I'm not talking about permission from Bitcoinica/Intersango, I'm talking about a legal warrant that allows him to do what would otherwise be considered a criminal act.
Since Bitcoinica did not file a police report (as far as I know), from legal point of view there is no reason to assume there is a criminal act involved. Technically, Bitcoinica's computers were (allegedly) compromised. That would be the criminal act if it was reported.
ZT did not file charges against his "friend" either. If I had a friend who took a large sum of money and made it look like I did it, I would report that right away. I certainly wouldn't protect my friend's identity.