Grey, who is one of the producers of The Sopranos, is a leading talent manager whose company, Brillstein-Grey, represents stars like Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler. In an interview, Shandling said the FBI had asked him "questions about wiretapping."
"The FBI was interested in my lawsuit in regards to Brad Grey, and the circumstances of the press campaign mounted against me," Shandling said. He added that he had been informed that "my name and other people who were deposed in my lawsuit, their names were run through a computer at the LAPD." He would not elaborate, but the reference was apparently to the suspension in June of Sargent Mark Arneson of the robbery-homicide division of the Los Angeles Police Department, who was accused of tapping into police databases on Pellicano's behalf.
An FBI spokesman in Los Angeles said that the agency "was not at liberty to discuss the investigation."
When asked about the possible use of wiretaps in the Shandling case, Grey said: "I can't imagine Bert Fields would be involved or get his clients involved in anything like this. I never heard anything about any wiretapping, and that's what I shared with investigators when they asked."
What set off the growing investigation was the threat against Busch, an entertainment reporter for The Los Angeles Times who has also written for The New York Times. Busch had told authorities she believed the incident was related to her research for an article about the actor Steven Seagal and his relationship with a possible suspect of organized crime.
According to court documents, Alexander Proctor implicated himself in the threat against Busch during a tape-recorded conversation with an FBI informant. Proctor told the informant he had been offered US$10,000 by Pellicano to set Busch's car on fire but, uncomfortable with that, he purchased the fish and a rose to warn her off the story.
Authorities obtained a warrant to search Pellicano's office for evidence linking him to Proctor. Federal agents said that during the search, two unregistered hand grenades and some plastic explosives were found.
The search also turned up the computer files that have become the focus of the federal investigation. Pellicano pleaded guilty last month to the charges of possessing explosives, and although formal sentencing is not until January, he is expected to enter prison next Monday. Pellicano and Seagal have denied involvement in any threat to Busch case -- and neither has been charged with trying to threaten the reporter.
RSS