Chris Rock: A Criminal?

Chris Rock: A Criminal?

According to E News, Chris Rock's been hanging with some bad company.

Rock's publicist has confirmed that the funnyman once employed indicted Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano when Rock was targeted in a paternity case years ago.

As originally reported in the Los Angeles Times, Pellicano allegedly accessed confidential police databases to dig up dirt on Hungarian model Monika Zsibrita after she filed a lawsuit in 1999 claiming she was pregnant with Rock's child.

The admission makes the onetime Oscar host the latest bold-faced name linked to the phone-bugging scandal that has all of Tinseltown abuzz. Pellicano was indicted in February on a slew of federal wiretapping, racketeering and conspiracy charges involving Los Angeles power players. Pellicano has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

He joins a list that includes Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Die Hard helmer John McTiernan, who hired the now tainted gumshoe to help neutralize enemies. Others, like Warren Beatty, Sylvester Stallone, Garry Shandling and Keith Carradine were on the receiving end of Pellicano's taps.

Rock's publicist, Matt Labov, cited Pellicano's "excellent reputation" as the reason Rock retained the private investigator to aid in his defense of the paternity allegations. But Labov told the Times that Rock was unaware of Pellicano's hardball tactics, which allegedly included using contacts within the Los Angeles Police Department to illegally comb through criminal databases to find possibly damaging information.

"No one from our camp would have ever knowingly entered into an agreement with Pellicano to do anything illegal," Labov told the Times. "Let me put it like this: When you hire somebody to fix your TV, you don't necessarily think he's going to hook you up for free cable."

In Zsibrita's case, Pellicano ran the covert background check on the Perfect 10 centerfold on July 30, 1999, per court records related to February's 112-count grand jury indictment.

Zsibrita, 33, reportedly met Rock in the late '90s, while he was estranged from his wife. After her paternity suit was filed, two DNA tests eventually proved Rock was not the father and the case was sealed by a judge and resolved.

In an interview, the Hungarian beauty told the Times she suspected someone was watching her at the height of the paternity spat.

"They wiretapped me and they followed me around," Zsibrita said. "I was afraid. It was very unsettling."

When she mentioned her fears to friends and colleagues at Perfect 10, the men's magazine that launched her career as a pinup star in the late '90s, the model said no one believed her. It wasn't until an FBI agent approached her two years ago that her fears were confirmed.

Paul Barresi, a former Pellicano employee, said his ex-boss had given him the task of investigating the model in 1999. He also had her tailed as late as 2001, after she gave birth to the baby.

"He said he was going after this girl and wanted all the dirt I could gather about her," Barresi told the Times. "He told me he was helping out Chris Rock."

Zsibrita's lawyer, Neville Johnson, told E! Online that he planned to file suit against the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, claiming the model's civil rights were violated.

"They ran her records without any authority to do so," the attorney told E! Online.

Assuming Rock's camp is telling the truth about not knowing about Pellicano's law-bending tactics, the funnyman is unlikely to face any legal problems.

The same can't be said for McTiernan. Last week, the director of such flicks as Predator, The Hunt for Red October and The Thomas Crown Affair pleaded guilty to one count of lying to FBI agents in connection with the Pellicano wiretapping case. McTiernan claimed he knew nothing about the disgraced detective's actions, but was arrested when authorities learned he had actually hired him to eavesdrop on a business associate. McTiernan is scheduled to be sentenced July 31.

At least 13 other individuals have been charged in connection with the Pellicano case. His wiretapping activities came to light after he allegedly hired an ex-con to intimidate reporter Anita Busch in 2002--attempting to scare her off in regards to a story about an alleged mob shakedown of Tinseltown tough guy Steven Seagal.

Seagal was later cleared of any attempt to frighten the journalist, but the investigation ended up uncovering reams of evidence detailing Pellicano's shady methods.

The criminal case is beginning to spill over into civil court, too. Aside from Zsibrita's threatened legal action, Deadwood star Carradine has sued Pellicano for collaborating with the actor's ex-wife to spy on him to gather information that they could use against him in divorce proceedings.