Detailing Another Side to Ex-Publicist’s Story

In several stories about our client Steven Webster, who recently received a probationary sentence related to charges of eavesdropping on executive meetings at Fox’s FX Network, The Times failed to give the full picture (“Ex-Publicist at Fox’s FX Gets Probation for Eavesdropping,” Jan. 5).

Although the deputy district attorney handling the matter described Webster’s conduct “almost as industrial espionage,” the court record makes clear that this allegation was totally unfounded.

“There’s nothing here ... where I can put my finger on a point where Steven caused his former company to suffer a loss -- in other words, somebody got ahold of a show idea, Fox lost out on this ... anything of that nature,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Norman J. Shapiro said during the sentencing hearing.

In addition, with respect to the events that led Webster to conduct the eavesdropping, Shapiro found that our client’s conduct was out of character. He noted that the behavior resulted from his “having the rug pulled out from under [him]” at FX in “an employment situation that got very nasty and very complicated and very convoluted.”

Based upon his assessment of Webster’s true character -- attested to in letters offered by former colleagues at FX and Fox and others who know him well and know what really happened at FX -- Shapiro gave a good man a second chance.

Mark E. Overland

David C. Scheper

Overland Borenstein

Scheper & Kim

Los Angeles