A filthy-rich Wall Street hedge-fund manager told jurors yesterday that Anthony Pellicano offered himself up as a Hollywood hit man who could violently settle a million-dollar dispute.
Art-loving moneyman Adam Sender, 39, said he hired Pellicano in 2001 to snoop on Aaron Russo, best known for making the 1983 comedy classic “Trading Places.” Sender claimed he gave Russo $1.1 million for a start-up production company that never materialized.
Sender was so angry with Russo, he called Pellicano, who suggested rubbing him out, the moneyman told prosecutors yesterday.
“If I wanted to, I could basically authorize him [Pellicano] to have him [Russo] murdered on the way back to Las Vegas, have somebody follow him [Russo], drive him off the road and bury his body somewhere in the desert,” Sender testified.
Assistant US Attorney Daniel Saunders asked Sender if Pellicano could have been making a sick joke.
“Absolutely not,” said the baby-faced Sender, adding that he didn’t accept Pellicano’s alleged offer.
The Brooklyn-born, Long Island-raised Russo, who once managed Bette Midler, died of cancer last year at 64.
Pellicano is on trial for paying off phone company workers and dirty cops to dig dirt on his clients’ enemies.
The art and entertainment enthusiast Sender always has enjoyed investing his millions in his favorite hobby.
By one estimate in 2003, funds under Sender’s management were worth $1.5 billion.
That kind of money allows Sender to employ a full-time curator to manage his art collection, which has been estimated to include 800 works worth more than $100 million.
The vast collection included works by such noted artists as Matthew Barney, Keith Haring, Bruce Nauman, Richard Prince and Ed Ruscha.
Pellicano, who is acting as his own attorney, implied in cross-examination that he only suggested that Sender have Russo killed – and wasn’t offering to do the deadly deed himself.
“Didn’t Mr. Pellicano say if you feel so badly [about Russo] why don’t you just have him killed?” said Pellicano, who must speak of himself in the third person under court rules.
Sender conceded that Pellicano might not have offered hit-man services: “He [Pellicano] might have phrased it that way.”
Pellicano’s wire taps helped Sender find Russo so he could serve him with a lawsuit, authorities said. The cloak-and-dagger operations ended up costing Sender $500,000 in payments to Pellicano and another $300,000 to Hollywood super lawyer Bert Fields – a steep price for a $25,000 out-of-court settlement he ultimately made with Russo.
Sender admitted he knew Pellicano was using illegal wiretaps on Russo.
“I just went along with it, unfortunately,” said the long-haired, art-loving Sender, who avoided prosecution by testifying.
“I’m sorry that I did.”