Posted on 12/12/2006 8:37:48 PM PST by NormsRevenge
A businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to aiding and abetting charges linked to the wiretapping case against one-time private eye to the stars Anthony Pellicano.
Daniel Nicherie, 46, was the seventh defendant to plead guilty in connection with sweeping allegations of a conspiracy involving wiretapping and digging up dirt on people, including celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone.
Nicherie admitted in federal court that he authorized Pellicano to intercept the telephone conversations of a man he was in a business dispute with. Prosecutors alleged that Nicherie listened to the intercepted conversations and translated those talks at Pellicano's office.
Under a deal with prosecutors, Nicherie also pleaded guilty to counts of wire fraud, pension fraud and money laundering in a separate case where he was charged with bilking $275,000 from an investor and transferring $109,000 in proceeds from the scheme to his bank account.
Nicherie's attorney, Kiana Sloan-Hillier, declined to release details of the plea deal. Nicherie was expected to receive "considerably less" than the 35-year maximum penalty for the charges, she said.
U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer scheduled his sentencing for March 5.
Sloan-Hillier said her client agreed to the plea deal because he was anxious to get out of custody and see his family.
"He's a father, he has children, one of whom is ill," she said outside court. "He's trying to do the right thing. He's trying to get home to them."
Fourteen people have been charged in the wiretapping case, including Nicherie's brother, Abner, who prosecutors said was also in a business dispute with the man who was wiretapped.
By entering his plea Tuesday, Daniel Nicherie was "not implicating" his brother, Sloan-Hillier said.
Prosecutors contend Pellicano illegally wiretapped the phones of such people as Stallone and Keith Carradine and bribed police officers to run the names of more than 60 people, including comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, through government databases. According to court documents, the information gathered was used to get dirt for threats, blackmail and in some cases to secure a tactical advantage in litigation.
Pellicano has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and wiretapping charges and is scheduled for trial in August.
8 down, 6 to go..
(no wonder california is running out of prison space)
When does someone call Hillary?
There is a whole website dedicated to the brothers Nicherie and a long list of crimes.
Not nice fellas!
http://www.bigcrime.com/
wow.. Thanks for that link,, these boys were busy , to say the least.
ROFL! That website linked to one alleged "victim".
For the Nicherie side of the story...
http://www.freenicherie.com/index.html
not when you stack them up like legos.......if you know what I mean...
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