Court hears tapes in Pellicano case

LOS ANGELES, March 26 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles court hearing Anthony Pellicano's wiretapping trial has listened to some audio the private detective allegedly taped for his celebrity clients.

Pellicano is on trial for alleged racketeering, wiretapping and various other crimes.

Hollywood filmmaker John McTiernan can be heard complaining -- on one tape Pellicano allegedly made in 2000 -- about how many people he has had to pay off in order to get his movies made, the Los Angeles Times said.

"There's so much corruption, it's amazing," the newspaper quoted McTiernan as saying.

Federal prosecutors said McTiernan hired Pellicano to run wiretaps on producer Charles Roven.

McTiernan pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about hiring Pellicano for wiretapping, but is now seeking to rescind his plea, the Times said.

In a separate 2000 recording heard in court, Pellicano talked to lawyer Peter Knecht about getting his client Bilal Baroody to follow through on a $300,000 loan he supposedly had not repaid to Universal Studios President Ron Meyer.