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Ex-Hollywood private investigator convicted of wiretapping
31/8/2008 12:22

A former Hollywood private investigator and an entertainment lawyer were convicted Friday of wiretapping and conspiracy charges for bugging the phones of a Los Angeles billionaire's ex-wife during a child support dispute.

Anthony Pellicano and Terry Christensen, both 64, face up to 10 years in federal prison and 500,000 dollars in fines each when they are sentenced in November by a judge.

Neither defendant showed any reaction to the jury's decision on the high-profile case when the verdicts were announced.

Pellicano and Christensen were each convicted of conspiracy to commit wiretapping. Pellicano was also convicted of wiretapping and Christensen was convicted of aiding and abetting a wiretap.

An attorney for the defendants' side said they are going to appealing the verdict and fight the case all the way.

During 20 days of trial testimony, persecutors argued that Pellicano and Christensen conspired to illegally bug the telephones of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's ex-wife, Lisa Bonder, who was entangled in a bitter child support dispute in 2002 with Kerkorian.



Xinhua