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Lawyer denies Simpson was tipped off

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- O.J. Simpson's lawyer denied Monday his client knew beforehand about a search of his Miami home on December 4.

"O.J. absolutely did not know in advance," said Yale Galanter, Simpson's attorney. "If he had, he wouldn't have been in his robe and the kids wouldn't have been in the house" when the FBI agents arrived, he said.

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Galanter admitted a caller did alert him to the search, which was connected to an investigation into an suspected Ecstasy drug-smuggling ring, but he thought the call was a "crank" and did not warn the former football star.

"There was nothing about the call that was credible," he said. "The information they gave, quite frankly, didn't even sound correct to me."

Galanter's comments followed the arrest of a federal grand juror charged with warning a target of the investigation, according to the FBI.

The grand juror, John Acosta, was accused of tipping off Zenaida Galvez, arrested in connection with the investigation. The FBI said the two were acquaintances.

"Violating grand jury secrets cuts at the heart of the federal judicial system," said Guy Lewis, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Officials said they did not know yet what parts of the investigation might have been affected by the leaked information.

"We are still assessing the damage as a result of the disclosure," Lewis said.

Regarding the search of Simpson's home, "I won't speculate on what Mr. Simpson knew or didn't know," he said.

Galanter said previously Simpson had no connection to the suspected money laundering and drug distribution ring. He said his client's name "just popped up" in a wiretap of an unrelated drug investigation.

Twelve people have been charged in the investigation, and by late last week 10 had been arrested. Galanter said Simpson did not know any of the people indicted.

He said authorities confiscated some satellite television equipment from Simpson's home, but no drugs or any illegal substances were found.

The two-year investigation is looking into the distribution of Ecstasy, the laundering of $800,000 and "signal theft" -- the distribution of fraudulent satellite access cards.