Feds interested in Bezos’ allegations
Prosecutors in New York are looking into whether the National Enquirer’s parent company violated a cooperation agreement with the government in its dealings with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, sources told the Times on Friday.
The move comes a day after Bezos publicly accused the Enquirer of extortion and blackmail by threatening to publish intimate photographs of him and former Los Angeles TV news anchor Lauren Sanchez unless he stopped an investigation into how the supermarket tabloid got his private messages.
Two sources familiar with the review but not authorized to discuss it publicly said federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are examining Bezos’ allegations and, if true, whether they violated an agreement forbidding the paper’s parent company from committing a crime for three years.
That agreement was struck as part of a decision not to charge American Media Inc. in connection with allegations it violated campaign finance laws related to payments aimed at suppressing negative news about Donald Trump in advance of the 2016 presidential election.
Lawyers for the Amazon founder told the Times they have not yet been contacted by authorities regarding the matter.
Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, took the extraordinary step of publishing emails between lawyers for his security consultant and the Enquirer on the website Medium on Thursday. He then tweeted a link to his post.
He wrote that the Enquirer wanted him to make a false public statement that he and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
Bezos refused. “Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,” he wrote.
He then published the emails between Martin Singer, a lawyer representing de Becker, and Enquirer Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard.
“I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our news gathering,” Howard wrote, going on to say that the Enquirer had a “below the belt selfie” of Bezos, along with several other shots. Howard added, “It would give no editor pleasure to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail — and quickly.”