Inside Move: Site posts Pellicano tapes

New York Times puts audio recordings online

By VARIETY STAFF

Pellicano

The New York Times injected a bit of new spice into the whole Anthony Pellicano affair late Wednesday when it posted to its Web site audio recordings and transcripts of the Hollywood private eye's secret conversations with attorney Terry N. Christensen, where the private eye shares highly intimate details in a nasty custody dispute between Christiansen's client Kirk Kerkorian and his ex-wife, Lisa Bonder Kerkorian.

Prosecutors allege that Pellicano, working on behalf of Christiansen, tapped Bonder's phone and gained access to private conversations between her and her attorney. Pellicano and Christiansen have each pleaded not guilty to wiretapping and conspiracy charges.

The Times says the recordings show Christensen provided Kerkorian with details of his ex-wife's private phone conversations, even though Christensen stops short of saying Kerkorian knew of the wiretapping.

Indeed, in one conversation about the bounty of information that Pellicano has provided to Kirk Kerkorian's side, Pellicano tells Christensen, "Tell me that the old man has a smile on his face." Christensen replies, "He does, OK? Our jaw is still hanging down."

At the time, 2002, Kerkorian was embroiled in a child support and paternity battle with his ex-wife.

The recordings posted on the site don't change the dynamics of the case, or even implicate anyone new, but it does give a peak into the characters in the whole affair. The audio recordings reveal a demanding, sometimes angry Pellicano. He talks about private conversations between Lisa Bonder Kerkorian and her attorney, and even with her father.

And in another conversation, Christensen and Pellicano negotiate the P.I.'s payment.

Christensen says, "If there were proof of exactly how she got pregnant ... be it from a lab or -- and exactly how that happened -- or if there were proof of exactly who the father is ... that would be worth $100,000."

Pellicano says, "Well, it should be worth a lot more than that."

The Times said that the recordings came from hundreds that prosecutors have turned over to defense lawyers, which was subject to a protective court order. Prosecutors, the Times said, are investigating their access to some of it.