Steven Seagal is blaming the decline of his once-lucrative career on the FBI. Some years back, Seagal was implicated in the ongoing Anthony Pellicano case: an affidavit alleges that the action star hired the Hollywood private eye to menace LA Times freelance reporter Anita M. Busch, who was researching connections between Seagal, his former producing partner Julius R. Nasso, and various New York mob figures.

While Pellicano has been in prison since February of 2006 (his trial on federal wiretapping and racketeering charges was recently pushed back to early 2008), Seagal was never charged. Still, he says the impact on his livelihood has been devastating. 

"These kinds of inflammatory allegations scare studio heads and independent producers -- and kill careers," he told the Los Angeles Times. 

But a quick visit to the film rating site Rotten Tomatoes shows no precipitous decline. Only 27% of the critics give Seagal a positive rating – and that’s overall since 1988.