JEFF BEZOS, CEO of Amazon, accused The National Enquirer Thursday of engaging in "extortion and blackmail" by threatening to publish intimate images of the billionaire unless he agreed to drop his investigation into how the tabloid obtained his private communications. In an extraordinary Medium post, Bezos reproduced emails that appeared to show representatives of the Enquirerdemanding he publicly states that its coverage of him isn't "influenced by political forces." If he refused, Bezos alleged, the Enquirer would make public photos of him and Lauren Sanchez, a news anchor with whom he had a romantic relationship.

Bezos' feud with the Enquirer began last month when it published a 12-page spread containing text messages between Bezos and Sanchez, revealing what the publication said was an affair. (The article appeared shortly after Bezos announced that he and his wife MacKenzie were getting divorced.) Gavin de Becker, Bezos' personal security consultant, soon began looking at how the tabloid obtained the billionaire's messages. De Becker recently told The Daily Beast that his investigation was ongoing, but that "strong leads point to political motives."

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