The Enquirer and its owner have come under intense scrutiny since Bezos made his allegations in a blog post in February. Bezos accused American Media of trying to blackmail him with photos of him with a woman who wasn’t his wife. He also published emails sent to his lawyer, Marty Singer, by American Media executives.
The scrutiny extended to Chatham, which was questioned by New Jersey officials over the matter. The firm also has come under review by securities regulators.
The Bezos situation followed a separate controversy over the publisher’s ties to Trump. The company admitted that it worked with the Trump campaign to withhold stories about the candidate’s relationships with women.
Pecker is considered a friend of Trump, but Melchiorre has been linked to the president as well. When Pecker arrived at the White House in July 2017 for a dinner with Trump, he was accompanied by the hedge fund boss.
Unloading the Enquirer would shift American Media’s focus toward fitness and lifestyle brands. In recent years, it acquired Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, as well as Bauer Media’s celebrity and teen brands.
Saudi Ties
Bezos, head of Amazon.com Inc., also has knocked American Media for its ties to Saudi Arabia. Around the time of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the U.S. a year ago, American Media produced a nearly 100-page glossy magazine celebrating the country as “The New Kingdom.”
Bezos questioned whether critical coverage of Saudi Arabia by his newspaper, the Washington Post, might have spurred the publisher to retaliate against him. American Media said in February that it “does not have, nor have we ever had, any editorial or financial ties to Saudi Arabia.”
Federal Prosecutors
Bezos is set to meet federal prosecutors in Southern District of New York as soon as this week, CNN reported Wednesday. They’re looking to get access to Bezos’s electronic devices, letting them examine his private investigator’s allegation that Saudi Arabia obtained private information from his phone.