For Immediate Release

Media Contact Anne Howard 310-295-9578

Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who has owned most of Vegas and part of Hollywood, is under Federal scrutiny as reports say he knew of illegal wiretaps of his ex-wife

New Analysis by Alex Ben Block, Senior Columnist for Hollywood Today

Hollywood, CA (rushprnews) 01/11/2007 - The trail of civil and criminal law suits surrounding the high profile investigation into Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano for the first time leads to press shy 89-year-old billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, who had not previously been implicated.

The New York Times (Business, Jan. 11, 2007) lays out the case involving one of LA’s highest profile attorneys and the billionaire who literally bought and sold MGM three times.  

“In recordings that Mr. Pellicano secretly made of his own telephone conversations,” reports The Times, “Mr. Kerkorian’s lawyer, Terry N. Christensen, repeatedly said he told the billionaire — then 84, and locked in a legal dispute with his ex-wife, Lisa Bonder Kerkorian — what the private detective was learning from what prosecutors say were his wiretaps.”

The Times also reports on itself, saying that the newspaper and reporters David M. Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner, are under investigation by the federal prosecutors who want to know how they gained access to evidence, including the taped conversations, that were supposed to be sealed and protected by a court order

“The recordings are among hundreds that prosecutors have turned over to defense lawyers,” reports The Times, “along with tens of thousands of documents. That evidence was subject to a court protective order, and prosecutors are investigating The New York Time’s access to some of it.”

To make their point about the evidence implicating Kerkorian, The Times not only publishes a lengthy article, but also offers up a series of very clear audio recordings of the actual conversations between Pellicano and Christensen. In one audio clip, Pellicano inquires whether “the old man,” meaning Kerkorian, was happy with the information provided by a wiretap of his ex-wife. In another, Pellicano brags to Christensen “there’s no way except with my unique techniques that you would know this.”

The audio clips provide seemingly irrefutable evidence that the highly paid lawyer, who has been indicted and pleaded not guilty to felony wiretapping and conspiracy, acted with the knowledge if not approval of his client, notes entertainment newsmagazine Hollywood Today (www.hollywoodtoday.net)

The tapes also touch on Kerkorian’s obsession at one time with finding out the true biological father of a little girl he had raised as his daughter. Kerkorian eventually figures out, through the Pellicano wiretaps, that the father is probably millionaire movie producer Steve Bing (“Polar Express,” “Beowulf”). Kerkorian later confirmed Bing was the father after another detective took material from Bing’s trash that was used to make a DNA match  Busy man Bing also had a DNA test that proved he was the father of Elizabeth Hurley’s baby boy.   

According to The times, Christensen’s lawyer Terree A. Bowers “when told the thrust of this article,” writes The Times, “called it ‘irresponsible, unwarranted and a pack of lies.’ He added: “In fact, there are absolutely no tapes or reliable evidence of any wiretaps involving the Kerkorian-Bonder litigation. The charges are and remain totally unfounded.”

Pellicano has refused to talk about his clients, cases or work. He is currently in prison while awaiting another trial recently re-scheduled to begin in August. Pellicano also last week got permission to act as his own attorney, amid rumors he could no longer afford outside counsel, and was too proud to be a charity case. Pellicano declined a court appointed attorney and was told he would be held to the same standards as a lawyer.

Christensen and Pellicano and five others were indicted in February 2006. Two of those charged have admitted guilt while the other five await trial.

The Times says that Kerkorian may be called to testify at the trial scheduled for late summer, although it adds that “Mr. Kerkorian has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and it is unlikely that someone could be held criminally liable for the actions of an investigator hired by his lawyer without showing that the client knew of the investigator’s illegal acts.”
 

Kerkorian, with homes in Beverly Hills and Las Vegas, is a self-made first generation Armenian-American, with a net worth estimated in 2006 by Forbes Magazine at $8.7 billion. Although he sold MGM last year at a huge profit, for the third time, Kerkorian through his Tracinda holding company still owns controlling interest in MGM Mirage, the huge gaming company (Mirage, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Treasure Island, New York-New York and other casino hotels). Until he pulled back last year, Kerkorian was also was the largest individual shareholder in General Motors and previously was a big investor in Chrysler Corporation, which he helped push into the arms of Mercedes.

It is vitally important to Kerkorian to keep his record clean. He owns control of gaming companies that must be licensed by various authorities, and is involved in public market transactions, such as a recent effort to buy back MGM Mirage stock, that could be impacted by legal problems.

And even if he is not indicted or charged directly, this new evidence linking Kerkorian to the scandal opens the door to civil suits by Kerkorian’s ex-wife, her attorney and others in the wide ranging and still expanding case.   

 Block has been editor of The Hollywood Reporter and TV Times as well as associate editor of Forbes Magazine. He is a best-selling author and a radio talk show host in L.A.
Permission to re-print or rebroadcast granted provided Hollywood Today is credited and web address (www.hollywoodtoday.net) is listed whenever possible.

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