Anthony Pellicano - Related Investigations and Celebrity Connections

Related Investigations and Celebrity Connections

On January 25, 2008, the investigative news website ERSNews.com "The Enterprise Report:" revealed the story of how the former girlfriend of ex-Hollywood Records executive Robert Pfeifer, a woman named Erin Finn became deeply involved in assisting the FBI and its lead agent on the case Stanley Ornellas in investigating Pellicano and bringing federal charges against him and his close friend Pfeifer.

The new charges are a result of a three-year federal investigation into his suspected illegal use of wiretaps and confidential law enforcement records. On January 11, 2006, Pellicano's girlfriend Sandra Will Carradine, the ex-wife of actor Keith Carradine (who was also wiretapped by Pellicano) and veteran Beverly Hills police officer Craig Stevens pleaded guilty to lying about the former detective's use of wiretaps and other illegal tactics. Vanity Fair magazine reported in 2004 that the FBI has also questioned Warren Beatty and Shandling about the matter.

Pellicano's close friend and former record executive Robert Joseph Pfeifer was arrested on February 3, 2006, and charged with unlawful wiretapping and conspiracy.

On April 3, 2006, film director John McTiernan was charged in federal court with lying to the FBI. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, McTiernan was charged with an information, rather than in grand jury indictment, which means he waived his right to an indictment and suggests he may have reached either a prior plea agreement with prosecutors or some sort of cooperating agreement. He was sentenced on September 24, 2007, to four months in prison for lying about his relationship with Pelicano. McTiernan was arraigned and pled guilty on April 17, 2006.

On March 17, 2006, the "Page Six" gossip column in the New York Post reported that actress Nicole Kidman was questioned by the FBI as part of the ongoing Pellicano investigation. Telephone voice recordings of Tom Cruise speaking to his wife at the time, Nicole, were found when authorities first raided Pellicano's offices in 2002. The tapes were allegedly made in 2001, shortly after the Cruises announced they were separating. Cruise used lawyer Dennis Wasser to negotiate his separation and Wasser regularly retained Pellicano's services. Although he has not been charged in the case, Wasser has been told by the FBI he is a "person of interest."

Prominent Hollywood attorney Bertram Fields, a long-time client of Pellicano (lawyer for Tom Cruise), has repeatedly been connected to the ongoing federal wiretapping investigation in the press because of allegations that his celebrity clients have benefited from the former PI's alleged illegal wiretaps directed against members of the media and prominent critics. Carradine and Stevens pleaded guilty to charges they lied about Pellicano's activities against an opponent of one of Fields's clients. Fields has said in statements release by his attorney that he had no knowledge of any possibly illegal activity. Variety reported in 2003 that Stallone was questioned by the FBI when it was revealed the actor's phone may have been illegally tapped by Pellicano, who was working at the time for a client of Fields.

Former Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch had filed a civil lawsuit against Pellicano on May 28, 2004, alleging that he was part of a harassment campaign which included illegal wiretapping and a 2002 death threat.

In 2002, Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch discovered a dead fish with a red rose in its mouth and a sign reading "Stop" on the cracked windshield of her car. At the time, she was writing about Steven Seagal and Mike Ovitz, both clients of Pellicano. The trail eventually led to his office, where FBI agents discovering plastic explosives, grenades, pistols and about $200,000 in cash in Pellicano's safe. He pleaded guilty to weapons charges and went to prison.