Anthony Pellicano was Hollywood’s most feared private investigator for nearly two decades, a self-styled “problem solver” whose clients included Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the entertainment lawyers who represented them. A 2002 FBI raid on his Sunset Boulevard office exposed a criminal enterprise built on illegal wiretaps, bribed police officers, and intimidation. He was convicted of 78 felony counts, sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, and walked free on his 75th birthday in 2019 after serving the full term.
How He Became Hollywood’s Go-To Investigator
Pellicano, born March 22, 1944, in Cicero, Illinois, moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and got his first major Hollywood job dissecting government surveillance tapes for the defense of former auto executive John Z. DeLorean.1Biography.com. Who Is Anthony Pellicano He charged at least $25,000 just for an initial consultation.2ABC News. Anthony Pellicano Hollywood Private Eye Talks Jackson Schwarzenegger
Much of his work came through lawyers rather than directly from the stars. Entertainment attorney Bert Fields retained him more than any other client across roughly two decades, using him to find witnesses, run background checks, and conduct surveillance on opposing parties in litigation.3The New Yorker. Hollywood Ending Former super-agent Michael Ovitz, director John McTiernan, and former Paramount chief Brad Grey were also among those who employed him.4The Hollywood Reporter. Anthony Pellicano Scandal Major Players
The Michael Jackson Case
Pellicano’s most visible pre-scandal assignment came in 1993, when he served as Michael Jackson’s lead spokesman and investigator during the child molestation allegations against the singer. He publicly accused the accuser’s father of trying to extort $20 million and released a tape recording he said supported the theory, though the tape was described as “heavily edited.”5Los Angeles Times. Pellicano Resigns From Jackson Case He later acknowledged that his strategy had been to “buy time” and “discredit” Jackson’s accusers, deliberately delaying contact with police for more than two months.6The Washington Post. Jackson’s Childhood Obsession
Neither he nor Jackson’s team filed an extortion complaint with authorities until after the Los Angeles Times reported that police had never received one. Pellicano resigned from the case on December 15, 1993, calling it his “sole decision” and maintaining that Jackson was innocent.5Los Angeles Times. Pellicano Resigns From Jackson Case Years later, in a prison interview, he said he had left after discovering “some truths,” claiming Jackson “did something far worse to young boys than molest them,” but he refused to elaborate.2ABC News. Anthony Pellicano Hollywood Private Eye Talks Jackson Schwarzenegger
The Dead Fish, the Raid, and What the FBI Found
On June 20, 2002, Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch found a dead fish, a rose, and a note reading “Stop” on her car, along with a bullet-sized hole in the windshield.7The New York Times. Pellicano Case She had been reporting on Michael Ovitz’s career and on connections between actor Steven Seagal, former producing partner Julius Nasso, and organized crime.8SF Gate. Pellicano Pleads No Contest to Making Threat
The FBI traced the threat to Alexander Proctor, a longtime Pellicano associate recorded by an informant boasting about the intimidation.9Los Angeles Times. Pellicano Associate Proctor Agents obtained a search warrant for Pellicano’s Sunset Boulevard office and found two hand grenades, a brick of C-4 plastic explosive, and $200,000 in cash.10Crime Library. Anthony Pellicano Pellicano pleaded guilty to weapons charges and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He and Proctor also pleaded no contest to threatening a reporter in a separate state case, each receiving three-year sentences to run concurrently.8SF Gate. Pellicano Pleads No Contest to Making Threat The office search also produced evidence of a far larger wiretapping and surveillance operation.
The Federal Wiretapping Case
In February 2006, a federal grand jury indicted Pellicano on 112 counts, including racketeering, wiretapping, bribery, identity theft, destruction of evidence, and perjury.3The New Yorker. Hollywood Ending Prosecutors alleged the Pellicano Investigative Agency had run as a criminal enterprise, using illegal wiretaps to give clients an edge in civil litigation. Pellicano had bribed a sworn Los Angeles police officer for confidential information and enlisted a Pacific Bell field technician and a software developer to build and maintain the surveillance network.11National Law Journal. Celebrity Private Eye Pellicano Found Guilty
The case was tried before U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer in the Central District of California (case number 2:05-cr-01046).12CourtListener. United States v. Pellicano After a nine-week trial, a jury convicted Pellicano of 76 counts on May 15, 2008.11National Law Journal. Celebrity Private Eye Pellicano Found Guilty A second trial that August, on charges severed from the first, added two more convictions for conspiracy and wiretapping tied to the phone-tapping of Lisa Bonder, ex-wife of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. Entertainment attorney Terry Christensen had paid Pellicano at least $100,000 to intercept Bonder’s calls, including privileged conversations with her own lawyers, during a child-support dispute with Kerkorian.13U.S. Department of Justice. Pellicano and Christensen Convicted
The total came to 78 counts. On December 15, 2008, Judge Fischer sentenced Pellicano to 15 years in federal prison and ordered him to forfeit roughly $2 million.14The Guardian. Pellicano Hollywood Trial
Who Else Was Convicted
Several people were prosecuted alongside him:
- Terry Christensen, the managing partner of a prominent Los Angeles law firm, was convicted of conspiracy and illegal eavesdropping in the Kerkorian scheme and sentenced to three years in prison.15MetNews. Christensen Conviction Affirmed
- Mark Arneson, a retired LAPD sergeant, was convicted of racketeering for feeding Pellicano confidential law-enforcement information and sentenced to 121 months.16FindLaw. United States v. Christensen
- Rayford Turner, a former Pacific Bell field technician who installed and maintained the wiretapping equipment, was convicted of racketeering and wiretapping conspiracy and sentenced to 121 months.16FindLaw. United States v. Christensen
- Kevin Kachikian, the software developer who created the wiretapping technology, was convicted of participating in the conspiracy and sentenced to 27 months.16FindLaw. United States v. Christensen
- Abner Nicherie, a Pellicano client, was convicted of aiding and abetting wiretapping in a personal business dispute and sentenced to 21 months.16FindLaw. United States v. Christensen
- John McTiernan, the director of Die Hard, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about hiring Pellicano to wiretap producer Charles Roven. After trying to withdraw the plea, he was sentenced by Judge Fischer in 2010 to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.17CBS News. John McTiernan Die Hard Director Gets Year in Prison
Pellicano, Arneson, and Turner were jointly ordered to forfeit $2,008,250.16FindLaw. United States v. Christensen
Appeals and Resentencing
On August 25, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on the consolidated appeals in United States v. Christensen. The panel affirmed the core convictions, including all racketeering and wiretapping counts against Pellicano, Christensen’s wiretapping convictions, and Kachikian’s convictions. It vacated certain aiding-and-abetting computer fraud counts against Pellicano, Arneson, and Turner, relying on the Ninth Circuit’s intervening decision in United States v. Nosal, and vacated Nicherie’s aiding-and-abetting wiretap conviction. The cases were remanded for possible retrial on the vacated counts and for resentencing.16FindLaw. United States v. Christensen
At a resentencing hearing on July 31, 2017, Judge Fischer reimposed the original 15-year term, finding the vacated counts had only a “marginal impact” on the original sentence and that 180 months remained “reasonable and sufficient.”18Los Angeles Times. Anthony Pellicano Resentencing Pellicano told the court he did not intend to appeal further.19Deadline. Anthony Pellicano Re-Sentenced
Civil Lawsuits and Settlements
The criminal case triggered a wave of civil litigation. By 2013, nearly two dozen Pellicano-related lawsuits had been filed against telephone companies, law enforcement, and the individuals who allegedly hired him.20The Hollywood Reporter. Anthony Pellicano Wiretap Lawsuit Nears Many were delayed for years while the criminal proceedings took priority.
The most prominent civil case was Anita Busch’s lawsuit against Michael Ovitz, which alleged the former super-agent was behind the campaign against her. After more than a decade of litigation, Busch and Ovitz reached a confidential settlement in January 2018, days before trial, reported to be nearly $13 million.21The Hollywood Reporter. Michael Ovitz Resolves Dispute Over Anita Busch Settlement Payment More than 500 people whose calls were intercepted while speaking with Busch pursued a class action against AT&T that also settled. Separate suits against Tom Cruise and Brad Grey were dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds.20The Hollywood Reporter. Anthony Pellicano Wiretap Lawsuit Nears
The Bert Fields Question
How much his lawyer clients knew about his methods was one of the case’s enduring questions, and no name mattered more than Bert Fields, the entertainment litigator who retained Pellicano across roughly two decades. Their collaborations spanned the defense of producer Don Simpson in a sexual-harassment case, threatening letters sent to George Harrison, the 1993 Michael Jackson matter, a plagiarism dispute over Amistad, and efforts to suppress tabloid stories involving Tom Cruise, Chris Rock, and Mike Myers.3The New Yorker. Hollywood Ending
Federal prosecutors designated Fields a “subject” of the grand jury investigation, and the Los Angeles Times described a “corrosive effect” on his firm, Greenberg Glusker, which saw several partners depart and hired a full-time attorney to manage the fallout.22Los Angeles Times. Pellicano Investigation and Bert Fields Fields was never charged and consistently denied knowing that Pellicano used illegal wiretaps.23The Hollywood Reporter. Bert Fields Dead Famed Hollywood Litigator Terry Christensen, not Fields, was the first attorney actually charged in the scandal.
Release and Life After Prison
Pellicano was released from the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in San Pedro on the morning of March 22, 2019, his 75th birthday, one day ahead of schedule under a federal policy that lets prisoners due for weekend release leave early.24Los Angeles Times. Anthony Pellicano Released From Prison He had been in custody since 2003. Three years of supervised probation followed.
In 2021, reports surfaced that producer Joel Silver had hired Pellicano for a business dispute after his release.25The Hollywood Reporter. Anthony Pellicano New York Times Doc Interview In March 2023, the two-part FX documentary Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano, produced as part of The New York Times Presents and directed by John Pappas with reporting by Liz Day and Rachel Abrams, aired on FX and Hulu. It included a sit-down interview with Pellicano and drew on audio recordings of his phone calls, including one in which he discussed reading an illegally obtained police report to Chris Rock and plotting to discredit a woman accusing the comedian of sexual abuse.26The Hollywood Reporter. Sin Eater Documentary Review Reviewers noted that he showed no remorse and remained committed to protecting his former clients’ secrets.