05.31.06
Who’s Picking Up Pellicano’s Attorney’s Tab?
Anthony Pellicano has a real big shot former U.S. Attorney from San Francisco as his counsel now, Steven Gruel. Officially Steven Gruel is not being paid by the government to represent Pellicano. Okay that doesn’t rule out pro bono work by the magnanimous Mr. Gruel, but somehow that latter possibility seems a tad far fetched don’t you think? So, how is a supposedly bankrupt convict in the slammer coming up with the sort of cash that will cover his legal expenses? The answer, as the talk goes, is that some secret and rich friend is footing the bill for old Tony and there are quite a few of them here in Tinseltown who could easily fit the ticket.
The first and foremost candidate to consider for Pellicano’s clandestine sugar daddy is Bert Fields. A year or so ago both Gruel and Fields’ lawyer Keker were working different aspects of the same case. It had something to do with political corruption in San Francisco. On the warm and fuzzy side, Fields attempted to start that slush fund a while back to support Tony’s wives and kids while he was up the river. Fields, who is a person of interest in the current investigation, seems to have the most to gain if Pellicano is adequately taken care of and doesn’t begin to squawk to the prosecutors for a deal. The two of them also had that strong bond of comraderie where Tony was willing to convert to Judiasm to please Bert or something.
Another enamored buddy was Ron Meyer. Wasn’t he the one making those treks upstate to the federal pen to visit Tony in solitary around Christmas? Brad Grey also is in the running. Grey was so smitten with Tony’s juvenile bravado and bogus masculinity that he was trying to sell a television series to HBO based on the Pelican’s exploits a few years back. Brad seems to be in denial lately that all this bad stuff is really happening to him but that could be due to his inspired performance of a deer caught in the headlights.
Marty Singer, an A-list type Hollywood entertainment attorney who has all but disappeared from view in the legal community, was once a frequent flyer on the Pelican. The buzz is that Singer hired Tarlow & Berk, two Beverly Hills big-time criminal defense attorneys, and now good old Marty Boy has taken a plea deal from the feds. If that turns out to be more than rumor, it’s unlikely that Marty is Tony’s mysterious benefactor.
To avert my having to recite an endless and tedious list here of Tinseltown’s elite who have a vested interest in keeping Tony happy, please ask yourselves “Who’s desperate enough to shell out millions of dollars to keep Tony from talking right now?” According to self-serving legal ethics, Mr. Gruel doesn’t ever have to publicly divulge where his check actually comes from. If one of Tony’s former illustrious clients though is trying to cover his criminal butt by footing the Pelican’s bill, Mr. Gruel may indeed have to spill the beans eventually. It may not be spelled out “conflict of interests” but how about “obstruction of justice?”
