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National Enquirer, caught in ‘catch-and-kill’ scandal, sold

by www.sfgate.com Leave a Comment

The National Enquirer, the scandal-plagued tabloid that engaged in “catch-and-kill” practices to bury stories about Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, has been sold.

VVIP is buying the National Examiner and another tabloid, the Globe, from magazine publisher a360 Media in an all-cash deal, though exact financial terms were not disclosed.

In December 2018 the parent company of publications including the National Enquirer, Us Weekly and In Touch admitted to engaging in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch-and-kill” in order to help Donald Trump become president.

Federal prosecutors revealed at the time that they had agreed not to prosecute American Media Inc. for secretly assisting Trump’s campaign by paying $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump. The company then intentionally suppressed McDougal’s story until after the election.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, also accused the paper of attempting to bribe him in 2019 with embarrassing “below the belt” photos sent to his girlfriend.

American Media sold the National Enquirer and some other publications in April 2019 to James Cohen, former head of the airport newsstand company Hudson News. However, the transaction was never completed.

In August 2020 David Pecker stepped down as CEO of American Media. At the time, American Media Inc. was being taken over by Accelerate360, a logistics firm based in Smyrna, Georgia. Under Pecker, the National Enquirer for years buried potentially embarrassing stories about Trump and other favored celebrities by buying the rights to them and never publishing.

The Federal Election Commission fined a360 Media $187,500 in June 2021 for squashing the McDougal story. The FEC said the publisher’s “payment to Karen McDougal to purchase a limited life story right combined with its decision not to publish the story, in consultation with an agent of Donald J. Trump and for the purpose of influencing the election, constituted a prohibited corporate in-kind contribution.”

VVIP Ventures is a joint venture between digital media and content technologies holding company Vinco Ventures Inc. and ICON Publishing.

National Enquirer, caught in “catch-and-kill” scandal, is sold

by www.cbsnews.com Leave a Comment

The National Enquirer, the scandal-plagued tabloid that engaged in “catch-and-kill” practices to bury stories about Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, has been sold by its parent company.

Magazine publisher a360 agreed to sell the National Enquirer and another tabloid, the Globe, to VVIP in an all-cash deal, though exact financial terms were not disclosed. VVIP is a joint venture between digital media company Vinco Ventures and ICON Publishing, which was founded by former MoviePass chairman Ted Farnsworth.

In December 2018 the parent company of publications including the National Enquirer, Us Weekly and In Touch admitted to engaging in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch-and-kill” in order to help Donald Trump become president.

Federal prosecutors revealed at the time that they had agreed not to prosecute American Media Inc. for secretly assisting Trump’s campaign by paying $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump. The company then intentionally suppressed McDougal’s story until after the election.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, also accused the paper of attempting to blackmail him in 2019 with embarrassing “below the belt” photos sent to his girlfriend unless he publicly backed off criticizing the media company.

In April 2019, American Media announced it would sell the National Enquirer and some other publications to James Cohen, former head of the airport newsstand company Hudson News. However, the transaction was never completed.

In August 2020 David Pecker stepped down as CEO of American Media. At the time, American Media was being taken over by Accelerate360, a logistics firm based in Smyrna, Georgia. Under Pecker, the National Enquirer for years buried potentially embarrassing stories about Trump and other favored celebrities by buying the rights to them and never publishing.

National Enquirer owner admits to paying off Playboy model to protect Trump

by www.cbsnews.com Leave a Comment

The media company that owns the National Enquirer admitted to “working in concert” with the Trump campaign to pay off a woman who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in order to squash her story, prosecutors in New York said Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said it had agreed not to prosecute American Media, Inc. (AMI), the Enquirer’s parent company, for its involvement in the scheme in exchange for the company’s cooperation in the investigation into the payment to Karen McDougal , a former Playboy model.

AMI “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,” the office said.

The announcement came hours after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced in Manhattan to three years in federal prison for violating campaign finance laws for his role in paying off McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

Prosecutors did not say when they reached the agreement not to prosecute AMI for the payment to McDougal, which came in the weeks before the 2016 election. The office said in a press release the company “admitted that it made the $150,000 payment … in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate.”

“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,” the news release said.

In exchange for avoiding prosecution, AMI accepted responsibility, agreed to assist in the investigation, and improve its internal compliance related to campaign finance laws, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.

‘A shambles!’ Pensioner hit by state pension shortfall after National Insurance error

by www.express.co.uk Leave a Comment

People check their finances

The state pension is an important income stream for many older Britons (Image: GETTY)

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People on Universal Credit automatically get (NI) credits but those on the benefit only get these applied within four months of when they reach state pension age, which is currently 66. But many people may have been underpaid due to a system error or may have needlessly voluntarily bought credits when they should have had them applied to their record already.

NI credits cover gaps in a person’s record when they were not paying National Insurance, to go towards their state pension payment.

An investigation by This is Money found there has been no working system to automatically update a person’s Universal Credits’ NI credits since 2018 with no timeframe in place to fix the issue.

The publication claims the Government website still “misleads” claimants into thinking their NI credits are automatically updated.

At the time of writing, on the “National Insurance credits” section of the gov.uk website, it says those on Universal Credit “get Class 3 credits automatically” with Class 3 credits counting towards a person’s state pension.

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A woman checks her state pension

The state pension is increasing by 10.1 percent this year (Image: GETTY)

One woman, Denise Smith, was due to be paid £664 by the DWP after she spent months trying to get her NI credits applied.

The 67-year-old told This is Money: “It is such a shambles. You get to retirement age and you are still fighting for things.”

Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain asked a question about the issue in Parliament on Friday.

She said: “It’s leading to a series of errors and leaving pensioners without the payments they are entitled to. It’s not a legacy issue. It’s happening now.”

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She asked the Government when it would be “transparent” about what is happening and would come forward with a solution.

Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, said in her response it was an “important” issue.

She added: “I will make sure that the Secretary of State has heard her concerns today. The departmental questions are not until early March, and I will ask her to issue a reply to the honourable lady and to consider what can be done to inform all members of this House.”

The Government told This is Money most Universal Credit claimants get their NI records updated at the end of the tax year.

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Information about the triple lock

The state pension increases each year in line with the triple lock (Image: EXPRESS)

Previously, those eligible for NI credits, such as carers and those who receive Child Benefit, would get their record updated in the October after a financial year ends.

A DWP spokesperson told This is Money: “All of the cases raised have now been resolved and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

“We are working with HMRC on an improved process to add historic and future Universal Credit National Insurance credits to National Insurance records.”

A person can check their NI record and how much state pension they are on track to receive using a tool on the Government website.

The full basic is currently £141.85 a week and a person typically needs 30 years of NI contributions to claim this.

Those on the new state pension typically need 35 years of contributions to get the full £185.15 a week.

State pension payments are increasing by 10.1 percent in April, with the full basic state pension increasing to £156.20 a week while the new state pension is increasing to £203.85 a week.

Express.co.uk has contacted the asking for comment.

FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship: Aishwarya Pissay Clinches 6th Consecutive Title

by www.news18.com Leave a Comment

Aishwarya Pissay, the 27-year-old queen of Indian motorsports and Petronas TVS Racing team factory rider, clinched her sixth consecutive National rally title in the Ladies’ class as the six-round of FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship 2022 (INRC-2w).

Going into the Rally of Nashik, the sixth and final round with a comfortable lead, the Bengaluru rider saw her closest competitor, Fazeela, from Kerala skipping the final round. And with the National Rally Championship title virtually assured, she took it easy and salvaged a second place, which was enough to defend her title.

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“My race bike TVS TR 200R, which is based on the TVS Apache RTR 200 is supremely capable and delivered a superb performance. Throughout the season, in the tough and technical terrain, I was able to take control of the situation and push it to my liking. It gives me immense joy and happiness to win six consecutive National Rally titles. I thank my mechanics, family, sponsors, and all those who supported me. My special thanks to Petronas TVS Racing, who stood by me through thick and thin,” said Aishwarya Pissay.

Entering the final round with a 12-point lead, the TVS racer avoided any risk as she navigated the technical course with deft control on her TVS TR 200R, a lean machine that rounded off her 2022 campaign. She maintained a steady pace and cleverly played it easy to clock 40min, 21.597sec timing for the two special stages. The third stage was cancelled.

She won all five rounds she took part in, and kept the slate clean, to extend her winning streak that began in 2017. Apart from winning the six FMSCI National Rally Championships, she also claimed the 2W National Racing title in the Ladies’ class in 2017, before moving on to higher cross-country Rally Raid events. She started in 2016 with Circuit Racing winning Honda One-Make and TVS One-Make titles. She also excelled in tougher cross-country events in India like the Himalayan Rally, the Dakshin Dare and Desert Storm paved her way to Rally Raid events abroad.

In 2017, she came under the wings of TVS Racing and made her international debut in the tough Baja Aragon rally in 2018, where she overcame a life-threatening accident and rose like a phoenix to continue her dream run in the World Cup, the next year. Apart from the seven National titles, she reached the apex winning the FIM Baja World Cup in the women’s section for the ultimate prize in 2019.

The delayed 2022 season concluded with the Nashik round on Sunday but the Bengaluru rider will continue her training in pursuit of tougher Rally Raid events abroad in 2023.

Read all the Latest Sports News here

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)

first published: February 06, 2023, 21:12 IST
last updated: February 06, 2023, 21:12 IST

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