American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, has released a statement saying it “acted lawfully” in its reporting on Jeff Bezos, but that its board will “investigate” his claims that its executives attempted to blackmail him by threatening to release nude photos of the Amazon CEO.
The Amazon CEO published a blog post Thursday accusing the National Enquirer of “extortion and blackmail.”
“American Media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos,” American Media said in a statement Friday morning. “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.”
AMI’s board of directors consists of four men: David Pecker, Evan Ratner, Barry Schwartz, and David Hughes. Pecker, AMI’s chairman and CEO, has been at the center of the controversy, and has ties to Donald Trump that Bezos references in his blog post. Pecker was reportedly granted immunity in a deal with federal prosecutors who are investigating payments to two women who said they had affairs with Trump.
Another person on the board also has links to Trump: David Hughes once served as the chief financial officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts, up until it filed for bankruptcy in September 2014.
‘No thank you, Mr. Pecker’
This story is developing…
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