NYT's New Pellicano Blockbuster Exposes Brad Gray and Mike Ovitz

LA Weekly ^ | 4/13/6 | Nikki Finke

[SmithL]

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.

Back on March 15th, in my LA Weekly column, I raised the issue of whether Grey and Ovitz were suffering from what I called "Pellicano amnesia" because I knew of direct contact between them and the thug detective. Now the NYT gets down to it. The NYT reports tomorrow that "Grey told the FBI he spoke with Anthony Pellicano about two lawsuits in which Pellicano, a private detective, was working on Grey's behalf, and that he learned information about his legal opponents directly from Pellicano." The paper identified those legal opponents as Garry Shandling and Bo Zenga. The NYT goes on to report that a former employee of Pellicano's "separately told the FBI that Grey had met with the detective at least five times."

Of course, "publicly," the paper points out, "Grey has said he was only 'casually acquainted' with Pellicano and that his lawyers were responsible for hiring and overseeing the detective." Ovitz, too, has publicly pinned contact with Pellicano on lawyers. But the NYT says Ovitz has "acknowledged to the FBI that he paid Pellicano in April or May of 2002 to obtain information on 15 to 20 people who were saying negative things about him. They included former business associates and Bernard Weinraub, then a reporter for The New York Times who was reporting on the demise of a management company Ovitz had put together after he left Disney, and Anita Busch, a freelance reporter who wrote with Weinraub." Ron Meyer, Ovitz's former CAA partner and now president/COO of Universal Studios, and Geffen, a partner in Dreamworks which was just bought by Grey's Paramount, were Ovitz nemeses.

It's important to note, as the paper does, that both men say they are witnesses in the probe, not targets. Ovitz's lawyer denied to the NYT that the CAA co-founder and ex-Disney president "had given Pellicano a list of anyone to investigate other than people who had sued him. If Pellicano 'went out and used illegal means to get information that he thought would impress Mr. Ovitz, that was not done with Mr. Ovitz's knowledge and consent,' he said." The lawyer also told the NYT that Ovitz "had consistently 'maintained he did not authorize Pellicano to wiretap anyone.' Ovitz himself was supposedly wiretapped by Pellicano, the paper said."

There's much more, but these are the pertinent details. I'll put up the story link as soon it goes up on the NYT website. Stay tuned.

[SmithL]

Hmmmmm. Still nothing about Hillary. Everyone's afraid of Arkancide.

[DB]

I hope Pellicano kept detailed records...

If he did, Bill Clinton is going to come up...

[Nomorjer Kinov]

And if the impeached former president's name does come up, Mr. Pellicano should seriously consider hiring a protective team.

[NormsRevenge]

Yup. Thanks for posting , just saw it had some meat added to the link up earlier on Drudge.


Be a shame if this case blew up in the middle of the '08 dem convention..
NOT :)

Still nothing about Hillary
In due time, not to worry, in due time. ;-)

[justiceseeker93]

Essentials about the Pellicano matter which the MSM doesn't tell us:

(1) This is not Pellicano's first brush with the law.

(2) While all these names are thrown around, references to Bubba and Tubba are conspicuously absent. Mmm... wonder why?

(3) HRC was also a Pellicano client in the past.

(4) Grey and Ovitz (and perhaps some of the others) are Dem fat cats who contributed to the scandalous HRC 2000 Senate campaign.

Yet another instance of the MSM protecting its favorite twosome!