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Scrutiny of Saudi Ties Prompted National Enquirer Threat, Bezos Says

The Amazon founder claimed the Saudi-focus of his investigation prompted AMI to blackmail him.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is accusing National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., of attempting to blackmail him with intimate photos after his investigators began probing AMI's Saudi ties. “Several days ago, an AMI leader advised us that Mr. Pecker is ‘apoplectic’ about our investigation. For reasons still to be better understood, the Saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve,” Bezos wrote in a Medium post late Thursday. “A few days after hearing about Mr. Pecker’s apoplexy, we were approached, verbally at first, with an offer. They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.” Bezos said he was urged to publicly state that there is "no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AM’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces" in order to prevent the photos and texts from coming out.