Private eye Pellicano found guilty

After a two-month-long trial in Los Angeles, the self-proclaimed "private eye to the stars", Anthony Pellicano (pictured), has been found guilty of 76 charges of illegal activity - including unauthorised wire-tapping, intimidation and bribing police officers. As a result, the man employed by a host of big Hollywood names - including the powerful agent and former Disney studio chief Michael Ovitz, Tom Cruise's lawyer Bert Fields, and Paramount boss Brad Grey - is likely to spend the rest of his life in jail when he is sentenced.

Pellicano was a specialist in making problems go away - messy divorces, awkward child custody cases and unfortunate business arrangements.
Almost all his clients have successfully argued that they knew nothing about his illegal methods. These including wire-tapping on a massive scale and bribing police officers and utility employees to run illegal database searches on his behalf.

However, some names have been dragged down with him, including John McTiernan, director of Die Hard, who was heard on tape in conversation with Pellicano, during which the private eye talked about wire-tapping a film producer - and Sandra Carradine, the former wife of actor Keith Carradine.

Although Pellicano, who favours mirror sunglasses and double-breasted suits, has often been likened to a gumshoe in a B-movie, prosecutor Dan Saunders urged the court not to confuse fact and fiction. "This case is about corruption, cheating, greed, arrogance and the perversion of the justice system," he said. "It just happened to take place in Hollywood."