FBI Searches Paparazzi Firm, Owner’s Home

Has the heated world of celebrity gossip entered the realm of espionage?

The FBI this week served search warrants at the business and home of the co-owner of a paparazzi agency, trying to determine whether someone attempted to hack into the computer system at US Weekly, according to several law enforcement sources and the co-owner’s spokesman.

Federal agents want to know whether one of the owners of Sunset Photo and News attempted to learn what stories the staff at US Weekly, a Hollywood gossip magazine, was working on, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Agents on Tuesday seized at least one computer during a search of the Topanga Canyon home of Jill Ishkanian, said her spokesman, Glenn Feldman. Ishkanian, 41, is the former West Coast editor of US Weekly who left the magazine to form Sunset Photo and News with two other investors.

Feldman said Ishkanian did nothing wrong.

“She is completely cooperating, and she is an open book,” he said. “She has never unlawfully obtained information from US Weekly.”

Feldman said that the search was limited to files and documents related to Ishkanian’s US Weekly tenure and that Sunset Photo was not the target of the investigation. He said the FBI took Ishkanian’s computer to determine whether it had been used to access US Weekly records and promised to return it within 48 hours.

The FBI refused to confirm or deny that the search had been conducted.

Feldman said he suspects that US Weekly is the source of the complaint but said he could not confirm that because the search warrant remains under court-ordered seal. Edmund Tagliaferri, a spokesman for US Weekly, declined to comment on the probe.

Sunset Photo and News is a relatively new paparazzi service, but industry observers say it is on the rise.

In recent months, Sunset scored lucrative shots of actress Denise Richards with musician Richie Sambora. (The two celebrities have been on the gossip pages because of their high-profile breakups with, respectively, actors Charlie Sheen and Heather Locklear.)

Frank Griffin, considered the dean of Hollywood paparazzi and co-owner of the Bauer Griffin agency, said he was surprised that federal authorities would investigate a case involving tabloids, but added that Hollywood gossip is a hot commodity and the competition is intense.

“A publication like US Weekly [has] quite big databases of celebrity information,” Griffin said. “We take massive precautions with our computers.”

Griffin stressed that he’s heard nothing about the federal investigation and could not comment on its merits.

Feldman questioned the timing of the investigation. He said Ishkanian had been subpoenaed by attorneys for Britney Spears and her husband, Kevin Federline, in their lawsuit against US Weekly over a story the couple said was false.

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Times staff writer Jonathan Abrams contributed to this report.