Transcript for Federal prosecutors are looking into blackmail claims by Jeff Bezos
on those spectacular accusations made by the richest man alive, the CEO of Amazon, Jeff bezos. Federal investigators are reviewing his claims the publisher of “The national enquirer” tried to blackmail him. ABC’s Lana Zak is in Washington with the details. Good morning, Lana. Reporter: Good morning, guys. You know, “The national enquirer” and their parent company, Ami, have built a media empire publishing scandals, but they’re embroiled in their own scandal this morning. In a major development, federal prosecutors are now reviewing the bombshell allegations written in this blog post by Amazon founder Jeff bezos. Bezos, the richest man in the world, claims that the “National enquirer” and its publisher David pecker of Ami attempted to extort and blackmail him by threatening to release compromising photos of the billionaire if he did not back off from his investigation of the tabloid. Prosecutors in the southern district of New York are now reviewing whether these actions if true violated an immunity agreement related to another high-profile case involving the president’s former attorney Michael Cohen. That could wipe out that immunity agreement and lead to additional prosecutions. Reporter: That deal requires Ami to commit no crimes whatsoever for three years and if that agreement is broken, Ami could be charged with campaign finance crimes. In a statement, Ami says they acted lawfully but that they have convened their board to investigate the claims. It all started last month after bezos and his wife announced that they were divorcing after 25 years. Almost immediately “The Nati enquirer” published pictures and private text messages with his alleged mistress, Lauren Sanchez. That prompted bezos to launch his own private investigation to determine how the tabloid got pictures of him and Sanchez and if they were politically motivated. Referencing Ami chairman and CEO pecker’s close relationship with the president who has frequently gone after bezos and his paper, “The Washington post,” which reports extensively on the trump administration. Bezos alleges Ami threatened to reveal more embarrassing photos and messages unless he stopped his investigation and blicly stated that he has no knowledge that “The enquirer’s” reporting was politically motivated but bezos refused to do so choosing to expose their emails instead. Bezos says it’s because he is so wealthy that he’s taking a stand against “The national enquirer” writing, if in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? Dan. Lana, thank you so much. This is just a fascinating, fascinating case.
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