CA - Anthony Pellicano for wiretapping, racketeering, Los Angeles, 2006

Linda7NJ

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Imprisoned celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano will likely be indicted on wiretap charges early next year, his lawyer said, bringing to a head a criminal probe that has touched several major Hollywood executives.

The scope of such charges will determine whether federal prosecutors believe a rogue private eye took it upon himself to illegally bug private phone conversations or acted at the behest of powerful Hollywood clients willing to eavesdrop on their enemies.

Pellicano's lawyer, Victor Sherman, told Reuters on Friday that his client would likely be named in a federal indictment returned before his 2 1/2-year prison term on federal weapons violations is up in February.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051025/people_nm/crime_pellicano_dc_3
 
There are so many layers to the unfolding story of Anthony Pellicano- "P.I. to the Stars". This guy is in major doo-doo and a bunch of people are going down along with him (at least, let's hope). Pellicano is infamous for putting heat on people all over Los Angeles- in hopes of intimidating them into dropping lawsuits, ruining their reputations, etc. Many big time LA attorneys and celebrities hired him to do their dirty work, from all outside appearances.

Not a guy you would want on your bad side.

From Wikipedia:

Anthony Pellicano (born March 22, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former high-profile Los Angeles private investigator who recently served a sentence in federal prison for illegal possession of explosives and who was arrested on February 4, 2006, on unlawful wiretapping and racketeering charges.

On February 6, 2006, Pellicano was indicted on 110 counts in federal court in Los Angeles alleging crimes of racketeering and conspiracy, wiretapping, witness tampering, identity theft and destruction of evidence. Six other associates were also charged.Pellicano was denied bail pending a hearing scheduled for April 4, 2006. At that time, motions to combine venues with other related cases will be heard.

The indictment alleges, in part, that the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills police departments unlawfully accessed confidential records on celebrities and public figures that they turned over to Pellicano. Pellicano and associates allegedly tapped actor Sylvester Stallone's telephone and accessed confidential police records on other public figures, including comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon.
 
Here's some more info from this site- http://sinhablar.com/index.html:

March 16, 2006: Nicole Kidman has been questioned by the FBI in the mushrooming investigation of private eye Anthony Pellicano's illegal wiretapping, sources say, because the feds found a recording of her talking to Tom Cruise in computers they seized from Pellicano's office in 2002. The recording was evidently made in 2001 after Kidman and Cruise announced they were getting a divorce. Cruise was represented by top L.A. matrimonial lawyer Dennis Wasser, who is known to have used Pellicano on other cases. Kidman, who was repped by New York lawyer Bill Beslow, hired private eye Richard Di Sabatino. The tape the feds played for Kidman "was probably from Tom's phone," said Di Sabatino. "Pellicano used to tap his own clients." Di Sabatino's efforts may have helped Kidman reach a quick agreement with Cruise with very little media coverage. "They settled quietly and relatively fast, and nothing came out except for one story in the National Enquirer, which was Pellicano's tabloid of choice," Di Sabatino said.

March 16, 2006: Superior Court Judge Marjorie S. Steinberg refused to remove an Terry Christensen and his entire 160-member law firm from a child support battle involving multibillionaire Kirk Kerkorian, even though the lawyer has been indicted in a federal wiretapping and extortion case with Anthony Pellicano. Bonder Kerkorian's, attorney Lisa Helfend Meyer argued that they should be disqualified from the case because there was evidence Terry Christensen used illegal means to learn that Kirk Kerkorian was not the father of the 8-year-old child. Christensen had at least 27 conversations with Pellicano in which ''very personal and confidential information was disclosed'' that gave the lawyer an unfair advantage in the child support dispute, Meyer argued in court.

March 15, 2006: The former Mrs. Jean-Claude Van Damme, Darcy LaPier Snodgrass,is now one of the growing list of persons targetted by Anthony Pellicano. Pellicano apparently targeted LaPier and then-husband Mark Hughes, the late Herbalife founder, at the behest of Hughes' jealous ex-wife.

March 15, 2006: Review of the Los Angeles Police Department on controls over moonlighting has been prompted by the involvement of retired Los Angeles Police sargeant, Mark Arneson, in the wiretapping and extortion scandal surrounding Anthony Pellicano. The officer involved in the Pellicano case never had a legal permit for moonlighting from the Police Department.

March 15, 2006: When Brad Grey was still the head of Brillstein-Grey, his successful talent management and production company, he and the William Morris Agency pitched HBO about doing an original series with the working title Hollywood Dick based on Pellicano’s life and work, with Pellicano included as the consultant for the show. Bernie Brillstein, Grey’s longtime partner, confirmed to NIcki Finke that the location of the old Brillstein Co., the forerunner to Grey’s firm (and where Grey was mentored from 1986 until 1991, when he became a 50-50 name partner) was just two doors down the hallway from Pellicano’s office in the same 9200 Sunset Boulevard building. Brillstein later took over Pellicano’s space in an expansion.


March 14, 2006: Attorneys representing a burdgeoning number of potential plaintiffs have said they may target law firms and celebrities who hired Pellicano. Lawyers Neville Johnson, Brian Panish and Lawrence Ecoff said their firms were jointly representing Lisa Kerkorian and that they had been contacted by half a dozen potential clients about filing invasion of privacy lawsuits naming Pellicano and others. One potential class-action lawsuit already has been filed against AT&T's predecessor company, SBC, by attorneys representing Erin Finn, the ex-girlfriend of a Pellicano client. Finn's attorneys, Brian Kabateck and Matthew Geragos, have said in recent days that they have signed up five other clients who were named as victims of Pellicano's alleged wiretapping or other crimes. The attorneys also are in talks with three other people who were listed as victims in the grand jury indictment.

March 13, 2006: Linda Doucett, the ex-fiance of comedian Gary Shandling, linked Brad Grey, now the chairman of Paramount Pictures, to indicted P.I. Anthony Pellicano. The actress' account is backed by another person's grand jury testimony, according to someone close to the investigation who insisted on anonymity for fear of angering prosecutors. The grand jury witness, this person said, gave an independent account that substantially agreed with Doucett's version. Less than a month after her meeting with the FBI, Doucett said, she received a phone call from a man who did not identify himself, and whose voice she did not recognize. "Linda," he said, "if you keep talking to your friend Stan, your child" - the man named Doucett's young son - "won't be going to" the private school where the boy was enrolled. The FBI's investigation of the threat led to a suspect but no prosecution, Doucett said. To this day, she said, she does not know who the man was or who put him up to calling her.
 
Update:

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/nyt-pellicano-blockbuster-targets-brad-gray-and-mike-ovitz/

snip

In a blockbuster story for tomorrow's edition, The New York Times reports "government evidence" that Brad Grey and Mike Ovitz "had far more direct dealings than they have publicly acknowledged" with Pellicano. The story drags the current chairman of Paramount Pictures (Grey) and the ex-Most Powerful Man in Hollywood (Ovitz) further into the Pellicano case with way more detail about what both men have reportedly told the FBI. The paper reports that Grey changed his account of events from one July 2003 interview with the FBI to another January 2004 FBI interview. It says Ovitz admitted to the FBI "he asked Pellicano for embarrassing information about 15 to 20 people who were affecting his plans to sell the business," including Ron Meyer, David Geffen, Bernie Weinraub, and Anita Busch. The paper also says authorities are "circling" Bert Fields and the wiretapping scandal is "rapidly expanding."
This article will send shockwaves through Hollywood.
 
Oh man. I knew this guy was dirty, I just didn't know how dirty.

Wasn't he the one who bugged Marilyn Monroe's house for the Mob or the Kennedy's or both of them? He knows the truth about Marilyn Monroe, maybe he'll flip when he's looking at the rest of his life in prison.
 
Man oh man..I would LOVE to know everything Pellicano knows!
 
This trial is still going on.
http://omg.yahoo.com/chris-rock-says-he-hired-indicted-sleuth/news/7972

(more big names at that link)

Man oh man..I would LOVE to know everything Pellicano knows!

Thanks for bumping this up ladies. :)

I would love to know everything Pellicano knows, too- he is definitely a scary dude! It's very sad to see what he and Brad Grey did to Garry Shandling at the height of his career.
I'm really sorry to say this, but I think he was known for intimidating people and it seems to me that Chris Rock was aware of what kind of goon he was when he hired him via his attorney. JMO, of course!
 
I was wondering if anyone was following this trial ... every so often I catch an article and am blown away.
 
I was wondering if anyone was following this trial ... every so often I catch an article and am blown away.

I've wondered too, but I haven't posted links cuz I thought no one else really cared about this case. I'm glad to see that others here are intrigued as well and hopefully everyone that was dirty in this whole sordid mess is exposed.

It's almost like a Hollywood version of the mob.
 
Just imagine what he did to the Chandlers & the clean up job after Michael Jackson molested that child!
 
Pellicano: I Didn't Lead a Criminal Enterprise

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353458,00.html

snip

LOS ANGELES — Indicted Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano said Wednesday he acted as a "lone ranger" while gathering information for his A-list clients and did not lead a criminal enterprise as prosecutors have alleged at his racketeering trial.
During his closing argument, Pellicano insisted he shared no information with colleagues as he conducted investigations and allowed others to learn only what he wanted them to know.
"There was no criminal enterprise or conspiracy. Mr. Pellicano alone is responsible. That is the simple truth," he told jurors, referring to himself in the third person as court rules require for people who act as their own attorney.
He did not elaborate on what he was responsible for.
"Effectively he was a lone ranger," Pellicano said.


--------

So, it sounds like Bert Fields is off the radar now.
 
snickering....good!

Wonder how long he'll get? he was convicted under RICO in federal court?
 
Yep, he'll probably get himself a nice little term especially since he was convicted based on the RICO Act.
 

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