Lawyer for Enquirer CEO denies extortion

WASHINGTON— The National Enquirer committed neither extortion nor blackmail by threatening to publish intimate photos of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, an attorney for the head of the tabloid’s parent company said Sunday.

Elkan Abromowitz, an attorney for American Media Inc. chief executive David Pecker, said a “reliable source” wellknown to Bezos and his mistress provided the story about the billionaire’s extramarital affair.

Bezos has said AMI threatened to publish the explicit photos of him unless he stopped investigating how the Enquirer obtained his private exchanges with his mistress, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez.

Bezos also owns the Washington Post.

Bezos’s investigators have suggested the Enquirer’s coverage of his affair was driven by dirty politics, and the high-profile clash has pitted the world’s richest man against the leader of America’s best-known tabloid, who is a strong backer of President Donald Trump.

Trump has been highly critical of Bezos over his ownership of the Post and Amazon, and the Post’s coverage of the White House. Federal prosecutors are looking into whether the Enquirer violated an agreement that recently spared the tabloid from charges for paying hush money to a Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Trump.