A new report reveals that a Hollywood music agent’s phone was hacked by News Corp. It’s not clear whether the hacking occurred while she was in the U.S. or the U.K. But it’s one more reason to suspect that the scandal - or the wrongdoing - may not be contained abroad.
Deadline.com reports that American agent Julie Colbert has been informed by Scotland Yard that her cell phone calls had been intercepted by News Corp. Colbert represented singer Charlotte Church who, along with her parents, was the victim of News Corp. phone hacking for at least four years.
To my knowledge, it has not been reported whether the hacking of Colbert’s phone occurred while she was in the U.S. or abroad. Deadline’s Nikki Finke wrote that Colbert was “back and forth between Los Angeles and London when the hacking occurred, my insiders say.” Finke added, “I understand that Colbert hasn’t decided yet whether to file a claim because of the hacking. That might prove touchy because her agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment does a lot of business with News Corp subsidiaries like Fox Broadcasting, Twentieth Fox TV, and the Fox Filmed Entertainment Group.”
This latest news may be of interest to U.S. prosecutors, Bloomberg Businessweek noted. “New York-based News Corp. has been the subject of a probe into whether (News Corp. tabloid) News of the World sought to hack phones of victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. A separate U.S. inquiry was begun into whether bribes of U.K. police officers violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, which bars overseas corruption by U.S. companies.”
Stay tuned.
Email current News Corporation lawsuits to everyone in your Facebook page and Twitter. Send to newspaper columnists. We can defeat this Goliath once and for all.
No comments from either side, but rumour is that Murdoch’s desperate to settle because he thinks a hearing like this could end him twice.
He’s more than likely right- the international class action was also cleared, date yet to be set. New potential arrests are also surfacing and both him and his son perjured themselves already.
Murdoch’s done- only Fox News is declining slow enough to be deemed “holding on”, but make no mistake… there is a decline happening.
