National Enquirer says it will 'thoroughly investigate' extortion allegations made by Jeff Bezos

[DonViejo]

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Paul Farhi, Sarah Ellison and Devlin Barrett February 8 at 9:56 AM

The parent company of the National Enquirer said it would thoroughly investigate extortion claims by Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, who said the publication threatened to publish intimate pictures of him unless he backed off an investigation of the tabloid.

In an extraordinary post to the online publishing platform Medium on Thursday, Bezos said the Enquirer and its parent company, American Media Inc., made the threat after he began investigating how the tabloid obtained text messages that revealed his relationship with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez.

Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, wrote that the Enquirer wanted him to make a false public statement that he and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”

Bezos declined to do so. Instead, he published what he said were emails from Enquirer executives to a lawyer representing de Becker. In one, top Enquirer editor Dylan Howard appears to suggest that the tabloid would publish a series of photos of Bezos and of Sanchez, some of them salacious, if AMI’s terms weren’t met.

After Bezos published his statement, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ronan Farrow said that he “and at least one other prominent journalist” had received similar blackmail threats from the Enquirer’s parent company over their reporting. Farrow had written about the Enquirer’s “catch and kill” practice — in which stories are squelched by paying off sources — that benefited Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Farrow, like Bezos, said he refused to cut a deal with the National Enquirer or AMI.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/02/08/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-accuses-national-enquirer-extortion-over-intimate-photos/

[agingdem]

1. and OJ is still looking

for the guy who killed Nicole...

[Pachamama]

2. So will Mueller and the SDNY and many others....

[Gothmog]

3. I undestand that OJ is still investigationg the murder of his wife

I have no doubt that both investigations will be fair and comprehensive

[Firestorm49]

4. Oh sure. They'll investigate. Bridge for sale.

[Mister Ed]

5. I wonder if the Enquirer's investigators will be blackmailed? n/t