Gawker
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crime
Steve Bing Will Not Testify Against His Scummy Private Eye Friend
There is a correction to that Times article on Die Hard auteur John McTiernan's movie about how Karl Rove is the reason he is being prosecuted for lying to the FBI about Anthony Pellicano. More »
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By PareeneComment by lawyergay: What!? With all the current demands on my time, I'm only able to muster a vague interest in rich people... 1 Responses | Other threads
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movies
John McTiernan's New Movie: The Karl Rove Affair
Did you know that the prosecution of criminal Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano was an attempt by Karl Rove to derail Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign? It's true, if you're crazy! More »
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By PareeneComment by Macloserboy: If you remember the old Movieline magazine (best movie magazine ever) you know he's nuts. In the middle of an... more » | Other threads
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pellicano notebook
Anthony Pellicano Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison
The sordid saga of wiretapping, divorce-aiding, dead-fish wielding private eye to the stars Anthony Pellicano finally ended today with his sentencing to 15 years in federal prison.
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By STVComment by kookla: Anthony's gonna earn the nickname Pelican, when he's swallowing trouser trouts in prison. 1 Responses | Other threads
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Tween PI
Pellicano's Angels: Wiretapper's Daughters Get A Reality Show!
As Anthony Pellicano awaits his December 12 sentencing, the loved ones left behind are coping in the best way they know how: By shopping a Keeping Up with the Pellicanos reality show around town.
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By SethComment by Miss Anne Thrope: Hopefully he'll be sent to Pellicano Bay. more » | Other threads
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john mctiernan
Prison Break: Die Hard director John McTiernan is the latest celebrity to clear jail waivers this week after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his four-month prison sentence for lying to federal investigators in the Anthony Pellicano case. McTiernan, who at first denied hiring Pellicano to wiretap his Rollerball producer Charles Roven, pled guilty to the charges last year; soon after, he appealed to withdraw the plea on the basis of inadequate legal counsel and, in his words, "All this for Rollerball? Have you seen Rollerball?" Free to direct again, he has since been sentenced to four years of B-pictures, with time off for good behavior. [AP] -
pellicano notebook
Remembering Anthony Pellicano: The End is as Good as it Gets
And so it ends: The long local nightmare that was the Anthony Pellicano trial has ended with essentially the same whimpering inertia that marked its duration. Those early reports of Pellicano's convictions have fleshed out in the hours since: guilty as charged on 76 of 77 counts of racketeering, conspiracy, wiretapping, wire fraud and identity theft, yet acquitted of "a single count of unauthorized computer access," according to The New York Times. (His four co-defendants were convicted of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy.) Pellicano will be sentenced Sept. 24. More » -
defamer
BREAKING: Anthony Pellicano Convicted of Racketeering and Conspiracy
In perhaps the most anticlimactic ruling in the history of celebrity jurisprudence, disgraced Private Eye to the Stars and all-around not-nice guy Anthony Pellicano was this afternoon convicted of racketeering and conspiracy in federal court. The LA Times is reporting that additional verdicts are forthcoming for wiretapping; for the convictions so far, Pellicano faces up 10 years in prison. Though we think we can safely bet our homes on the remaining counts, we'll have something a little more official later on as word becomes available. More » -
defamer
Anthony Pellicano's Third-Person Courtroom Antics Reach Their Illogical Conclusion
Thank God that the threat of an Anthony Pellicano mistrial came and went without fruition; not only would we have faced the indignity of another star parade of scowling, snail-trailing movers and shakers filing to the witness stand, but we would have missed out on the performance art of Pellicano's closing argument, relayed second-hand today by tireless Huffington Post correspondent Allison Hope Weiner: More »
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By STVComment by Sleepyhead: Is Mr. Pellicano not human? If Mr. Pellicano pricks Mr. Pellicano, does Mr. Pellicano not bleed? (This would make a... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Mel Gibson To Don His Actor's Hat Once More
· Mel Gibson has signed on for his first acting job since Signs and We Were Soldiers back in 2002. In Edge of Darkness, a feature based on a BBC miniseries from the '80s, he'll play "a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed, probably by the Jews." [Variety] More »
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By SethComment by Little Mintz Sunshine: Just so that I'm clear about this, "Charlotte Simmons" is a a book about a young college girl written... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Possible Pellicano Mistrial Haunts Courtroom as Testimony Winds Down
Having apparently run out of the tantalizing audio excerpts with which she's been sustaining our interest in the Anthony Pellicano trial, Allison Hope Weiner is testing a new kind of bombshell today over at The Huffington Post — and it's called "A Possible Mistrial." It's not as sexy as it sounds, but that's not to say it won't be eventually: A government witness testifying to have handled paperwork saying co-defendant Sgt. Mark Arneson was in bankruptcy — a claim he denied under oath — may have actually forged and filed the paperwork herself. Brilliant! More » -
defamer
After having a Bert Fields-shaped carrot dangled before them, Pellicano trial-watchers will be disappointed to learn the famed Scary Hollywood Lawyer will not be testifying. Reports THR, Esquire: "Co-defendant Mark Arneson, a former LAPD sergeant, planned to call Fields, and the veteran entertainment attorney even showed up to court twice this week to take the stand. But he was never called, and today a spokesman for Fields said Arneson's attorney decided not to call him after all." With a witness list quickly running dry of A-list celebs and Hollywood power-players, we fear we'll soon go back to not caring again. Is there any way we can get someone fun on the stand? Maybe Bruce Vilanch in a "What, Me Worry?" T-shirt? [THR Esq.] -
pellicano notebook
Tears, Sneers Ensue as Anita Busch Faces Pellicano's Third Degree
All kinds of drama unfolded Wednesday in one of the more turbulent days of the Anthony Pellicano trial, with ex-journalist Anita Busch following fork-tongued Michael Ovitz to a slow death on the witness stand. As if you had to ask, the cross-examination showdown between Busch and Pellicano — whom the writer all but accused in court of infamously harrassing her out of writing articles about Ovitz after joining the LA Times — did not go smoothly: More »
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By STVComment by Little Mintz Sunshine: I have almost no interest in this trial as absolutely no one connected to it is even remotely hot. Or... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Witness Michael Ovitz Gives Thanks For the Gift of Anthony Pellicano
Michael Ovitz hit the Pellicano witness stand this morning with a heart full of gratitude for his former private investigator, whose ongoing wiretapping trial became a state-sanctioned love-in as the ex-CAA/Disney/AMG boss recalled all the fun they had back in the day while paranoiacally destroying people's lives: More » -
defamer
Chris Rock Competes With HuffPo Journalist in Battle of Pellicano Trial Cameos
The salacious details of Chris Rock's model-smearing exploits with Anthony Pellicano were front-and-center at the disgraced PI's wiretapping trial this morning, when the comic took the stand for less than an hour. It was barely the most appealing Pellicano morsel in Variety today, in fact, with arguably the year's greatest headline — Weiner Gets Served in Pellicano Case — announcing the Huffington Post reporter Allison Hope Weiner's temporary restraining order yesterday outside the courtroom. More »
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By STVComment by kingpin5022: First of all if someone filed a rape charge against you after a year went by what would you do? Call... more » | Other threads
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pellicano notebook
'Great Wall of Lawyers' Planned as Michael Ovitz Faces CAA Wrath
Rumblings from the inner sanctum of the CAA Death Star hint that co-pilots Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd are taking an early lunch today to plot an legal attack of wonderfully (if predictably) bloodthirsty ferocity. Their target: Who else? CAA emperor emeritus Michael Ovitz, whose misadventures with Anthony Pellicano upon returning to the agent game almost 10 years ago reportedly involved wiretapping the old joint for a not-so-subtle stab at talent poaching: More » -
pellicano notebook
Would-Be Hitman Anthony Pellicano Just Wants His Offers To Kill Quoted Accurately
The Anthony Pellicano saga accidentally became interesting again when a disgruntled hedge-funder testifying Tuesday in the private investigator's wiretapping trial recounted that one time Pellicano offered to whack a producer who ran off with his money. After a $1.1 million investment with talent agent-turned-producer Aaron Russo resulted in exactly no movies and a full year of Russo's evasions, Exis Capital owner Adam Sender turned to Pellicano upon lawyer Bert Fields' recommendations. After the jump, a courtroom report in The NY Times and phone recordings at The Huffingon Post reveal how that could have gone better. More » -
defamer
When Kenny Met Taarna
· Yesterday, we promised you a brainmeltingly awesome new thing, and dare we say, you got it. We only wished the entire episode could have existed inside the cat-pee-induced, hallucinatory world of Heavy South Metal Park [South Park] More » -
defamer
The Bert Fields Chronicles. Chapter the Third: The Fifth Amendmenting: HuffPo's Allison Hope Weiner stands by the story she broke about Scary Hollywood Lawyer Bert Fields taking the Fifth at the Pellicano trial. Standing in direct conflict to Fields's rep's statement to us that Fields had not received so much as a Hanukkah card from the government "in five years," Weiner reports that prosecutor Daniel Saunders "said again this afternoon that the government had been notified by Mr. Fields' counsel of his intent to take the Fifth Amendment if called to testify." Saunders added that "Mr. Fields invocation of the 5th would be improper because the statute of limitations has long run on any of Mr. Pellicano's alleged crimes with respect to Bert Fields." [HuffPo]
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By SethComment by Little Mintz Sunshine: Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name. more » | Other threads
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defamer
Defamer Exclusive: My Client Has Nothing To Hide, Says Bert Fields' Rep
We just got off the phone with Lonnie Soury, a rep for Greenberg Glusker Fields, who tells us there's nothing to HuffPo's report that Bert Fields would be taking the Fifth at the Pellicano trial. Soury tells us that "Bert has not talked to the government in five years," that he has "not been called as a witness," and that if he is, "he will testify. He won't be taking the Fifth. He has nothing to hide...That comes from Bert himself." Where, then, did HuffPo reporter Allison Hope Weiner get the idea that Fields would be taking the Fifth? According to Deadline Hollywood Daily's own "Extra! Extra! Bert Fields Has Nothing to Hide!" story, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Saunders told the judge at a pre-trial hearing today that "one of our witnesses" would plead the Fifth. A Pellicano attorney asked who, and Saunders replied, "Bert Fields." Developing... More » -
pellicano notebook
Bert Fields Takes The Fifth! And Other Tales Of Pellicano Intrigue: UPDATE
A round-up of several delicious developments in the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century: More » -
defamer
Pellicano Shadow Hangs Over Reporter Whose Digging Started it All
Speaking as someone who once had his own life threatened by a fairly powerful, decidedly unhappy source, I particularly empathize today with Anita Busch, the former star trade reporter whose receipt of a dead fish, a rose and a note screaming "STOP" foisted the Anthony Pellicano investigation horror on an unwitting Hollywood nearly six years ago. Rapidly approaching her testimony date in the Pellicano trial, Busch granted a rare interview in a NY Times profile that is about the biggest bummer we've read since, well, maybe ever:Ms. Busch's discovery of the tap on her phones, prosecutors say, led to another search of Mr. Pellicano's offices and a new phase of the investigation — one that metastasized into racketeering and other charges against him and more than a dozen accused co-conspirators.
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defamer
Brad Grey Insists Under Oath That He Didn't Want To Know How The Pellicano Sausage Was Made
There was little that could have come from Brad Grey's testimony at the Anthony Pellicano trial today that would have matched the sensationalism of the last bombshell to emerge from this ongoing saga of backdoor Hollywood intrigue—i.e., the Chris Rock: Accused Rapist tapes. Still, there was plenty of opportunity for another Moment, the diminutive studio emperor having a sizable axe to grind with Garry Shandling, who pulled no punches on the stand in a brutally frank testimony against his former manager. (It would surely have included some waterworks had the Larry Sanders Show star not years ago had his face pulled tighter than a conga drum, effectively sealing every one of his above-the-neck mucus membranes tighter than Tutankhamen's tomb.) As it turns out, Grey did not use the opportunity to take some public jabs at his nemesis, instead delivering straightforward statements relieving himself of all knowledge of Pellicano's shadowy surveillance methods: More »
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By SethComment by gwendemarco: @Little Mintz Sunshine: And the last time the car wash guy missed the stain on his passenger seat. more » | Other threads
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defamer
Now This Is More Like It: The Anthony Pellicano-Chris Rock Rape-Claim Tapes
Maybe this Anthony Pellicano trial isn't as hopelessly bereft of A-list manure-flinging as we had initially thought. Just a day after Garry Shandling's bitterly frank testimony about former manager Brad Grey—which so riled the Paramount Emperor that the planned The Love Guru ice cream social was cancelled with a company-wide e-mail instructing staffers to, "Go enjoy a cup of Garry Shandling's steaming, fudge-covered horseshit instead"—comes something even better: A tape, which prosecutors say was made by Pellicano and obtained by The Huffington Post, containing a 31-minute conversation between Chris Rock and the private investigator. Rock secured Pellicano's services after the then-separated comedian engaged in a brief fling with what he describes as "a girl with big tits and white pants" back in 1998, who then turned around and accused him of rape. (Interesting side note: He took her to a dinner party at Guy Oseary's house attended by Madonna and Elisabeth Shue!) The charges were ultimately found to be bogus, and were never officially filed. More »
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By SethComment by DrFeelgood: Hollywood rule #1: Never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself.Hollywood Rule #2: Always shoot your SPLORK on the... more » | Other threads
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defamer
This Is Garry Shandling's Searing Indictment Of Former Manager Brad Grey. How Do You Like It So Far?
If the old adage about the lawyer who represents himself having a fool for a client is true, then Anthony Pellicano's cross-examination today of Garry Shandling at his own trial (Underwhelming Hollywood with Nothing of Juicy Significance Since 2002™) was like the Comedy Store main room. When asked by the court what he does for a living, Deadline Hollywood Daily reports, Shandling responded, "That's a bad sign. I'm a comedian." To which the judge responded, "Not to me you're not." (To which the entire jury snapped in unison and remarked, "Ooooooh girl.") Shandling was there in connection with a long-running feud with onetime manager Brad Grey over lost earnings from his The Larry Sanders Show deal, during which Scary Hollywood Lawyer Bert Fields, a regular subscriber to Pellicano's eavesdropping services, allegedly used the P.I. to tap Shandling's calls. From DHD's courtroom report: More »
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By SethComment by zachwoodford: What is going on with those lips? I wonder if he thinks that looks sexy. more » | Other threads
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defamer
It's Pellicano Fever All Over Again!
It's hard to believe it's taken six years for the Feds to bring their case against wiretapper-to-the-stars Anthony Pellicano to court. Along the way, the promise of dirt the likes of which Hollywood has never seen was dangled before us like a Sprinkles cupcake lowered by fishing line in front of Kirstie Alley, only to then be cruelly snapped away: The investigation turned up nothing juicier than some false statements made to the FBI by Die Hard director John McTiernan, regarding his hiring of Pellicano to tap his Rollerball producing partner's phone conversations. (He said he didn't, but it turns out he did. Oopsies!) More »
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By SethComment by The Authority: Amended: OK, so I find out he did lie. Yeech. Well, at least let me ask this: am I the... more » | Other threads
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celeb jurisprudence
Judge Gives Director McTiernan 4 Months In Jail, Note To Try Next Take 'With a Little More Remorse-iness'
Director John McTiernan, of Die Hard, Predator, and paying Anthony Pellicano to illegally wiretap his Rollerball producing partner fame, was today sentenced to four months in jail after a judge decided not to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea based on his new attorney's attempted "my client was too jet-lagged/drunk/medicated to know what he was saying when that FBI agent grilled him" defense, according to the LAT: More »
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By MarkComment by Little Mintz Sunshine: Hmmm....lie to the Feds or murder a blonde... more » | Other threads
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trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Fox News Finally Gives Itself A Forum For Bashing Liberals
Fox News Channel plans on supplementing its regular, round-the-clock fake news coverage with a still-untitled "Daily Show for conservatives," which the network hopes will finally provide them with a much-needed forum for taking shots at liberals. Next on the FNC development slate-of-mirrors: a Colbert Report knock-off starring a comically delusional blowhard. [Variety] More »
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By MarkComment by homofascist: Sweet Jesus! I think you have an argument but it certainly makes no sense. I thought this website... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Mike Ovitz's Cameo In Pellicano Trial Finally Credited
The LAT is reporting that former Times and THR reporter Anita Busch has named Michael Ovitz, erstwhile Most Powerful Man In Hollywood and current Most Powerful Man Being Upgraded From An Anonymous Name In A Civil Action Today, in her lawsuit alleging that wiretap-happy PI Anthony Pellicano attempted to intimidate her on behalf of those unhappy with her entertainment industry reporting, giving the former superagent a profile-rising bump from the quiet indignity of previously being known only as "Doe 4." Says the Times: More »
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By MarkComment by Her Royal Empress Dr. Bufflekins III, Esq.: Cheese and evil is such a scary combination. more » | Other threads
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tom cruise
Tom Cruise's Lawyer: 'My Client Never Had Erotic Wrestling Encounter With Gay Hustler'
Hollywood Interrupted recently published a chapter from a "book-in-progress" by Anthony Pellicano-heavy/gay porn producer/general skeazebag-about-town Paul Barresi. In it, Barresi writes of the time a gay hustler known as Big Red approached him between takes on a porn set, offering up many anecdotes of lusty, same-sex encounters with paying celebrities, most notably among them a detailed account of a wrestling mat tryst with Tom Cruise. (The chapter is here, though you'll find yourself rummaging under the kitchen sink for industrial solvents and SOS pads to scrub yourself with once you're done.) The Scoop approached Scary Hollywood Lawyer Bertram "Bert" Fields for his response: More »
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By SethComment by NotReadyForPrimeTime: And while he's at it, maybe Bert Fields could explain the death of Big Red in a mysterious "water-skiing" accident? more » | Other threads
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trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Hollywood Tired Of Waiting For Bert Fields Indictment That May Never Come
Despite early hopes that the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century would take down the whole fucking system from the inside!, so little good dirt has been unearthed that a bored Hollywood seems ready to put the whole project in turnaround. [Variety] More »
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By MarkComment by metroville: To be fair, it's more often the Shawshank Redemption theme than the actual one from Brokeback. This just in: I'm... more » | Other threads
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anthony pellicano
Your Boss Might Not Be Going to Jail, So Time To Start Sucking Up Again
Today's NY Times story on the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century raised the somewhat deflating notion that when prosecutors get done turning Hollywood upside down and giving it a vigorous shake, not much more than a bunch of eavesdropping-happy lawyers might fall out: More » -
anthony pellicano
Ron Meyer Is Not Ashamed Of His Feelings For The Pelican
In Hollywood, you learn who your real friends are after your movie bombs in its opening weekend, or, in certain other cases, once you're jailed for possessing explosives and/or allegedly conducting scores of illegal wiretaps involving some of the most powerful people in town. Erstwhile Private Eye to the Stars Anthony Pellicano has figured out the hard way that the bond he shares with Universal president Ron Meyer is both real and special, as the NY Times reports that Meyer is fiercely defensive of their relationship after being questioned about his jailhouse visits to his incarcerated pal: More » -
trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Brad Grey's Pals Rise Up Against Vanity Fair
ยท Various people whom former mananger and current Paramount chief Brad Grey has helped make incredibly rich (Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, HBO), claim that Vanity Fair's big story on the Anthony Pellicano investigation is full of inaccuracies and fabrications. And Grey's Paramount flack isn't happy (shocker!) either: "Specific allegations and statements made by unnamed sources about Brad Grey in Vanity Fair's piece on Anthony Pellicano are total fabrications." [Variety] More » -
anthony pellicano
Surfing With The Pelican: Vanity Fair Vs. Pellicano
· So we finally got around to wading through the huge Vanity Fair piece on the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century—let's just say that WiFi reaches the bathroom and leave it at that—and were slightly disappointed that Nicole Kidman stopped short of our turkey-baster line in her eavesdropped conversation, but did reportedly taunt the unwanted guests on the line with the occasional, "So, Tom, are you listening? Am I saying what you want me to say?" (Clearly, she was constitutionally too feisty for that marriage to work.) But the rest of the piece is apparently damaging enough that... [Vanity Fair] More » -
anthony pellicano
Surfing With The Pelican: An Anthony Pellicano Round-Up
An unexpected deluge of Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century-related material today necessitates the use of that most hallowed of blog post formats, the afternoon round-up: More » -
anthony pellicano
Chris Rock, The Pelican, And The Hungarian Perfect 10 Model
The LAT drags Chris Rock into the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century, reporting that the comedian hired Hollywood's favorite eavesdropper and illegal background checker to dig up some fun facts on Hungarian model/Perfect 10 naked person Monika Zsibrita, who made a paternity claim against Rock back in '99. Rock's publicist admits the hire, but not, er, the illegal stuff: More » -
anthony pellicano
The Pelican, The Billionaire Shakedown Magnet, And The Former Superagent
In an unexpected collision of players from the Payola Six scandal and the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century (yes, we must: "Hey, you got your eavesdropping private dick in my extorted supermarket billionaire!" "No, you got your extorted supermarket billionaire in my eavesdropping private dick!"), today's NY Times reports that Hollywood PI Pellicano tried to shake down Ron Burkle (you know him as "the rich guy who bravely refused to pay protection money to Page Six freelancer Jared Paul Stern") to the tune of $100,000 to $250,000, claiming that erstwhile Most Powerful Man in Hollywood Michael Ovitz had hired the detective to dig up dirt on Burkle. Ovitz's lawyer was quick to poo-poo the Pellicano story, asking, "Who are ya gonna believe, the rat who listens in on phone calls, or my client, an upstanding member of the weasly former superagent community?" Reports the Times: More » -
anthony pellicano
Did Chris Klein Ruin John McTiernan's Life?
Reports that Die Hard/Predator/Last Action Hero hero John McTiernan entered a guilty plea for lying to the FBI about hiring Anthony Pellicano to wirtetap producer Charles Roven hit yesterday afternoon, but this morning's news cycle brings some more information about what went down in the courtroom. Says the LAT: More »
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By MarkComment by eyeluvgozip: As one who knew "McT" and visited his Wyoming-ranch back in the day, all I can say his, "Karma's a... more » | Other threads
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anthony pellicano
Brad's Pelican Problem, Part III: We Were Only Casual Five Times Edition
Today's NY Times nudges the Anthony Pellicano Wiretapping Trial of the Century incrementally closer to embattled Paramount emperor Brad Grey's doorstep, reporting that when the studio chief told the FBI that he was "casually acquainted" with the "colorful" Pellicano, he probably meant something slightly cozier than just nodding a "What's up?" to the detective across the room at a cocktail party: More »
defamer
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