Tag Archives: blackmail

The Daily Beast reports: An attorney for the publisher of the National Enquirer says the person who leaked text messages between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez is “well known” to both of them. In an appearance on ABC’s This Week Sunday morning, lawyer Elkan Abramowitz, who represents AMI chief executive David Pecker, also denied that a letter sent …

Deadline reports: The owners of the National Enquirer now have a bigger problem than a pissed off and fighting back Jeff Bezos – the feds. Just a day after the Amazon founder published a detailed overview of the attempts by the David Pecker run tabloid to halt his investigation into how private texts and photos got into the Enquirer’s hands …

Via press release: American Media, LLC today made the following statement in response to the statement made by Jeff Bezos regarding the National Enquirer. “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 …

The Wrap reports: Ronan Farrow had a message for Jeff Bezos on Thursday: Me, too. Farrow, whose journalistic efforts have detailed sexual misconduct accusations against the likes of Les Moonves and Harvey Weinstein, took to Twitter on Thursday to express solidarity with Amazon boss Bezos, after Bezos said that he had received a blackmail threat from National Enquirer parent company …

Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News reports: A German-born Turkish pop singer has been accused by dozens of complainants in Turkey of blackmailing them with their secret gay love affairs. According to court documents seen by Hürriyet, more than 50 people in the provinces of Istanbul, Bursa and Giresun have recently filed criminal complaints against pop singer Bulut Duman, 28, over similar …

Courthouse News Service reports: The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a gay porn actor’s conviction for blackmailing a Florida tech tycoon, ruling that fear of reputational harm supported the government’s federal extortion charges. Teofil Brank was a popular porn actor performing under the stage name Jarec Wentworth when in early 2015 he demanded $1 million from Donald Burns, the chairman …

The Kansas City Star reports: Republican lawmakers are calling for Gov. Eric Greitens to resign after allegations that he blackmailed a woman in an effort to keep her quiet about an extramarital affair. Rep. Kathie Conway, a St. Charles Republican and former criminal investigator, encouraged the governor to step down in a piece published by The Missouri Times. “As a …

The Hill reports: The St. Louis city prosecutor will conduct a formal investigation into allegations that Gov. Eric Greitens (R) blackmailed a woman with whom he had an affair. “Both parties and the people of St. Louis deserve a thorough investigation of these allegations,” prosecutor Kimberly Gardner said Thursday in a statement. Gardner called the allegations “very troubling.” Greitens on …

Ben Shapiro writes at the Daily Signal: First, it’s not smart to blackmail a fellow who is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee next week. Comey obviously had few limits on what he was willing to say publicly before Trump blackmailed him; now he’ll be even more loose with his tongue. Second, revealing that there may be “tapes” …

Whoa. Via Politico: A purported cyber hack of the daughter of political consultant Paul Manafort suggests that he was the victim of a blackmail attempt while he was serving as Donald Trump’s presidential campaign chairman last summer. The undated communications, which are allegedly from the iPhone of Manafort’s daughter, include a text that appears to come from a Ukrainian parliamentarian …

Teofil Brank, who performed in gay porn as Jarec Wentworth, has been sentenced to six years in prison for extorting $500,000 and a luxury sports car out of Florida tech tycoon Donald Burns, who went to the FBI early this year after Brank’s blackmail demands escalated. The Los Angeles Times reports: At trial, Burns testified that he was “scared to …

According to unnamed law enforcement officials, former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert was being blackmailed by someone with knowledge of Hastert having committed “sexual misconduct” with a male many years ago. Via the Los Angeles Times: One of the officials, who would not speak publicly about the federal charges in Chicago, said “Individual A,” as the person is described in …

Two British men have been sentenced to four years in prison for blackmailing men that they met on Grindr. Via Gay Star News: Nathanael Foster and Adam Webb, both 26 from Gloucester in South West England, were charged with two counts of blackmail. Gloucester Crown Court heard how the pair trapped two men, with one victim even handing over £15,000 …

Russia Today reports that police in Georgia claim to have exposed a government-run spy ring that used gay men to prey on celebrities who were then blackmailed into supporting the regime. The prosecutors claim the former head of the Military Police, Legis Kardava, instructed some high-placed officials of his agency to gather information on homosexual men. Specially selected gay agents …