TECH

Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of Blackmail, Extortion
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos today accused AMI, which own the National Enquirer, of blackmail and extortion.
According to Bezos, American Media Inc. executives demanded that Bezos call off an investigation into how the National Enquirer obtained salacious text messages between Bezos and his mistress, Lauren Sanchez. If I declined, AMI threatened to publish photos of Bezos and Sanchez.
"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," Bezos wrote in an extraordinary blog post published in Medium, which includes what he says is the text of emails from AMI execs spelling out their demands.
The whole story is bizarre, and at first glance it appears to be just the sort of thing to tabloid like the National Enquirer would consider front-page news. But when one of the world's richest men and top tech CEOs alleges politically motivated blackmail, it becomes more than just a juicy gossip item.
According to Bezos, in addition to calling off his investigation, AMI wanted Bezos to publicly declare that Amazon had "no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces." Bezos refused; "legitimate media has been challenging that assertion for a long time," he writes.
Bezos suggests AMI may have sought to damage his reputation on behalf of President Donald Trump because Bezos owns the Washington Post, which has published Trump dislikes. Michael Kan