Jeff Bezos Claims ‘National Enquirer’ Is Blackmailing Him Over Nude Photos
Written by SOURCE on February 7, 2019
Jeff Bezos has accused the National Enquirer of extortion. The Amazon CEO published a personal blog post Thursday claiming the publication has threatened to publish his nude photos if he didn’t stop questioning the company’s motives. Bezos says the National Enquirer had approached him this week claiming to have obtained intimate photos of him and Lauren Sanchez, the former news anchor he had been dating behind his wife’s back. The National Enquirer was the first outlet to detail the affair.
Bezo’s blog reads in part:
A few days after hearing about [CEO of American Media David Pecker’s] apoplexy, we were approached, verbally at first, with an offer. They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.
My lawyers argued that AMI has no right to publish photos since any person holds the copyright to their own photos, and since the photos in themselves don’t add anything newsworthy.
[…] In the AMI letters I’m making public, you will see the precise details of their extortionate proposal: They will publish the personal photos unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement to the press that we “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
This story is being updated.
