Pro wrestling icon Hulk Hogan decided this week to get federal authorities involved in the hunt for those who "leaked" his sex tape to various video entrepreneurs and gossip media outlets. Hulk Hogan's attorney, Charles Harder, told TMZ Sunday that Hogan decided to enlist the help of the FBI for couple or reasons.
Hogan had attempted to file charges over the sex tape with local authorities in Florida. However, the statute of limitations for the offense of unlawfully recording someone is four years. The sex tape video was recorded in 2006, according to various sources, including Hogan himself. (One might wonder why the statute does not take into consideration the time that the victim first discovered they were unlawfully videotaped, considering that perpetrators could simply wait until the statute of limitations was past before releasing the tape. It appears that the legal qualification weighs against the victim.)
The second reason that Hogan went to the FBI was that a second offense, the distribution of the alleged unlawfully obtained footage went across state lines, making it a federal crime.
Hogan was to meet with the FBI on Monday. It is as yet unknown what came of that meeting.
However, in other legal matters, Hogan moved ahead and filed two lawsuits against his former friends, Todd Alan Clem (a.k.a. DJ Bubba the Love Sponge) and his ex-wife, Heather Clem, the female who had sex with Hogan, for recording the video without his knowledge.
The Clems were married at the time the video was taped. In fact, so was Hulk Hogan, who would see divorce papers from his wife in November 2007.
The legendary wrestler also filed suit against Gawker, the website that posted excerpts of the sex tape video.
According to Fox News, Todd Clem's lawyer, Stephen Diaco, said that the sex tape scandal had "caused harm to Bubba and he didn't release it, he didn't condone the release of it. He wants to find out who did that and he wants that person to be held accountable."
The Fox News article also noted that Hogan couldn't file charges in Florida over the sex tape because "Hogan waited too long to file criminal charges." This gives the impression that Hogan knew about the tapes within the four-year window of the statute of limitations. According to Hogan, he never knew of the existence of the tapes until March, when the news went public that a sex tape of Hogan was being shopped around.
As for the one-time friends, Hogan said last week he was "sick to his stomach" over the revelation that his friend Clem, who had given him permission to have sex with his wife, Heather, knew about the sex video at the time it was recorded. TMZ, which also had a copy of the sex tape, discovered Clem at the end of the video talking to his wife, saying, "If we ever did want to retire, all we'd have to do is use this footage."
Hogan also said that Bubba The Love Sponge Clem had just told him he knew nothing about the video.
At the time, Hulk Hogan said he was also exploring his legal options concerning the video and scandal. He vowed then, according to TMZ, that someone would pay for recording and releasing the tape.
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