The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, accused the National Enquirer of extortion after the tabloid allegedly offered him a deal—salacious pictures of him won’t get published if he stops accusing the Enquirer of a political hit—which the magazine denies.
On Jan. 10, the Enquirer ran an exposé on Bezos’ alleged affair with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, wife of Patrick Whitesell, who is co-chief executive of the large Hollywood talent agency, WME. Before publication, the magazine confronted Bezos with its findings, prompting him to announce a divorce from his wife, MacKenzie Tuttle, a novelist.
Part of the exposé were messages sent between Bezos and Sanchez, including lewd selfies of Bezos, which the tabloid partially described, but “dare not print.”
American Media (AMI), which owns the Enquirer, denied the claim.
De Becker’s assertion was also based on reports that AMI Chief Executive David Pecker is a friend of Trump and even agreed to buy and kill several embarrassing stories about Trump’s alleged past affairs.
Deal
On Feb. 6, Fine, AMI’s lawyer, offered De Becker’s lawyer a deal—Bezos’s lewd selfies won’t get published if “the Bezos Parties” affirm “that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AM’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces” and agree “that they will cease referring to such a possibility,” according to Fine’s purported email released by Bezos.The agreement also included “a full and complete mutual release of all claims that American Media, on the one hand, and Jeff Bezos and Gavin de Becker (the ‘Bezos Parties’), on the other, may have against each other.”
Bezos claimed this agreement was a form of extortion.
“American Media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos. Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him. Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary.”
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