Pellicano client testifies she listened to wiretaps

The ex-wife of prominent Los Angeles developer Robert Maguire testified Thursday that she paid former private eye Anthony Pellicano nearly $1 million to locate her estranged husband's assets during a divorce and heard numerous wiretapped recordings of Maguire's conversations with his psychiatrist, onetime mistress, world-famous architect Frank Gehry and others.

The account by Susan Maguire represented the first time in the two-week-old trial that a former Pellicano client had acknowledged listening to the alleged wiretaps, which federal authorities contend were a key part of the private detective's lucrative business.

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FOR THE RECORD:
Law firm: An article in Friday's California section about private eye Anthony Pellicano's trial on federal wiretapping charges misspelled the name of the Greenberg Glusker law firm as Greenburg Glusker. —

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Maguire's testimony overshadowed the long-anticipated appearance of Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey, who was among Pellicano's most famous former clients. Grey said he had no knowledge of any illegal activity by the onetime investigator.

The 63-year-old Pellicano and four co-defendants are charged in a 110-count indictment that alleges wiretapping, conspiracy, racketeering and other federal charges.

Susan Maguire, a government witness who testified under a grant of immunity, said Pellicano was brought into her case in 1996 by attorneys from the Century City law firm of Greenburg Glusker, one of Pellicano's most reliable clients over the years.

She testified that Pellicano quickly determined that the wealthy developer -- who helped create Los Angeles' downtown skyline -- had plenty of hidden assets, including aircraft at Van Nuys Airport and a Pasadena home he allegedly bought for his mistress through a friend who is also a major real estate developer.

Pleased with Pellicano's work, Maguire said, she continued to pay him to investigate her estranged husband. In March 1997, she said, she gave Pellicano $200,000, which he requested as "a loan." The loan, she said, was never repaid. She also said she gave him diamond earrings worth $100,000. At other times, she said, Pellicano requested that she give him checks, each in the amount of $9,500. She said he told her that amount would not "cause alarm" at banks because it was less than $10,000.

Over time, Maguire said, Pellicano became increasingly comfortable showing her the fruits of his labor, allowing her to look at phone numbers he had stored on his computer and a DMV photo of her husband's then-girlfriend.

In May 1997, she said, Pellicano called her at home and told her to go to a nearby pay phone so he could share information he had uncovered.

"He was very excited. . . . He said he had set up something and would be getting a lot of information [for her case]," Maguire recalled.

Later, at Pellicano's Sunset Strip offices, Maguire said, the private eye took her into a lab room with computers and had her put on headphones. It was then, she testified, that she heard a recording of her ex-husband "in great distress" talking to his psychiatrist by phone.

Though Pellicano was thrilled with the recording, Maguire said, she was troubled.

"I didn't want to listen," she told the jury. "It was awful. It was very upsetting to me."

Maguire said she asked Pellicano and his then-assistant: " 'Is this legal?' "

"What was his response?" Assistant U.S. Atty. Kevin Lally asked.

"He said, 'yes,' " Maguire recalled.

But a moment later, she said, Pellicano and his assistant "began laughing."

In all, Maguire estimated, she visited Pellicano's offices about 10 times to listen to recordings because "he told me I had to listen to tapes to identify people." She said one of the conversations was with Gehry, her husband's longtime friend.