- Movies, wiretaps and fools
There's nothing like the Anthony Pellicano trial to make seemingly successful people look darn right foolish. Take Adam Sender, a NY hedge fund manager who handed over $1.1 million to producer Aaron Russo in the hopes that he would get into the movie business. Well, Russo never did make any movies and after a while Sender wanted his money back. Sucka!!!! Sender hired an attorney who couldn't even figure out how to serve Russo before finally turning to Bert Fields. And then Fields recommended bringing on Pellicano. Sender, who testified today under immunity, said Fields told him that Pellicano's methods were unorthodox, but that he got the job done. Here's more from Allison Hope Weiner, who is covering the trial for the Huffington Post:
Mr. Sender testified that he met with Mr. Fields and that "Mr. Fields suggested that I work with Mr. Pellicano." Mr. Sender further explained that it was Mr. Fields who sang Mr. Pellicano's praises. "Mr. Fields told me that he was very good at what he did," said Mr. Sender. "He said that he used unorthodox methods, but that he got the job done." At Mr. Saunder's prompting, Mr. Sender noted, "Mr. Fields said that he'd worked with him [Mr. Pellicano] many times in the past and he got the job done." Mr. Sender, sounding somewhat bitter, added that although Mr. Fields didn't take an active role in the lawsuit, another Greenberg lawyer did. (He identified that lawyer as a young associate named David Moriarty.) A few days later, Mr. Sender met with Mr. Pellicano at Mr. Sender's residence in Bel Air. It seems that since Mr. Sender decided to go into the movie business, he also decided that he needed a home in Bel Air.
It was in his new west coast digs that Mr. Sender had his first in-person meeting with Mr. Pellicano. "We didn't discuss Mr. Pellicano's methods," said Mr. Sender. But apparently, they did discuss money--lots of money. Sender ended up paying Pellicano at least $500,000 to investigate Mr. Russo, and also paid another $300,000 to Greenberg Glusker. So, it seems that Mr. Sender ended up paying over $800,000 to collect on a $1.1 million debt owed him by Mr. Russo. (The math was done for him by Mr. Saunders--just in case anyone in the courtroom had missed the math.) And, then, the government went to the tape--an audio recording of Mr. Sender talking about Mr. Pellicano's wiretapping of Mr. Russo. Mr. Sender testified that Mr. Pellicano offered to have Mr. Russo murdered if Mr. Sender authorized it. "If I wanted to," Mr. Sender told a packed courtroom, "I could basically authorize him to have him murdered on his way back from Las Vegas..have somebody follow him back, drive him off the road and bury his body in the desert."
Before Sender was the testimony of Pellicano's ex-girlfriend-turned-government witness, Sandra Carradine, the ex-wife of Keith Carradine. This thing is getting complicated.
|
|
| 04:46 PM Apr 1, 2008 | Email the Daily Dragon | Email this Article | Post Comments |
|
|
