National Enquirer so far silent on Bezos extortion allegations

Pecker, the head of American Media Inc., controls the National Enquirer. In a blockbuster blog post titled "No thank you, Mr. Pecker," Bezos on Thursday evening accused Pecker of an "extortion and blackmail" attempt.

And so far Pecker hasn't said anything.

Spokespeople for American Media and Pecker have not responded to requests for comment since Bezos leveled the allegations. Bezos backed up his charges with copies of what he said were multiple emails from American Media.

The story is incredibly complicated, but it boils down to this: The Enquirer has embarrassing photos and texts of Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez. When the Enquirer was about to reveal the existence of the relationship last month, Bezos and his wife, author MacKenzie Bezos, announced that they were divorcing "after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation."

The Enquirer story hit later that day. Bezos put his security chief Gavin de Becker in charge of an investigation into the leaks. According to Bezos' account, American Media was so troubled by de Becker's probe and his public comments about it — and his conclusion that the Enquirer's coverage was "politically motivated" — that it tried to shut up Bezos and de Becker.

"They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn't stop our investigation," Bezos wrote on Medium. He called this "extortion and blackmail."

In one of the emails Bezos published, an AMI lawyer proposed that Bezos would disavow any belief that the Enquirer's coverage was "politically motivated," and in exchange, AMI would not "publish, distribute, share, or describe unpublished texts and photos."

Rather than accepting the deal, Bezos went public, making a bet that sunlight is the best disinfectant in a sordid case like this.

"These communications cement AMI's long-earned reputation for weaponizing journalistic privileges, hiding behind important protections, and ignoring the tenets and purpose of true journalism," Bezos wrote.

"Of course I don't want personal photos published, but I also won't participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out."

So now everyone is waiting to see.

The Enquirer's website doesn't say a word about this controversy.

But the allegations are on the front page of every major paper on Friday. The headline in the Bezos-owned Washington Post says "Bezos makes extortion allegation."

The New York Post and the HuffPost had more fun: "Bezos Exposes Pecker."

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