Report: Kerkorian aware of Pellicano taps?

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian may have known that Hollywood detective Anthony Pellicano was obtaining information for him using wiretaps.

Kerkorian,'s attorney, Terry Christensen -- who had hired Pellicano to gather information on Kerkorian's ex-wife -- told Pellicano that Kerkorian was aware of where the dirt was coming from, The New York Times reported.

Pellicano taped his own calls, including those from Christensen, the newspaper said.

The gist of the taped conversations about the tapes implicated Christensen's client -- although the Times said he "stops short of saying he has told ... that Pellicano was using wiretaps." The juicy details of the ex-wife's activities and conversations were nonetheless regularly relayed to Kerkorian.

Kerkorian has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The Times said it was "unlikely that someone could be held criminally liable for the actions of an investigator hired by his lawyer without showing that the client knew" the allegedly illegal method used to gather the information.

Pellicano is in jail awaiting trial on illegal wiretap charges. He plans to represent himself.