Murdoch private eye targeted U.S. hedge fund boss

Source: Reuters

Murdoch private eye targeted U.S. hedge fund boss
By Mark Hosenball
Fri May 25, 2012 1:54pm EDT

(Reuters) - A private detective working for Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers used a legally questionable tactic to obtain a hotel bill that a New York financier ran up at one of London's swankest hotels, records reviewed by Reuters show.

A database of business records compiled by British government investigators shows that some time before his arrest in March 2003, private investigator Steve Whittamore, or someone working for him, misrepresented themselves to obtain from Claridge's Hotel a copy of a bill belonging to Robert Agostinelli, an American who runs the Rhone Group private equity firm.

Whittamore was convicted of trading in illegally obtained information but did not serve jail time. He could not be reached for comment.

Agostinelli did not respond to messages left for him at Rhone Group offices in New York and London.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/us-newscorp-hacking-hedgefund-idUSBRE84O0YT20120525