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Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of Blackmail
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive and the world's richest man, accused the owner of The National Enquirer on Thursday of trying "extortion and blackmail" to stop his investigation into how his private text messages and photos with his mistress were leaked to the tabloid.
In an extraordinarily personal online post, Mr. Bezos said intermediaries of David Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc., the nation's biggest tabloid news publisher and owner of The National Enquirer, had approached him to stop his investigation. Mr. Bezos said he had been told that if he refused, the publisher would make risqué and intimate photos of the billionaire and his mistress, Lauren Sanchez, public.
[...] "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," Mr. Bezos wrote of A.M.I., explaining why he had decided to speak out. "I prefer to stand up, roll this log over and see what crawls out."
(Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Friday February 08 2019, @08:46AM (4 children)
When we make a deal, we can offer the carrot. We can offer the stick. Sometimes we offer both, to close that deal very quickly. David made Jeff Bozo a very fair offer. Peace & vocation. Or war & investigation.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Bot on Friday February 08 2019, @09:06AM (1 child)
> we can offer the carrot. We can offer the stick. Sometimes we offer both
Apparently, someone took pic of the stick instead....
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @09:31AM
Donald refers to plea bargaining?
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @03:18PM
Donald, on one Stormy night, I heard that the stick is more like a misshapen mushroom.
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday February 08 2019, @07:23PM
When we make a deal, we can offer the carrot. We can offer the stick. ... David made Jeff Bozo a very fair offer...
And, sometimes we can offer immunity!
Trump ally David Pecker cuts immunity deal with prosecutors [vox.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 08 2019, @08:59AM (7 children)
Even if it's _not_ blackmail, Bezos would just acquire all the supermarkets that sell That Particular Rag.
LOL: I await the proceedings with bated breath.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @04:08PM (6 children)
He won't be buying Kroger or WalMart. Unfortunately for Jeff, he just forfeited half his fortune by choosing a Jack Nicholson Joker look-alike to replace his wife. His wife (the one without a prenup) was much better looking and about to be a very rich single woman. It also appears from her sad social climbing history, that his downgrade is an obvious gold digger. She didn't pick Mr. Amazon for his lazy eye or shiny flesh toned hair. One can only surmise that she could suck a golf ball through a garden hose and possesses other magical oral skills. I'd guess the soon to be ex realized that tying Jeff's shoes was beneath a woman worth $70 billion and he went shopping for a more compliant companion. Whichever the case, "little Jeff" just made the dumbest financial decision of big Jeff's life. He should have rented instead of buying.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday February 08 2019, @04:20PM (2 children)
You have confused "Lazy eye" with the condition "Ptosis." [wikipedia.org]
Of course, I don't believe that Bezos' Ptosis has a biological cause, he is just pure evil. [pinimg.com]
Personally, I'd rather have a homely girl next door rather than a joker-looking half-plastic slut. But when you're Bezos, you have the luxury of trying different things because being filthy rich becomes boring very quickly. This is the genius of the information war against Trump's enemies -- they accuse Trump of having tacky taste in women, but for Trump that is common knowledge. Now one of his biggest enemies has been exposed for having the same tastes.
This is why homosexuality used to be a big deal in national security polygraphs, but now, it's only a liability if nobody else knows about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @05:16PM (1 child)
I could accept Jeff "trying different things" had I not seen some of his text messages published. He is either feeding her a line of shit as wide as the Mississippi, or he is (begin puppy dog eyes) in love. If he isn't just using her, he has got to be the dumbest rich retard that ever lived. She has a history - basically her entire history - of using men and throwing them away when the next rich guy comes along. She breaks up families including her own. She mangled her face with plastic surgery. What redeeming qualities could she possibly have? I'd wager that she knows one or two ways to get marrow from a bone. I dated a blow job artist for a while. She was at the top of her game and took the gold medal with honors. I gotta admit, when you find a master of the arts, they are worth a lot, but I cannot imagine one being worth $70 billion.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday February 09 2019, @06:28AM
I've got one such master even as we speak.
Even so, if I can ever contrive to convince her to return to our allegedly Happy Home, I'll break up with Ms. Blowjob Artist, as I find myself in reality far, far happier with Ms. Calls Mike Every Single Day.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 08 2019, @06:08PM (1 child)
"Suck A Golf Ball Through A Garden Hose."
Please compare and contrast with "She Could Suck The Chrome Off A Trailer Hitch", as can Sarah.
KTHXBAI
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @10:42PM
I always preferred the phrase "she could suck-start a Harley-Davidson".
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 08 2019, @06:27PM
As George Orwell wrote in response to Fascist and Communist propaganda, as well as the often poorly-crafted English language, it's important for one's prose to be precise and clear.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Friday February 08 2019, @09:59AM
billionaire acts like anyone on Tindr or Snapchat
most of the world: "so what?"
alas, enough people: "ooooh! Naughty!"
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday February 08 2019, @10:16AM (9 children)
Even in his position, it took a lot of guts to announce to the world that these pictures exist. Many kudos to Bezos.
I had always heard that the National Enquirer was a scummy newspaper. But: how stupid do you have to be, to put this kind of threat in writing? I hope Bezos sues them into oblivion.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday February 08 2019, @12:55PM
FTFA it seems that he World already knew.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @02:56PM (4 children)
I'm much more interested in knowing the reason that they don't want him to find out how they got a hold of his texts and messages, particularly if they are willing to go as far as trying to blackmail him. This doesn't sound like your regular scummy tactics from hiring a qustionable investigation firm, like they normally do.
Let's see, does Pecker have any friends in high places that could have given him support, you know, someone that he tries to be particularly loyal to? Perhaps someone who is particularly envious of Bezos and is someone who particularly hates Bezos?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @03:08PM (3 children)
Bezos forgets that he has Powerful Enemies. When your enemy is Trump, there are millions of MAGA hats, independently working to bring you down.
It doesn't help that you own the WashPost and are a filthy monopolist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @03:33PM (2 children)
All true, but why are they so afraid of their methods getting out?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday February 08 2019, @04:28PM (1 child)
Say, hypothetically, that Trump has ordered the NSA to monitor Bezos' phone and acquire the filthy blackmail (like possibly happened to Weinstein). If they call Trump on it and are somehow able to prove it, then they have to acknowledge that it has been going on for a long period of time and possibly under other administrations or abused by other lawmakers for personal or blackmail reasons. Anyway, there are probably so many goddamn rogue-agents in our intelligence services you don't know who is for who and what is for what. They all just kinda do whatever the fuck they want now, the dogs are unleashed. A war of all against all.
Muthafuckin' Trump be like, "Go ahead buddy, I'll do it, I'll fucking do it!"
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @05:15PM
Ah, I think this is the key, from this article [thehill.com].
Don't worry, though, Pecker says he's going to get to the bottom of it! Rogue reporters, no doubt. "Don't worry, we've fired them for violating our stringent ethics policies. No need to investigate further!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @03:20PM (2 children)
And what's the alternative? Pretending they don't exist is quite a little toot late. If you have something embarrassing, just own it and don't be embarrassed.
I hope that now there will be a little more urgency when it comes to these investigations and hopefully this leads where it seems it leads. Bezos, as sad as his actions were, is the only one involved here that did nothing illegal. This cannot be said for the other parties involved.
(Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Friday February 08 2019, @08:27PM (1 child)
Its really strange that they even tried to blackmail him with these pics. "Yes, while my wife and I were separated, I did indeed send a dick-pic to a woman who I was interested in. Yes, she did send bikini pics back. Yes, I am still the richest man in the world. Yes, the newspaper I own is still going to publish pieces on the Government which murdered their employee." While yes, having pictures of your dick on the internet is embarrassing, I'd like to think that simply owning his decisions is a solid move.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @01:00PM
Maybe for some people.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @12:41PM
https://www.amazon.com/National-Enquirer/dp/B008BJEYZO [amazon.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @02:02PM (5 children)
If you fight with this sort, you get muddy. Get your popcorn.
Are there provable criminal charges for any for this?
How about civil action?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @02:22PM (3 children)
Sometimes it feels like we're only a few years away from an America where Bezos would just build a private army and then send a small part of it after Pecker. Cyberpunk dystopia, here we come. Now where are my bionic limbs?
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday February 08 2019, @02:43PM (1 child)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncle-Milton-Star-Darth-Vader/dp/B001UZNI2Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549636955&sr=8-1&keywords=bionic+arm [amazon.co.uk]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @03:22PM
Right product, wrong seller -- the arm at your link is only offered by 3rd party sellers, not by Amazon directly.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @03:22PM
Forget the private army, imagine a dystopia where a Pecker that falls out of favor might suddenly find themselves cut off from large portions of the internet.
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @03:49PM
RICO?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 09 2019, @06:02AM (2 children)
That said, the implication of that statement is that there are no good guys here. It's just different kinds of asshole. I don't even know if either is preferable to the other.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Monday February 11 2019, @12:04AM (1 child)
I would definitely prefer to see the asshole who broke the law and spread dirt about someone's private affairs to lose this. Bonus points for him being a shill for a murderous theocratic dictatorship (I'm talking about the Saudis here, but I'll forgive you if you thought I was talking about Trump).
The other asshole does indeed deserve to lose a lot of money for cheating on his wife and divorcing her, but that's no reason for his dirty laundry to be aired so publicly (despite the fact that he has done a lot of other asshole things elsewhere in life).
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday February 11 2019, @05:53AM
Fair enough, though I'd say Bezos has done enough damage to the economy for poor people that he ought to be in jail too. I'd love to see these two end up sharing a cell.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...