Accusing David Pecker, a friend of President Trump, of using his media company for political purposes, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos publishes threats to make intimate photos public.
Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, says he is being blackmailed and extorted by the owner of the National Enquirer, which he says is threatening to publish nude photos of him.
Last month, Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced that they are divorcing after 25 years of marriage. Hours later, the Enquirer published text messages between Bezos and his girlfriend, Los Angeles news anchor Lauren Gonzales.
In an unusually personal blog post titled “No thank you, Mr. Pecker,” the Amazon founder and CEO on Thursday published letters from American Media Inc., which is led by David Pecker, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump.
Pecker was bothered by the fact that Bezos had hired investigators including Gavin de Becker to find out how the Enquirer had gotten ahold of his texts, and was demanding that Bezos stop his investigation and declare that the publication of the texts was not politically motivated, the Amazon CEO said.
“In the AMI letters I’m making public, you will see the precise details of their extortionate proposal: They will publish the personal photos unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement to the press that we ‘have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.
