Anthony Pellicano, the former “detective to the stars” who was convicted on racketeering charges in 2008, had his sentence partially vacated by an appeals court on Tuesday.
Pellicano had been sentenced to 180 months for two racketeering counts, which included charges of computer fraud and identity theft and operating a criminal enterprise aimed at wiretapping rich and famous victims.
Court papers filed in federal court in California on Tuesday, indicated that a panel had vacated Pellicano’s convictions for aiding and abetting both computer fraud and unauthorized computer access, after determining that the jury instructions defining computer fraud and unauthorized computer access “were clearly erroneous, and that the error was prejudicial.”
The panel affirmed racketeering convictions against Pellicano. He will be resentenced on those convictions.
Prior to his conviction Pellicano’s clients included Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Ovitz and studio executive Brad Grey. Pellicano’s troubles began in 2002 when Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch began writing negative articles about Ovitz, then one of Hollywood’s most powerful players. The writer went to authorities after she found a dead fish, a rose and a note saying “Stop” on the battered windshield of her car.
A probe of the incident led authorities to Pellicano’s office, and the investigation mushroomed, implicating a who’s who of Hollywood powerbrokers, attorneys, movie stars, a rogue L.A. cop and a computer technician.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.