Jeff Bezos Accuses the National Enquirer of Extortion for Threatening to Publish his Naked Pictures

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos has been up to some interesting things, especially after announcing that he and his wife were divorcing.

The CEO has accused the National Enquirer of extortion for threatening to publish nude selfies of him.

In a blog headlined “No thank you, Mr. Pecker,” Jeff Bezos has alleged that a lawyer for David Pecker’s National Enquirer sent an email threatening to post sexual pictures that he had texted to his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez. This includes a “below the belt selfie.”

Bezos alleges that the tabloid’s owner, AMI, asked him to “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.'” This was in reference to Bezos’ affair with Sanchez.

AMI also asked him to publicly deny any political motivation in its coverage of his divorce according to the CEO.

AMI said on Friday that it did nothing illegal and stated, “American Media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos.”

“Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him. Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary.”

“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,'” Bezos said.

Bezos’ security chief, Gavin de Becker had previously told the Daily Beast that “strong leads point to political motives” in AMI’s coverage.

“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. 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,” Bezos wrote.