Anthony Pellicano was a private investigator hired by a number of celebrities, to the point he was known as a "fixer" to help solve sensitive situations. Pellicano, who referred to himself as the "sin eater", has just finished serving a 15-year sentence in prison for a number of charges - many of which he claimed to do in the service of the rich and famous.
He was released from prison on Friday just in time for his 75th birthday, and has previously threatened that, once out, he has plenty of secrets to share from his time working for the likes Michael Ovitz and Brad Grey. This information allegedly includes "even darker truths" about Michael Jackson's child abuse allegations.
In 2003, Pellicano was sentenced to 15 years in jail after being convicted on 78 charges of wiretapping, conspiracy, racketeering and wire fraud. He's been in custody since then, and most recently served his sentence at the low security facility Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution in San Pedro.
Pellicano was working for Jackson during the 1993 child abuse trial regarding Jordy Chandler, and was reportedly heavily involved in negotiations with Jordy's father, Evan. Later, he claimed that he quit the role after discovering "even darker truths" about what Jackson did to other children.
In an interview with Newsweek in 2008, he said that there was a number of celebrities that would be worried when he was eventually released from prison. "A lot of people are quaking that I'm going to disclose a lot of things when I get out," he said at the time. "They'll just have to keep quaking won't they?"
In the same interview, he talked about his time with Michael Jackson and why he decided to stop working for him. "I quit because I found out some truths," he said. "He did something far worse to young boys than molest them."
Last year, he also spoke to the Hollywood Reporter, and claimed that the facts he knows are "even darker" than the allegations made during the Chandler case. "I was offered $500,000 to tell the whole story by a tabloid and I declined, even though, while incarcerated, I needed the money," he said.
In 2002, federal agents raided Pellicano's office, where they discovered both practice grenades and C-4 explsives. His arrest led to a 30-month sentence for possession of dangerous materials. In 2006, he was indicted on 110 counts - with an alleged scheme of wiretapping and illegal background checks under his name.
Representing himself during 2008's 10-day trial, he said he was innocent of the charges, but was convicted of 76 of the 77 counts. According to Variety, prosecutors accused Pellicano of not showing any remorse over the wire-tapping or the instances of bribery. A sentencing memo reads:
“On the contrary, the recordings seized from defendant’s computers reflect the utter enjoyment that he experienced as he invaded every facet of his investigative target’s lawfully protected privacy, speaking derisively about his victims and cackling about how he intended to destroy them."
Now that he's out, it remains to be seen if he will share the information he supposedly holds or not.
