Bezos: Enquirer threatened to publish revealing pictures
LOS ANGELES — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday he was the target of “extortion and blackmail” by the publisher of the National Enquirer, which he said threatened to publish revealing personal photos of him unless he stopped investigating its acquisition of other private images and messages and unless he declared its coverage wasn't politically motivated.
Bezos, who is also owner of The Washington Post, detailed his interactions with American Media Inc. in an extraordinary blog post Thursday on the Medium.com website.
After the tabloid published a story about his extramarital affair last month, Bezos ordered a team of private investigators to get to the bottom of how the Enquirer obtained risque texts between the executive and former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez. Since then, there's been a public relations battle.
Bezos' investigators have suggested the Enquirer's coverage of his affair was politically motivated. Bezos has been the target of criticism from President Donald Trump over the Post's critical coverage of the White House, and AMI has admitted that it engaged in what's known as “catch-andkill” practices to help Trump become president.
That admission was part of a deal between AMI and federal prosecutors, who agreed to not pursue charges against the company for secretly assisting Trump's campaign by paying $150,000 to a Playboy model for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with the then-candidate. The company then intentionally suppressed the story until after the 2016 election.
Several days ago, someone at AMI told Bezos' team that the company's CEO David Pecker was “apoplectic” about Bezos' investigation, Bezos said. AMI later approached Bezos' representatives 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,” Bezos wrote in the post.
Bezos wrote that this week, the tabloid's editor, Dylan Howard, emailed an attorney for Bezos' longtime security consultant to describe photos the Enquirer “obtained during our newsgathering.” The photos include a “below the belt selfie” of Bezos, photos of him in tight boxer-briefs and wearing only a towel, and several revealing photos of Sanchez, according to the email Bezos released in his blog post.
According to the emails, an attorney for AMI offered a formal deal Wednesday: The tabloid wouldn't post the photos if Bezos and his investigators would release a public statement “affirming that they have no knowledge or basis” to suggest the Enquirer's coverage was “politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
Bezos said he decided to publish the emails sent to his team “rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail,” despite the “personal cost and embarrassment they threaten.”
AMI didn't demand any money from Bezos, the world's richest person - only that he call off his investigation and issue a statement saying the coverage wasn't political. A spokesman and an attorney for AMI did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.