أمريكان ميديا (ناشر)

American Media, Inc.
النوعPrivate
الصناعةMedia
تأسست1936
المقر الرئيسيNew York City[1]
الأشخاص الرئيسيون
David J. Pecker, CEO
Roger Altman
المنتجاتNewspapers
Magazines
المالكChatham Asset Management, LLC
Omega Charitable Partnership, L.P.
الموظفون3,160 (2006)
الموقع الإلكترونيAmericanMediaInc.com

American Media, Inc. (A.M.I.), is an American publisher of magazines, supermarket tabloids, and books based in New York City. On December 12, 2018, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported that A.M.I. admitted to paying $150,000 to Karen McDougal in concert with a candidate's presidential campaign for the sole purpose of preventing damaging allegations prior to the 2016 election for President of the United States.[2][3]

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"Catch-and-kill" scandals related to Donald Trump

In late 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a doorman at Trump Tower, to obtain the rights to his story in which he alleged Donald Trump had an affair in the 1980s that resulted in the birth of a child. Sajudin in April 2018 identified the woman as Trump's former housekeeper.[4] AMI reporters were given the names of the woman and the alleged child, while Sajudin passed a lie detector test when testifying that he had heard the story from others. Shortly after the payment was made, Pecker ordered the reporters to drop the story.[5] In April 2018, AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard denied the story was “spiked” in a so-called “catch and kill” operation, insisting that AMI did not run the story because Sajudin‘s story lacked credibility.[6] On August 24, 2018, after AMI had released Sajudin from the contract, CNN obtained a copy of it and published excerpts. The contract instructed Sajudin to provide "information regarding Donald Trump's illegitimate child," but did not contain further specifics of Sajudin's story.[7]


Karen McDougal

American Media Inc. Non-Prosecution Agreement
American Media Inc. Non-Prosecution Agreement

In 2016, AMI paid Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for exclusive rights to her allegations of a ten-month affair with Donald Trump—which she claimed happened in 2006-2007, while he was married to Melania[8]—but A.M.I. never published the story. A.M.I. publicly acknowledged having made the payment after the Wall Street Journal revealed it days before the 2016 presidential election, but A.M.I. denied that its purpose had been to "kill damaging stories about" Trump; instead, A.M.I. claimed it had paid only for "exclusive life rights to any relationship [McDougal] has had with a then-married man" and "two years’ worth of her fitness columns and magazine covers."[9][10] In March 2018, McDougal filed a lawsuit to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement she had with AMI.[11][12] A month later, A.M.I. settled with McDougal, allowing her to speak about the alleged affair.[13] In August 2018, it was reported that A.M.I. CEO/Chairman David Pecker and AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard were granted witness immunity in exchange for their testimony regarding hush money payments made by Donald Trump's then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.[14]

On December 12, 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced its agreement with A.M.I. "AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign," the press release said, so that Karen McDougal wouldn't "publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election. AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election." As a result of this agreement, A.M.I. would not face prosecution and agreed to provide extensive assistance to prosecutors about the involvement of Trump and other politicians with the company.[2] The same press release also revealed that Michael Cohen had been sentenced to three years in prison for various crimes, including the $150,000 campaign finance violation—the facilitation of the payment to McDougal—to which he pled guilty on August 21, 2018.[15][16][17]

Jeff Bezos blackmail

On February 7, 2019, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos shared emails that he had received the previous day[18] in which AMI sought a public statement from him and his lawyer "affirming that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AM’s coverage [of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi] was politically motivated or influenced by political forces, and an agreement that they will cease referring to such a possibility." AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard and his lawyer Jon Fine threatened Bezos, saying that if Bezos did not promptly meet the demands, AMI would publish selfies and sexts sent between Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sánchez.[19] The National Enquirer had published details of their affair the previous month. Bezos responded in a public article that he will refuse to make this "specific lie" nor participate in this blackmail bargain that "no real journalists [would] ever propose."[20] "Of course I don’t want personal photos published," Bezos added, but he said he chooses to "stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out." That same day, the Washington Post published an article on the matter, quoting a former federal prosecutor who speculated that this news could undermine AMI's recent deal with the government. If prosecutors decide they must file new criminal charges against AMI, the government may not be able "to continue to use them [AMI] to assist other ongoing investigations," said Robert Mintz.[21]

Publications

Current

Former

Divisions

  • Distribution Services, Inc.
  • AMI Books
  • AMI Entertainment Group[22][23]

See also

== المراجع ==

  1. ^ [1] Accessed June 30, 2017.
  2. ^ أ ب Samuelsohn, Darren. "A 'loud gong': National Enquirer's surprise deal could imperil Trump". POLITICO. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  3. ^ McIntire, Mike; Savage, Charlie; Rutenberg, Jim (2018-12-12). "Tabloid Publisher's Deal in Hush-Money Inquiry Adds to Trump's Danger". The New York Times (in الإنجليزية الأمريكية). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  4. ^ Moghe, Chris Isidore, Tom Kludt and Sonia. "Former doorman involved in story of alleged Trump affair speaks". Retrieved 25 August 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Farrow, Ronan (2018-04-12). "The National Enquirer, a Trump Rumor, and Another Secret Payment to Buy Silence". The New Yorker (in الإنجليزية). ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  6. ^ "$30,000 rumor? Tabloid paid for, spiked, salacious Trump tip". Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  7. ^ CNN, Sonia Moghe,. "Ex-Trump World Tower doorman releases 'catch-and-kill' contract about alleged Trump affair". Retrieved 25 August 2018. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (2018-03-22). "Ex-Playboy Model Karen McDougal Details 10-Month Affair With Donald Trump". The New York Times (in الإنجليزية الأمريكية). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  9. ^ Palazzolo, Joe; Rothfeld, Michael; Alpert, Lukas (November 4, 2016). "National Enquirer Shielded Donald Trump From Playboy Model's Affair Allegation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  10. ^ Weprin, Alex (November 4, 2016). "Report: National Enquirer bought rights to Trump affair story, but never published". Politico.
  11. ^ "Karen McDougal v. American Media, Inc" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  12. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (2018-03-20). "Former Playboy Model Karen McDougal Sues to Break Silence on Trump". The New York Times (in الإنجليزية الأمريكية). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  13. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (2018-04-18). "Ex-Playboy Model, Freed From Contract, Can Discuss Alleged Trump Affair". The New York Times (in الإنجليزية الأمريكية). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  14. ^ Sherman, Gabriel. ""Holy shit, I thought Pecker would be the last one to turn": Trump's National Enquirer allies are the latest to defect". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Michael Cohen Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison". www.justice.gov (in الإنجليزية). 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  16. ^ "Michael Cohen trial: Trump accused of directing hush money". BBC News. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleads guilty, implicates president". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  18. ^ Bezos, Jeff (2019-02-07). "No thank you, Mr. Pecker". Jeff Bezos. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  19. ^ Kim, Eugene (2019-02-07). "Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer publisher of blackmail, extortion". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  20. ^ Bezos, Jeff (2019-02-07). "No thank you, Mr. Pecker". Jeff Bezos. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  21. ^ Farhi, Paul; Ellison, Sarah; Barrett, Devlin (7 February 2019). "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer of extortion over intimate photos". Washington Post. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  22. ^ Silber, Tony. "American Media Acquires Bauer Media's Celebrity And Teen Brands". Forbes (in الإنجليزية). Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  23. ^ "Entertainment Group | American Media Inc". www.americanmediainc.com (in الإنجليزية). Retrieved 2018-10-18.

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