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LOS ANGELES A federal judge refused to suppress evidence in a government case that accused Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano of illegally wiretapping stars. U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer issued six separate rulings on Friday that went against Pellicano and five co-defendants. The motions sought to suppress evidence the defense argued was mishandled or obtained through government misconduct. That included recordings of Pellicano's telephone conversations that were seized in a search of his Sunset Strip offices four years ago. One of the motions sought to have the entire criminal indictment dismissed. "We are extremely pleased with the court's ruling,"...

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge sentenced Hollywood director John McTiernan to four months in prison Monday after refusing to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea to charges of lying to the FBI about his association with disgraced private eye Anthony Pellicano. Judge Dale S. Fischer gave the director of such films as "Die Hard" and "The Thomas Crown Affair" until Jan. 15 to turn himself in to authorities. McTiernan's attorney said he would appeal. McTiernan was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. When he entered his plea last year, McTiernan said he lied when he told an...

HILLARY AND PELLICANO SING-ALONG If you have time, please leave a comment and a rating. Please send it to everyone you know. It was recently revealed that Hillary listened to illegally obtained cellphone conversations. This relationship to Pellicano must be exposed. The MSM refuses to use her name in any of the Pellicano stories. Do you want to help do something about that? Thanks for the help. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (scroll down on FOX site for the story) Pellicano Marries in Prison Jailed private eye Anthony Pellicano remarried his ex-wife on Friday in Los Angeles. - she's the source of numerous...

A federal wiretapping trial involving private investigator Anthony Pellicano and five co-defendants was postponed to Feb. 27. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer on Monday granted a defense motion seeking a delay. One of the defendants, Kevin Kachikian, hired a new attorney and asked for additional time to have the lawyer review the case. Trial was slated to begin in August. Prosecutors opposed the motion, arguing defense attorneys have had enough time to prepare for trial. "While this case is complex, it is not so complex as to require the delay that defendants now seek of a full two years between...

LOS ANGELES, May 20 — Just hours after a raft of articles suggesting the impending collapse of his business hit the papers on April 11, 2002, Michael S. Ovitz did what Hollywood moguls had done for a generation: He called Anthony Pellicano. “I need to see you,” Mr. Ovitz said, asking for a private meeting at an out-of-the-way spot. “This is the single most complex situation imaginable.” They all went to Mr. Pellicano when their situations seemed too complex, or the stakes too high, to leave anything to chance: executives and actors, studio bosses and their jilted spouses, the hottest...

LOS ANGELES - Civil trials stemming from a Hollywood wiretapping scandal will have to wait until private investigator Anthony Pellicano and five others are tried in a federal criminal case, a judge ruled Monday. Attempting to move the civil cases forward while the criminal trial is pending would be a "judicial nightmare," Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman said. He said several issues, including interviews of potential witnesses, could complicate the legal process."There is no question in my mind at this juncture, a stay is needed," said Lichtman, who ordered attorneys to return to court Oct. 22.More than a dozen lawsuits...

LOS ANGELES - Anthony Pellicano, the jailed private eye under federal indictment in a Hollywood wiretaps case, married his former wife in a courtroom ceremony Friday. While the couple sealed their union with a passionate kiss, prosecutors may suspect a less romantic reason for the wedding — to keep Kat Pellicano from testifying in the case. "What a birthday present," said Pellicano, who turned 63 a day earlier, and was wearing shackles for the brief ceremony. He pointed to them and joked to his family, "New jewelry." Kat Pellicano, 50, wore a formfitting white sleeveless dress and brought a cream-colored...

A businessman was sentenced Monday to 4 1/2 years in federal prison for a pair of schemes, including one that authorities said involved wiretapping by Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano. Daniel Nicherie, 46, pleaded guilty in December to one count of aiding and abetting, admitting in federal court that he authorized Pellicano to intercept phone conversations pertaining to a business dispute. Prosecutors said Nicherie paid Pellicano $160,000 and listened to the intercepted conversations at the detective's office. Nicherie also pleaded guilty to wire fraud, pension fraud and money laundering charges in a separate case in which he was accused of...

A federal grand jury on Wednesday returned a revised indictment in a Hollywood wiretapping scandal that chronicles further conversations between private investigator Anthony Pellicano and an attorney representing billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. The new indictment comes more than a year after initial charges were filed in the case and six months before trial is expected to begin. Prosecutors promised another indictment was forthcoming but no new defendants and charges were included in the latest version. It does include detailed discussions between Pellicano, 62, and Terry Christensen, an attorney who represented Kirkorian in a child-support battle with his ex-wife. Prosecutors accused Christensen...

Former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano, who is awaiting a federal trial on wiretapping and racketeering charges, has been sued by executors for the estate of the late Herbalife International founder Mark Hughes. The federal lawsuit claims that Pellicano wiretapped the executive on behalf of his former wife, Suzan Hughes, while the couple was going through a divorce. The complaint alleges that Suzan Hughes used information from Pellicano's alleged wiretaps to negotiate a "highly advantageous" divorce settlement in march 1998. Hughes, who built Herbalife into a billion-dollar nutritional supplement business, died in 2000 from a drug and alcohol overdose. Besides...

Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano can trade his trench coat for legal briefs after a federal judge granted him permission Friday to act as his own lawyer in his wiretapping and racketeering trial. Pellicano must "follow all the same rules as lawyers," U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer said. "And I will not help you. You will not receive special treatment from me at all." No reason was given in court to explain why Pellicano wanted to dismiss his current attorney, Steven Gruel. Pellicano, 62, has maintained he is broke, but Gruel said he offered to work on the case for...

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...

Los Angeles -- Imprisoned private investigator Anthony Pellicano said Wednesday he rejected numerous attempts by federal prosecutors to negotiate a plea bargain in his Hollywood wiretap case because he didn't want to break the trust of celebrities, lawyers and other former clients. "At least 10 times in this case I've been offered a plea bargain. It's not going to happen," Pellicano told The Associated Press in a phone interview from federal prison. Pellicano said he intended to remain silent, even though Hollywood is infested with "great white sharks" who don't play by the rules and constantly lie to get what...

When the country's most famous private investigator was charged with illegal wiretapping in February, it gave the Hollywood elite, whom he served, quite a scare. Will the fear have a lasting effect?

Los Angeles (AP) -- A former phone company employee was acquitted Monday on four perjury charges related to the wiretapping case against Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano, and the jury deadlocked on the fifth count. Joann Wiggan, 52, was one of three SBC employees who were alleged to have supplied a former co-worker with information from confidential databases. She was accused of lying to a grand jury about her activities. Wiggan's attorney, David Reed, described his client as a "soccer mom who's never been in trouble." He said the verdict "is akin to David beating Goliath." Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel...

Los Angeles -- A lawyer indicted in a federal wiretapping case was sued Wednesday by an attorney who represented billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's former wife during a child custody battle four years ago. Stephen Kolodny filed the lawsuit in Superior Court against Terry Christensen, a partner at Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro. The suit accuses Christensen and the law firm of invasion of privacy, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Kolodny is seeking general, special and punitive damages. Messages left for Christensen and Kolodny's attorney were not immediately returned Wednesday. Christensen is awaiting trial with six other...

The Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles has barred a New York Times reporter from the facility for allegedly misrepresenting herself in an effort to interview Anthony Pellicano, the celebrity detective at the center of a Hollywood wiretapping scandal. Allison Hope Weiner, who has written about the Pellicano case, got into the jail last month after presenting a State Bar of California card and asking to speak with the investigator. Weiner, who earned a degree 20 years ago from the USC law school, is registered with the California bar but has never done legal work for Pellicano or the New...

Los Angeles -- A lawsuit filed Monday claims "Die Hard" director John McTiernan hired a celebrity private eye to illegally wiretap his ex-wife. Donna Dubrow's invasion-of-privacy suit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and seeks unspecified damages for what it calls a "reprehensible scheme." The suit says McTiernan and his wife separated in the summer of 1997. During "extremely contentious" divorce proceedings, McTiernan hired Anthony Pellicano for more than $100,000 to wiretap Dubrow and record her telephone conversations so he could obtain a "tactical advantage in his dispute," the lawsuit states. McTiernan's attorney, John Carlton, declined comment, saying...

Until now the Pellicano wiretapping case has seemed the kind of down-and-dirty imbroglio that could only happen in Hollywood, where a private eye's underworld patois could impress movie people familiar with noir clichés, allured by real physical danger and accustomed to getting whatever they want. But confidential F.B.I. records show that the scandal's tentacles have extended beyond show-business figures to reach people prominent in the rarified worlds of fine art and classical music. Among the government's most important witnesses, the F.B.I. records suggest, are Adam D. Sender, a prominent collector of contemporary art and a wealthy hedge-fund manager..........hired Anthony Pellicano,...

WILLIAM Jefferson Blythe III was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark. After his mother remarried, he took the family surname, Clinton. Clinton was a good student. He enjoyed playing the saxophone and even considered a professional musical career. While in high school, a fortuitous meeting with President John Kennedy led him to choose a life of public service.