play fast and loose

play fast and loose with sth/sb

to treat something or someone without enough care
Like many film-makers, he plays fast and loose with the facts to tell his own version of the story.

play fast and loose/ play loose and fast

Be recklessly irresponsible, unreliable, or deceitful, as in This reporter is known for playing fast and loose with the facts. This term probably originated in a 16th-century game called "fast and loose," played at country fairs. A belt was doubled and held with the loop at table's edge, and the player had to catch the loop with a stick as the belt was unrolled--an impossible feat. The term was already used figuratively by the late 1500s, especially for trifling with someone's affections.