Famed private investigator Anthony Pellicano has spoken out about his controversial client, Michael Jackson, revealing that he let him go after finding the dark truth behind his actions.
In a shocking interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the jailed investigator came clean about everything he’s learned in the past few years, and how maintaining his loyalty to clients and friends remains his biggest motto.
As readers know, Pellicano, 73, was arraigned in 2002 facing allegations of computer hacking, illegal wiretapping, threats and harassment, among other crimes. He was given 15 years in prison in 2008 but was resentenced in 2017. He is set to be released in one year.
Speaking of his notorious 1993 client, Michael Jackson, Pellicano claimed he “fired” the singer because he was disgusted by the dark truths than that were never exposed in Jackson’s child molestation scandal.
“I was offered $500,000 to tell the whole story by a tabloid, and I declined, even though, while incarcerated, I needed the money,” admitted Pellicano, adding that loyalty has always been essential to him, even though it let him to where he is now (in jail).
When asked about Jackson’s alleged dirty secrets, Pellicano told THR: “All of that would get too close to the truth, so, regretfully, I have to decline.”
Speaking of the time he got caught (in 2002) with “a C-4 and two grenades that were locked in one of my evidence safes,” he said they belonged to one of his clients, but he refused to disclose the name, even though withholding that information landed him in prison.
“I got convicted of committing crimes I did not commit. I had to listen to testimony of those who got up on the stand and lied. I changed a lot of lives for the better, helped a whole lot of people who were all grateful at the time. That’s what I kept in mind as I took all the heat — alone. As things got troublesome for me, they all took off for the hills,” Pellicano said in his interview.
When asked if he has any regrets, he answered “no,” although he does “wish that I had been more careful at the end,” and much less loyal to some people.
“My honor and word meant, and still means, everything to me. Without that, I cannot, and could never, consider myself a man — especially a man of his word. One who does what he says he’s going to do.”
