National Enquirer’s parent company will NOT be prosecuted for payoffs to Playboy model

Prosecutors have reached a cooperation deal with the publisher of the National Enquirer for its role in burying a story about a Playboy model who claims she had a months-long affair with Donald Trump.

U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of New York announced the deal with American Media Inc. shortly after a judge in Manhattan sentenced former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to three years in jail.

Cohen was involved in discussions with AMI’s CEO David Pecker over the $150,000 payment that went to model Karen McDougal, who claims she had 10-month affair with Trump before he took office.

The deal guaranteed her appearances on publication covers and gave her a fitness column in exchange for giving away the life rights to her story. It has been described as a type of ‘catch-and-kill’ arrangement and a way to keep a bad story out of the press. 

According to a letter from prosecutors to AMI, the company entered an agreement to acquire ‘limited life rights’ with a model about her relationship with ‘any then-married man’ in exchange for $150,000.

The firm agreed to pay ‘substantially more money than AMI otherwise would have paid to acquire the story’ ‘because of Cohen’s assurances to Pecker that AMI would ultimately be reimbursed for the payment.’

But its ‘principal purpose’ in the deal was ‘to suppress the model’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.’

AMI’s CEO David Pecker is friends with President Trump and with Michael Cohen

The ‘principal purpose’ of the deal was ‘to suppress the model’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election’ according to a government ‘Statement of Admitted Facts’

At no time during talks ‘did AMI intend to publish the story or disseminate information about it publicly,’ according to the letter. 

As part of the deal, the National Enquirer publisher will avoid charges over its role in the hush money payments.

As part of the facts the company lawyers agreed and consented to, the letter stipulates that Pecker met with Cohen ‘and at least one other member of the campaign.’

‘At the meeting, Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate’s relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided. Pecker agreed to keep Cohen apprised of any such negative stories.’ 

Former Playboy cover model Karen McDougal has said she had a months-long affair with U.S. President Donald Trump years before he took office, and that she sold her story for $150,000 to American Media Inc but it was never published. 

Prosecutors revealed the immunity deal with the publisher of American Media Inc.

A statement of facts spelled out the $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model

AMI knew about federal campaign laws at the time it reached the deal, it agreed

The incident involved a practice known as ‘catch and kill’ to prevent a potentially damaging article from being published.

In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District said it agreed not to prosecute AMI after the company admitted ‘that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election.’

Prosecutors announced the agreement on the same day that Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison in federal court in New York for orchestrating hush payments to McDougal and another woman, adult-film star Stormy Daniels, in violation of campaign laws before the election, as well as other crimes.

AMI’s chief executive officer David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump and Cohen, had met with prosecutors to describe their hush-money deals with McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 U.S. election won by Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported in August.

Pecker and another AMI executive were granted immunity as part of prosecutors’ probe, Vanity Fair also reported over the summer.

Representatives for AMI and Pecker could not be immediately reached for comment.