Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicaon was convicted yesterday of federal racketeering and other charges for digging up dirt for his wealthy celebrity clients to use in legal suits, divorce cases and contract disputes.
Pellicano had been accused of eavesdropping on celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and running targeted names of other stars through law enforcement databases to help clients in legal cases.
Pellicano was found guilty of 76 of the 77 counts against him.
The jury found Pellicano guilty of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wiretapping, wire fraud, identity theft, conspiracy to intercept or use wire communications as well as the manufacture or possession of a wiretapping device.
Pellicano was acquitted on a charge of unauthorized computer access.
Fourteen people altogether were charged in relation to the Pellicano case and seven, including film director John McTiernan and former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer, pled guilty to charges of perjury and conspiracy.
However, the biggest Hollywood names that had links to Pellicano, like entertainment attorney Bert Fields, Paramount studio head Brad Grey and agent Michael Ovitz, insisted they didn’t know about his methods and were never charged in the case.
During the case, Pellicano acted as his own attorney and called only one witness and rarely raised objections to the prosecution.
Source: MyWay.com