Her name: Erin Finn and she’s tall and blonde. She’s also unknown, until now. Finn will most likely be a key witness in the federal wiretapping and racketeering case against Anthony Pellicano, former private investigator to Hollywood actors, directors, moguls and Hollywood high powered lawyers and their law firms. His client and target list reads like a who’s who of Hollywood with names like Michael Jackson, Sylvester Stallone, Chris Rock, Gary Shandling and many, many more.
Pellicano is scheduled to stand trial in early February on federal charges of wiretapping and racketeering. The charges laid out in a 68-page Federal indictment that include paying law enforcement sources for confidential information. A federal judge cleared the way for Pellicano to act as his own attorney. That decision could ultimately mean Finn will have to face in court the man she came to fear and loathe.
Erin Finn’s involvement in the federal case against Anthony Pellicano is a story, as the cliché’ saying goes “right out of Hollywood”.
Finn no longer lives in Los Angeles and says she was forced to leave Southern California because the threats, pressure and fear became too much to bear. Finn called LA home for over many years and at one point was the girlfriend of Robert Pfeifer. Pfeifer, a former rock musician and Disney record executive, who has already pled guilty to federal charges related to hiring Pellicano to wiretap Erin Finn. He was released on 1.2 million-dollar bond pending sentencing in early 2006. He is expected to be a key witness against Pellicano and is believed to be cooperating with federal authorities on the case.
Finn assisted the FBI by working directly with lead FBI agent Stanley Ornellas. ERS News requested an interview with Ornella’s prior to publication of this story. FBI Los Angeles spokesman Laura Eimiller told ERS News “the investigation / prosecution of Mr. Pellicano and others charged in connection with the wiretapping conspiracy is ongoing, therefore, Mr. Ornellas is prohibited from commenting, as are any FBI personnel”.
Finn’s resume runs the gamut from model, to escort, house sitter, and Internet tech geek with her own web presence; with a site for guys who like their web woman techno savy and attractive. She currently runs her own website… She also has friends like former super-hacker Kevin Mitnik.
Erin Finn got to know Anthony Pellicano, more than she ever expected or wanted too. In a series of extensive in-depth and exclusive interviews conducted with “The Enterprise Report” over the past year and half, Finn detailed how she went from the ex-girlfriend of a little known record executive, to a key witness in the federal case against Anthony Pellicano. Her story is revealed here for the first time.
How Erin Finn met Robert Pfeifer isn’t entirely clear. What is clear is Finn became his girlfriend and the two dated and began an intimate relationship. Pfeifer became embroiled in a series of civil legal matters surrounding his employment in the entertainment industry. Pfeifer had been involved in a sexual harassment lawsuit in which Finn was required to give a deposition about Pfeifer and his alleged drug use and other matters. According to Finn, she testified honestly and truthfully in the case and Pfeifer was not pleased about what she had to say about him. That was the beginning of Erin Finn’s problems.
Pfeifer was so upset with Finn and her testimony against him that he hired Anthony Pellicano and others to dig up the dirt on his former girlfriend. Pfeifer and Pellicano had known each other for years. Pfeifer’s ex-wife even claimed he looked up to Pellicano as his “godfather”. Digging up dirt on Finn, according to federal prosecutors, meant Pellicano wiretapped Finn’s phones. It also meant, if necessary, obtaining confidential law enforcement information. His sources included an LAPD cop and a member of the Beverly Hills Police Dept according to federal prosecutors.
Finn testified before a secret Los Angeles federal grand jury about what Robert Pfeifer and Anthony Pellicano were doing to her phones and her psyche. Neither one was very comforting or reassuring to Erin Finn. When the FBI came knocking on Finn’s door they found someone who was willing to help them. She had wondered what had taken them so long. She knew someone was wiretapping her, and she came to believe it was Pellicano because of his intimate knowledge of her private conversations. Finn says Pellicano knew details about her mother that only she and her mother had discussed on the phone. She took to playing radio broadcasts over her telephone calls in an attempt to make it harder for anyone to listen in.
As the case against Pellicano and others moved forward Finn developed an affinity for her FBI friend agent Ornellas. She had become so entangled in the Pellicano case that the pressure caused her to leave Los Angeles. She now lives out of state, far from Hollywood.
While Finn doesn’t relish her role as a key witness against Pellicano in his upcoming trial, she does know that that FBI knows that she is crucial to the government’s case. So crucial is her testimony that although Finn did speak candidly to this reporter in extensive interviews about her involvement in the case, she is still is afraid to speak entirely openly without the approval of the FBI.
In early 2006 Finn agreed to on camera TV interview with this reporter. The time and location set, the airline tickets purchased and the out of state location was to be kept secret at Finn’s request. Her Los Angeles based civil attorney, Byron Ball, also had given the O-K for the interview. Ball a well-respected civil litigator, is representing Finn along with other plaintiffs in a pending lawsuit in relation to some phone company employees assisting Pellicano in placing wiretaps on her and other victims. After all was set, Erin wanted to make one last phone call to Ornellas to make sure all was right with her FBI protector. The call would change Finn’s mind about doing the TV interview with this reporter and it would put fear back in the mind of Erin Finn.
According to Finn, Ornellas’ told her not to talk to this reporter or any other until after the case came to trial. He said that case and her role in it had changed since her former boyfriend Robert Pfeifer had pleaded guilty to charges related to wiretapping her. All this meant that her testimony would be even more crucial than ever against Pellicano. Ornellas told her that talking to reporters would harm the case.
Finn says what Ornellas told her next is what changed her mind. Ornellas told her that Pfeifer has been released on bail pending his sentencing after posting a million-dollar bond. He was out on the street. Ornellas told Finn that if she went on camera for an interview that neither Ornellas nor the FBI could protect her from Pfeifer. The only problem was Agent Ornella knew then that Phiifer was prohibited from leaving California or traveling anywhere with out his FBI handlers knowing where he was. Along with a host of other restrictions placed on him by the Judge in the case as a condition of his release. Pfeifer was now “their” witness. If he went anywhere near Finn, who was now living out of state, he would be in even more trouble than he already was. Nonetheless, Finn changed her mind at the last minute about doing an on camera interview. Finn says she wants to tell her story and is even presently writing a book about how she got caught up in the Pellicano case.
Finn told ERS News she doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of the FBI and Stanley Ornellas who have been “nothing but good to her” since this all began over 5 years ago. Now Finn says she has turned a new leaf in her life and has moved on.
