import proxy_server
+                from litellm.proxy.auth.auth_checks import get_user_object
+
+                if proxy_server.prisma_client is not None:
                     try:
                         user_obj = await get_user_object(
                             user_id=str(header_value),
-                            prisma_client=prisma_client,
-                            user_api_key_cache=user_api_key_cache,
+                            prisma_client=proxy_server.prisma_client,
+                            user_api_key_cache=proxy_server.user_api_key_cache,
                             user_id_upsert=True,
                             user_email=str(header_value),
                         )
@@ -757,7 +760,7 @@ class LiteLLMProxyRequestSetup:
                     if user_obj is not None:
                         # Ensure role is internal_user (best-effort)
                         try:
-                            await prisma_client.db.litellm_usertable.update(
+                            await proxy_server.prisma_client.db.litellm_usertable.update(
                                 where={"user_id": user_obj.user_id},
                                 data={"user_role": str(LitellmUserRoles.INTERNAL_USER)},
                             )
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py
index f4d77a64dba..52d9e063ce1 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/test_litellm_pre_call_utils.py
@@ -2565,7 +2565,8 @@ async def test_add_internal_user_from_user_mapping_no_header_or_mapping_returns_
 async def test_add_internal_user_from_user_mapping_resolves_email_header_to_internal_user(
     monkeypatch,
 ):
-    from litellm import proxy as proxy_pkg
+    import litellm.proxy.auth.auth_checks as auth_checks
+    import litellm.proxy.proxy_server as proxy_server
 
     user_api_key_dict = UserAPIKeyAuth(api_key="test-key")
     headers = {"X-OpenWebUI-User-Email": "internal@example.com"}
@@ -2585,22 +2586,10 @@ async def test_add_internal_user_from_user_mapping_resolves_email_header_to_inte
     fake_user.user_email = "internal@example.com"
     fake_user.user_role = "internal_user"
 
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        proxy_pkg.litellm_pre_call_utils,
-        "prisma_client",
-        fake_prisma_client,
-    )
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        proxy_pkg.litellm_pre_call_utils,
-        "user_api_key_cache",
-        fake_cache,
-    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(proxy_server, "prisma_client", fake_prisma_client)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(proxy_server, "user_api_key_cache", fake_cache)
     get_user_object_mock = AsyncMock(return_value=fake_user)
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        proxy_pkg.litellm_pre_call_utils,
-        "get_user_object",
-        get_user_object_mock,
-    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_checks, "get_user_object", get_user_object_mock)
 
     result = await LiteLLMProxyRequestSetup.add_internal_user_from_user_mapping(
         general_settings, user_api_key_dict, headers