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Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of Blackmail *edit*
#381008 - 02/08/19 10:05 AM
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This is going to be a great episode of possibly seeing the tabloid paper and its own ceo who has always helped the jackass in office over the past couple decades might soon be in trouble himself (ie: Mr. Pecker and his company AMI)
Here is thread and link to NY Times article and also to Bezos' own tweet.
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Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of Blackmail
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142261457
https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/1093643321732464646
I’ve written a post about developments with the National Enquirer and its parent company, AMI.
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Here is a different thread with one of the posts that links to Vanity Fair's article.
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Rick Wilson's response to what Jeff Bezos did today
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211791037
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Most important part of the thread is this post...
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11791670
Jeff Bezos Accuses National Enquirer of Trying to Blackmail Him with Nude Photos
JEFF BEZOS ACCUSES NATIONAL ENQUIRER OF TRYING TO BLACKMAIL HIM WITH NUDE PHOTOS
BY BESS LEVIN
FEBRUARY 7, 2019 7:10 PM
The Amazon C.E.O. says the Trump-friendly publication threatened to release a “d--k pick” if he didn’t make a public statement that A.M.I. was never “politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
According to Bezos’s post, his legal and investigatory team was approached by American Media Inc., publisher of The National Enquirer, with a demand to halt their investigation and tell the press they had “no knowledge or basis for suggesting that A.M.I.’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.” And if Bezos refused? Well, A.M.I. would have no choice but to make certain photos, detailed by its “Chief Content Officer” in the e-mail below, public:
From: Howard, Dylan [[email protected]] (Chief Content Officer, A.M.I.)
Sent: Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 3:33 P.M.
To: Martin Singer (litigation counsel for Mr. de Becker)
Subject: Jeff Bezos & Ms. Lauren Sanchez Photos
CONFIDENTIAL & NOT FOR DISTRIBIUTION [sic]
Marty:
I am leaving the office for the night. I will be available on my cell -- 917 XXX-XXXX.
However, in the interests of expediating this situation, and with The Washington Post poised to publish unsubstantiated rumors of The National Enquirer’s initial report, I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our newsgathering.
In addition to the “below the belt selfie -- otherwise colloquially known as a ‘d--k pick’” -- the Enquirer obtained a further nine images. These include:
· Mr. Bezos face selfie at what appears to be a business meeting.
· Ms. Sanchez response -- a photograph of her smoking a cigar in what appears to be a simulated oral sex scene.
· A shirtless Mr. Bezos holding his phone in his left hand -- while wearing his wedding ring. He’s wearing either tight black cargo pants or shorts -- and his semi-erect manhood is penetrating the zipper of said garment.
· A full-length body selfie of Mr. Bezos wearing just a pair of tight black boxer-briefs or trunks, with his phone in his left hand -- while wearing his wedding ring.
· A selfie of Mr. Bezos fully clothed.
· A full-length scantily-clad body shot with short trunks.
· A naked selfie in a bathroom -- while wearing his wedding ring. Mr. Bezos is wearing nothing but a white towel -- and the top of his pubic region can be seen.
· Ms. Sanchez wearing a plunging red neckline dress revealing her cleavage and a glimpse of her nether region.
· Ms. Sanchez wearing a two-piece red bikini with gold detail dress revealing her cleavage.
It would give no editor pleasure to send this e-mail. I hope common sense can prevail -- and quickly.
Dylan.
entire article at: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/jeff-bezos-national-enquirer-ami-medium
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Another important part of same thread is this post that links to Maddow's blog where Maddow shows the agreement that may have been violated after the recent extortion against Bezos. Expect agreement to be canceled and criminal charges to eventually appear.
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11792053
https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1093710640160612353
The non-prosecution agreement AMI has with SDNY prosecutors is contingent upon, among other things, them not committing any crimes.
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A different thread where one of the better posts gives the best clue of why Bezos was being blackmailed.
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CNN legal analyst: Yes, National Enquirer tried to extort Bezos
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211791621
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11791713
They wanted Bezo to personally write something and to have the Post back off the investigation into the Saudis murder of one of their journalists.
They were blackmailing him for influence. Big business pays influencers when they uptick their message, so it financially should have value. That one attorney on MSNBC was wrong with it not having any monetary value. It does.
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The blackmail attempt against Bezos was to humiliate him if he didn't intervene and threaten Washington Post reporters to end their news story investigations into Saudi Arabia after what had happened to their WAPO colleague J. Kashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate building inside Turkey in October 2018.
As for my guessing (edited) of how this was played out:
a. Saudi Arabian ruler talks to the 'jackass in office' probably with some bribe or something knowing the jackass is a 'compromised' target ('kompromat asset' as described in Russian terms)
b. 'jackass in office' or someone else in administration then contacts ceo David Pecker of AMI corp to look into what can be done about Bezos and WAPO paper.
c. AMI probably contacted someone with connections to some hackers to intercept Bezos' cell phone data and fish out any data that might be damaging to Bezos personally. Or the text and data could have been intercepted by a government entity according to someone that was hired to represent Bezos.
d. hackers or government entity found the 'compromised evidence' and sent copies of data back to AMI
e. AMI attorney then proceeds to threaten Jeff Bezos with humiliating evidence if Bezos refuses to meet their demands.
Great to see Bezos refusing to give in and instead begin process of going after AMI and the corporate lackeys that work with the 'jackass in office'. Maybe Bezos will be acquiring another news print empire within a few months after the main culprits get sent to prison because I am certain they will be prosecuted after what has been reported because the evidence is now in plain sight.
The 'jackass in office' will soon have one less ally helping him, but maybe both Pecker and the jackass can eventually be 'prison mate pen pals' sometime later.
Edited by gregf (02/08/19 10:20 PM)
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Ramtek's Trivia promoter
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Re: Jeff Bezos' Damning Medium Post Pulls Back the Curtain on Something Much Larger
[Re: gregf]
#381013 - 02/08/19 11:52 PM
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*Combining this topic in one thread instead of multiple posts*
A bit more details now covered of how the events got started. The best part is the
DOJ SDNY district is now examining the events after what Bezos had started yesterday.
The mistake by Pecker is only having multi-millions of dollars and trying to take on a multi-billionaire with spare change and then some that can easily take down National Enquirer or better yet buy the company AMI, replace the management, and make the news print a more respectable investigative journal rather than be a trash heap.
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Jeff Bezos' Damning Medium Post Pulls Back the Curtain on Something Much Larger
The Amazon CEO’s dick-pic-blackmail story about the ‘National Enquirer’ might, in the end, involve President Trump
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211794873
On Thursday night, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, wrote a blog post accusing American Media Inc., of blackmail and extortion. Last month, the National Enquirer (owned by AMI) published a sprawling expose of Bezos’ affair with Lauren Sanchez, including salacious text messages, which ultimately led to the billionaire’s high-profile divorce. Bezos began to investigate how the Enquirer was able to obtain the text messages. The tabloid didn’t like this very much and, according to Bezos, threatened to release sensitive images, including nude photos of Bezos, unless he called off the investigation. Rather than capitulate, Bezos published over 2,000 words exposing the ploy Thursday night, heightening intrigue around AMI’s below-board tactics and CEO David Pecker’s relationship with President Trump.
Bezos’ post is a bold, remarkably candid account of his entanglement with AMI. After the Enquirer published its investigation last month, Bezos told his longtime personal security expert, Gavin de Becker, to look into how AMI was able to obtain his text messages. Bezos writes that he was informed by AMI that Pecker was “apoplectic” that de Becker was on the case. A few days later, Bezos says he and his lawyers were told by AMI that if de Becker didn’t stand down, the Enquirer would publish a trove of private photos they obtained, including a “below-the-belt selfie” of Bezos. AMI then put the threat in writing, which Bezos published in full. “It would give no editor pleasure to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail — and quickly,” wrote AMI’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard.
Another email followed, laying out the exact terms to which AMI was hoping Bezos would agree. These terms involved Bezos and de Becker stating publicly that they “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
The political angle to which AMI is referring derives from Pecker’s decades-long relationship with Trump. AMI reportedly employs a “catch and kill” practice in which the company purchases the rights to an unsavory story, and Pecker allegedly has a literal safe filled with potentially damaging Trump tales. The most notable story is that of the president’s alleged affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. In December 2018, the Southern District of New York revealed in the sentencing memo for Trump’s former lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen that AMI purchased the story specifically to keep it from hurting Trump’s presidential chances. AMI admitted as much as part of a non-prosecution agreement, an agreement that also stipulated that AMI not commit additional crimes. The blackmail and extortion detailed by Bezos would certainly be of interest to federal investigators and thus could put AMI in a mess of legal jeopardy, which means Pecker really, really, really didn’t want Bezos to find out how they came across his text messages.
full article at: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jeff-bezos-enquirer-791863/
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A bit more with a view of why it was a government entity involved in intercepting data instead of hackers.
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WaPo Reporter: Bezos' Investigators Think 'Government Entity' Might Have Leaked His Sexts...
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211792379
On MSNBC Thursday night, Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia said he had “spoken extensively” with the head of Bezos’ investigation, security consultant Gavin de Becker. “They have begun to believe, the Bezos camp, that this publication by the National Enquirer might have been politically motivated,” Roig-Franzia said.
“Gavin de Becker told us that he does not believe that Jeff Bezos’s phone was hacked,” the reporter continued. “He thinks it’s possible that a government entity might have gotten hold of his text messages.”
entire article at: https://www.mediaite.com/online/washingt...ined-his-texts/
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To add to the above segment is a recent article that United Arab Emirates (UAE) also has a government operation of agents that can intercept data from iPhones in which they go after activists within their country which is an ally of Saudi Arabia. Hard to say who or what group was involved, but I'd like to believe maybe the DOJ SDNY region unit might be able to find who was involved in intercepting Bezos' cellphone data.
And here is a former employee's guess of why Pecker and AMI decided to do this stunt.
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Ex-Enquirer Editor: Bezos Story Was 'Means Of Kissing And Making Up With' Trump
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211794976
A former senior editor for the National Enquirer said Friday that he believes the tabloid’s story on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ infidelity was a way for the publishing company’s chief executive to make amends with President Trump.
Jerry George, who previous worked as Los Angeles bureau chief and a senior editor for the Enquirer, told CNBC that there was “somewhat of a falling out” between American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker and Trump after AMI reached a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors over the company’s decision to “catch and kill” Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair with Trump.
“The Bezos divorce ordinarily wouldn’t have been registered on the Enquirer Richter scale other than he is the archenemy of President Trump,” George told CNBC. “So after the Mueller investigation and after AMI became involved in the investigation, there was somewhat of a falling out. I think American Media and David Pecker tried to make amends and brought this divorce story to the President as a means of kissing and making up.”
Bezos published an extraordinary blog post Thursday in which he accused AMI of “blackmail and extortion,” claiming the publishing company threatened to expose additional intimate text messages between Bezos and his mistress if the Amazon exec wouldn’t drop his investigation into how the publisher obtained the images.
entire article at: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/national-enquirer-donald-trump-jeff-bezos
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| gregf |
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Ramtek's Trivia promoter
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Re: Jeff Bezos and Amazon
[Re: gregf]
#381123 - 02/15/19 11:04 AM
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I agree with Smit about Bezos and Amazon even though I am rooting for Bezos against AMI ceo D. Pecker and his National Enquierer tabloid newsprint.
Added to what Smit has posted earlier about Amazon, it is the additional shining examples of why it is better to do purchases elsewhere instead of Amazon unless a specific item can no longer be found elsewhere.
The fact the company is doing the same General Electric stuff did in the past of demanding a tax rebate. Amazon is making beyond profits and then some so demanding a tax rebate is absurd. If anything, the tax rebates should only apply to small businesses or medium size businesses that do business and work with communities on a local scale....not multi billion dollar earning corporations.
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As Small Businesses Flounder: Amazon to Pay $0 Fed Taxes in 2019 on $11 Billion in Profit
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211821405
The Institute on Taxation and Economic policy released its findings Wednesday after examining the company’s corporate filings. Amazon reported a $129 million federal income tax rebate for 2018, equaling a tax rate of negative 1 percent. (The federal corporate income tax rate is 21 percent.)
“The fine print of Amazon’s income tax disclosure shows that this achievement is partly due to various unspecified ‘tax credits’ as well as a tax break for executive stock options,” the report stated.
This would be the second year in a row that the company has avoided paying federal taxes, despite being valued at a whopping $1 trillion.
“When Congress in 2017 enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and substantially cut the statutory corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, proponents claimed the rate cut would incentivize better corporate citizenship,” the report continued. “However, the tax law failed to broaden the tax base or close a slew of tax loopholes that allow profitable companies to routinely avoid paying federal and state income taxes on almost half of their profits.”
entire article at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-federal-taxes-2019_n_5c660227e4b01757c369c5b3
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New Yorkers should be relieved this deal didn't happen. Amazon would have caused as much problems as is happening in Seattle as described by a resident familiar with what is going on in Seattle regarding Amazon's operations there. For those that recall opening sequence of tv series All in the Family with display of rows of houses along Hauser street in Queens, NY (actual properties). All of those residents would be ousted and houses torn down in areas that might be considered a blight. tv characters Archie and Edith Bunker would have been tossed out as a sizeable property would be done away with while Amazon building campus would replace everything. Property taxes raised, rents also raised etc. The "gentrification" of driving out poor and middle class to be homeless would take place there in Queens. Cities and states need to stop catering to large scale corporations that only want to take advantage of tax breaks and take any bribery money being offered by officials in cities and states.
Foxconn certainly conned crook and former Gov of Wisconsin S. Walker into giving Foxconn millions of dollars and then Foxconn decided to hire very few Americans to that future company location in Wisconsin. Maybe Wisconsinites should think about filing possible future criminal charges against S. Walker in case there is evidence to file charges.
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Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Campus
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142266116
Amazon said on Thursday that it was canceling plans to build a corporate campus in New York City. The company had planned to build a sprawling complex in Long Island City, Queens, in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives.
But the deal had run into fierce opposition from local lawmakers who criticized providing subsidies to one of the world’s most valuable companies. Amazon said the deal would have created more than 25,000 jobs.
Amazon Statement:
After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens.
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2266253
Amazon has ruined Seattle. Yes, they supposedly create jobs, but the net balance is wiped out by the completely unnecessary tax breaks they've received. Meanwhile, they've strained infrastructure, driven up rents, created a ghost town of empty storefronts, and fomented such a displacement problem that the homeless population has soared.
And they haven't learned anything from it. They want to go create this unique blight in other places.
Meanwhile, we have a population of people that won't shop in stores, want nothing but chain eateries, order their food through delivery services, favor the gig economy (which doesn't provide full time jobs or benefits or even guarantee a minimum wage) and don't attend in-person events. I went to a play last night, good show ("Uncle Vanya" ), beautiful setting (the ACT Theatre), good location (in the heart of downtown near transit) and cheap tickets ($40 and under), and the house was half full because people who come to cities to work at places like Amazon don't support the arts (other theatres are going mad trying to attract them). And you don't see Amazon on the list of supporters, either, while you do see Boeing, Bill and Melinda Gates (sometimes), Weyerhaeuser, Microsoft, and other local business heavyweights.
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