Hollywood wiretaps could touch big stars

LOS ANGELES - A US federal court has ruled that prosecutors can comb through transcripts of wiretaps found in the office of celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano, in a case that could involve some of Hollywood biggest stars.

The ruling by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Pellicano's argument that the November 2002 search of his Hollywood office was illegal, and that evidence seized there could not be used to convict him.

The court also confirmed Pellicano's conviction on charges that he had unregistered firearms, grenades and enough plastic explosives to bring down an airliner in a safe in the office.

Pellicano, a private eye for more than two decades, called himself a "sin eater" for Hollywood stars and was often called on to keep his clients' names out of the press.

His client list included Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson, Kevin Costner, Farrah Fawcett and some of Hollywood's biggest entertainment lawyers.

The federal probe was originally triggered by reports that Pellicano had engineered threats against Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch to stop her from writing a story about his client, action star Steven Seagal.

FBI agents found the explosives and the equivalent of two billion pages of wiretap transcripts while searching Pellicano's office for evidence.

Thursday's appellate opinion gives prosecutors free rein to use the evidence to support more charges against Pellicano or others involved in the wiretapping, which could touch some of Hollywood's biggest names.

Busch said she received threatening telephone messages, was nearly run down by two men in a car, that her computer hard drive was destroyed, and that someone placed a dead fish, a rose and a note that said "Stop" on her car windshield.

At the time, Busch was working on a story about an alleged Mafia extortion plot against Seagal.

At least two other reporters have accused Pellicano of trying to intimidate them into killing negative stories about his celebrity clients.

Pellicano is scheduled to be released from prison next February.

- REUTERS