This Is Why It Pays To Have Lawyers Do The Extortion Thing For You

[mahatmakanejeeves]

AccomplishedTheHat Retweeted

The 1st Amendment lawyers aren't going to like this argument, but I think #jeffbezos DOES have a case for "criminal" extortion.

Don't get me wrong, it's only a... semi-erect case. But it could work.

Link to tweet

LITIGATORS

This Is Why It Pays To Have Lawyers Do The Extortion Thing For You
The gray area between 'extortion' and 'criminal' extortion.
By ELIE MYSTAL
at 9:59 AM

Let’s not get too cute about it. Lawyers for American Media Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, attempted to extort Amazon founder Jeff Bezos by publishing his dick pics unless Bezos agreed to make the Washington Post back off its coverage of Saudi connections with the magazine, and a release of claims the Post might have against the Enquirer. Jeff Bezos published the letters he received from AMI. Amazingly, AMI lays out in detail the nature of its threat:

However, in the interests of expediating [sic/lol] this situation, and with The Washington Post poised to publish unsubstantiated rumors of The National Enquirer’s initial report, I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our newsgathering.

By any dictionary definition of extortion, this is it. Do what we want or we’ll show people your dick. That’s not right. You don’t threaten another man’s dick. That’s just the rules.

We have extortion by any common-sense definition of the term, but do we have “criminal extortion” on the part of AMI? That’s a more difficult question. I imagine the difficulty in proving the crime of extortion is one reason Jeff Bezos is pulling his KEYSER SOZE move on a post on Medium instead of a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.

Renato Mariotti has the credited thread on this issue. In pertinent part:

{snip}

But I’m just a guy who doesn’t publish dick pics for a living. A criminal extortion case would be tough to make. Who knows how many times AMI lawyers have used these tactics? It’ll take more than a billionaire acting in IDGAF mode to make them stop.

No thank you, Mr. Pecker [Jeff Bezos]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [e-mail]. He will resist.

[redstatebluegirl]

1. I love the semi erect case line.

[Fuzzpope]

2. Actually, it's IDDQD

(GOD Mode in the original Doom game, for you common mortals).

Bonus: IDKFA all weapons, full ammo, door keys.