(NBC News) Federal prosecutors are looking into the war of words between the publisher of the National Enquirer and the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos.
Bezos has accused the National Enquirer’s publisher, American Media, of extortion and blackmail, writing in a personal blog “AMI representatives, including owner David Pecker, are threatening to publish more intimate texts and photos” if his attorney continues to investigate how the Enquirer obtained private messages and pictures between Bezos and his alleged mistress Lauren Sanchez, used by the magazine in a recent cover story.
Bezos also posted emails, he says are from AMI, demanding his investigators release a public statement saying “they have no knowledge or basis” to suggest the Enquirer’s coverage was “politically motivated.”
Responding to the allegations, the Enquirer’s parent company says it: “believes fervently that it acted lawfully” but will call on it’s board to: “promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims.”
President Trump hasn’t talked about the allegations, but has repeatedly lashed out at Bezos and White House coverage in the paper he owns, the Washington Post.
Manuel Roig-Franzia, a reporter for the Post, citing a security consultant for Bezos says “he thinks its possible that a government entity might have gotten hold of his texts messages.”
The magazine reportedly has at least ten private photos of Bezos and Sanchez it has yet to publish.
Read more: https://nbcnews.to/2UQXrkO
