Ex-Reporter’s Lawyers Subpoena Ovitz in Lawsuit Against Pellicano

Attorneys for a former Los Angeles Times reporter allegedly threatened by indicted private investigator Anthony J. Pellicano have subpoenaed onetime Hollywood power player Michael Ovitz to provide a sworn deposition in her civil case.

Lawyers for Anita Busch said they took the step after Monday’s sweeping federal indictment charged that Pellicano and others accessed confidential police records to try to find embarrassing information about the reporter and dozens of others.

Busch’s civil lawsuit, filed in June in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Pellicano and others, including former Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mark Arneson, of locating and threatening the reporter over unspecified stories about the entertainment business. It also accuses Arneson of using police databases to give Pellicano confidential information about her.

The alleged wire fraud occurred about the time that Busch and former New York Times reporter Bernard Weinraub were writing stories for the New York Times about Ovitz and just before a biting 2002 Vanity Fair piece about Ovitz mentioned Busch, Weinraub and two Creative Artists Agency executives, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane.

The two were onetime Ovitz proteges before a falling-out described in the magazine.

The Pellicano indictment says that Lourd and Huvane had background checks done on them by the private eye and other defendants.

Attorneys Brian S. Kabateck and Matthew Geragos also noted Friday that the alleged wire fraud involving Busch occurred May 16, 2002, less than a month before Busch found a fish with a rose in its mouth and a note reading “Stop” on the windshield of her car.

Last June, the Los Angeles County district attorney charged Pellicano with making criminal threats against Busch. The district attorney also brought conspiracy charges against Alexander Proctor, who has alleged that he went to Busch’s house on Pellicano’s behalf.

It was the threat against Busch that led the FBI to raid Pellicano’s Sunset Strip offices in November 2002, where investigators recovered illegal explosives and hauled away records that have been pivotal in the federal prosecution of the former private eye -- and nine others -- for alleged racketeering, wiretapping and witness intimidation.

Pellicano has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He remains in federal custody.

At the time Busch was threatened, she was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and was working on a story about actor Steven Seagal -- an assignment that led to speculation that he might be linked to the dead fish. But Busch’s lawsuit against Pellicano and others does not mention Seagal and law enforcement officials have always cautioned against linking him to the case.

In an interview Friday, Busch’s attorneys said they did not know who was behind the threat but are convinced that it was not instigated by Pellicano.

“We feel very strongly that Mr. Pellicano did not threaten Anita for his own personal satisfaction. That it was done on behalf of somebody,” Kabateck said.

Busch’s attorneys said they served Ovitz with a subpoena one day after the federal indictment of Pellicano identified, by date, the background checks done on Busch and others who had been involved with newspaper and magazine articles about Ovitz.

Noting how Ovitz has acknowledged cooperating with authorities, the attorneys said they hoped he would also help them determine who was behind the threat to Busch.

“One thing we find very interesting is that nowhere in the indictments do we find Mr. Ovitz mentioned, yet several people surrounding him were subjects of some sort of [alleged] investigation” by Pellicano, Geragos said. “That is why we consider him a person of interest in our case.”

Kabateck said: “It is our view that this is an extremely serious situation and that it is not too much to ask Mr. Ovitz some questions. Maybe someone was trying to do this to please Mr. Ovitz. To curry favor with him. But we need to find out what happened and that is why we are continuing to ask questions.”

Ovitz could not be reached for comment Friday and his attorney James Ellis declined to say anything about the subpoena. The deposition is scheduled for March 22.

After last week’s indictment was unsealed, Ellis said that Ovitz “has fully cooperated with the authorities and answered all their questions.” The federal indictment outlines dozens of instances in which Arneson allegedly accessed confidential federal and state law enforcement databases to gain information on Pellicano’s behalf.

The goal, according to the indictment, was to locate anything potentially scandalous that could be used by Pellicano’s clients to scare off a lawsuit or gain the upper hand in litigation.

According to federal prosecutors, Arneson is accused of accessing state databases at the Department of Justice and the Department of Motor Vehicles. He is also charged with illegally accessing the FBI’s National Crime Information Center in Clarksburg, W.Va., a law enforcement database containing records of offenses that range from speeding tickets to felonies.

The federal indictment alleges that on Aug. 10, 2001, Arneson accessed information on CAA executives Lourd and Huvane.

On May 16, 2002, the indictment alleges, Arneson accessed privileged law enforcement data on Busch and Weinraub.

Attorneys for Busch said they intend to subpoena Lourd and Huvane. They also may subpoena entertainment attorney Bert Fields, who had represented Ovitz over the years.

An attorney for Fields’ firm said late Friday that he had nothing to do with the threats against Busch or any knowledge about who did.

Times staff writer Robert Welkos contributed to this report.