Murdoch probe could test U.S.-Britain ties

WASHINGTON -- The FBI is just cranking up a preliminary review of whether alleged phone hacking and bribery by Rupert Murdoch's media empire violated U.S. laws, but any resolution may well have to await the outcome of British investigations.

The FBI's early fact-gathering could turn into a long saga that tests or reinforces the long-standing cooperation between U.S. and British law enforcement. Most of the records and witnesses to prove or disprove the allegations are in the hands of British investigators.

Murdoch's media empire, not just his now-shuttered British tabloid News of the World, faces investigations on two continents. Depending upon what turns up, the FBI probe could head in unexpected directions, perhaps threatening his other properties, which include the Fox television network. The company also owns The New York Post.

News Corp. is assembling a gold-plated roster of lawyers to deal with any U.S. legal action. According to published reports, the company has signed up Brendan Sullivan, the high-priced Washington criminal defense attorney, and Mark Mendelsohn, an acknowledged expert on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

News Corp., Sullivan and Mendelsohn would not confirm the hirings.

For now, U.S. investigators are not only looking at the phone hacking and bribery allegations but also kicking the tires on any other allegations that appear in print or even old court records.

Separately, the FBI plans to question actor Jude Law about allegations his phone was hacked while he was in the United States, according to the BBC. Law has sued Murdoch's tabloid The Sun for allegedly hacking into his voice mail for stories about his private life.

The suggestion that Sept. 11 victims' families in the United States might have been subject to phone hacking rests on a single, thinly sourced news story in the Daily Mirror, a London tabloid rival to The Sun. But The Mirror's story jolted some Sept. 11 families into sorting through memories of what the news media said about them and their loved ones.

Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to meet Sept. 11 family members who want to discuss the hacking allegation. Arrangements could be set up as early as this week.

If there is evidence that any Sept. 11 families' phones were hacked, most of it is probably in Britain, not in the United States. British authorities are reviewing seized documents that suggest perhaps thousands of British phones were hacked over the years on behalf of Murdoch journalists.

"We hope that the cellphones of the 9/11 victims and their relatives have not been hacked," Norman Siegel, an attorney who has represented some families, said Saturday. "However, we strongly believe the FBI and the Justice Department are acting responsibly in continuing their investigations of this matter and the 9/11 families are offering their assistance."