Ovitz testifies in Pellicano trial
The Hollywood super-agent says he discussed embarrassing information about two reporters with the private detective, who faces wire-tapping and racketeering charges
Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz testified this morning that he discussed "embarrassing" information about two entertainment reporters with indicted private eye Anthony Pellicano.
Ovitz told jurors the conversations came as he was reeling under a barrage of bad press as he tried to sell his company, Artists Management Group.
"It was an extraordinarily difficult time for me and the company," said Ovitz, testifying in Pellicano's federal trial on wire-tapping and racketeering charges. "We were in a state of negative press, fueled by rumor and innuendo."
Prosecutors say Ovitz hired Pellicano in May 2002 because he was concerned about negative articles written by Bernard Weinraub, then of the New York Times, and Anita Busch, a freelance reporter who later worked at the Los Angeles Times. That same month, according to the government, Pellicano's co-defendants allegedly searched police and telephone company databases for information about Busch, and she later found her car vandalized by someone who left behind a dead fish, a red rose and a sign saying "Stop."
Busch was also surveilled by a Pellicano employee, and in November 2002 she found an illegal wiretap on her phone, prosecutors said.
Ovitz has not been charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing.
carla.hall@latimes.com
