Fred Durst Sues Over Stolen Sex Video

MARCH 4--One week after a sex video starring Fred Durst began circulating on the Internet, the Limp Bizkit frontman has filed a $80 million lawsuit against web sites that posted the footage and stills from the singer's X-rated romp with a former girlfriend.

In a federal copyright infringement/invasion of privacy complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Durst notes that he recorded the racy video around 2003 (with the consent of his partner) and that it was "never intended to be shown to the public."

In a declaration filed with the lawsuit, Peter Katsis, Durst's personal manager, states that he was contacted last December by the "owner of a pornographic video company" who claimed to have access, via a third party, to a video showing Durst having sex. Katsis said he rejected the individual's offer to sell the video and share the profits. Katsis said that he eventually spoke directly with the third party, who is not identified, and again rejected proposals to commercially exploit the video.

In his declaration, Katsis noted that he was aware of the existence of a Durst sex video, but believed that it was stored safely on the hard drive of the performer's personal computer. However, on February 25, Katsis said that the third party told him that Durst's computer had been hacked and that stills from the video had been posted online (the third party, Katsis reported, told him that "the same individuals who hacked into Paris Hilton's cell phone" had stolen the video from Durst's computer).

In a declaration filed in support of a motion for a temporary restraining order against the web sites, Durst lawyer Edwin McPherson stated that Secret Service agents were investigating the Hilton and Durst hacks as "connected" events.

Here you'll find an excerpt from Durst's TRO application, which provides a detailed account of the Durst video scandal and the singer's beef against Internet service providers and sites like captaincum.com, slightlystoopid.com, and several members of the Gawker Media blogging stable. (7 pages)