Are the heads of Hollywood's mighty Creative Artists Agency ready to hit their former boss Michael Ovitz with some payback?
We hear that current CAA directors Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd may file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Ovitz - charging that, among other things, he hired infamous private eye Anthony Pellicano to spy on them.
"They're really pissed," says one insider.
Ovitz was paid handsomely for his share of CAA when he left to become president of Disney. But after he was fired by Disney in 1997, he formed the Artists Management Group. His former CAA colleagues came to believe he was trying to lure away their clients.
Prosecutors in the ongoing trial of Pellicano - who faces federal charges of wiretapping and racketeering - allege that he hired an LAPD cop to make an unauthorized check of the motor-vehicle records of Lourd and Huvane.
Pellicano himself fed speculation that the CAA partners suspected the shamus of bugging their offices last week when Huvane and Lourd testified at his trial. Acting as his own lawyer, Pellicano asked Huvane if he knew a private investigator named Richard Di Sabatino.
The judge said Huvane didn't have to answer the question. But Di Sabatino is known to specialize in "electronic countermeasures" - detecting evesdropping devices - a service he reportedly provided Nicole Kidman during her divorce from Tom Cruise. Di Sabatino declined comment.
Ovitz has denied any knowledge of Pellicano's alleged methods and has not been accused of any crime.
A CAA rep insists that the firm has no lawsuit against Ovitz in the works. But one source says, "They're biding their time. They're waiting to see if Ovitz testifies in the Pellicano trial. They'll have a stronger case against Ovitz if Pellicano is convicted. They could allege invasion of privacy and tortuous interference of business opportunity."
Meanwhile, Ovitz may have a growing problem at his new West Hollywood sushi palace, Kumo. The L.A. Times has deemed it "the perfect fashionista restaurant" because the portions are so small and "the food looks better than it tastes." What's more, we hear that several members of his staff are already applying for jobs at the new Nobu in L.A. - source
