Benjamin Wittes and I, along with other Lawfare writers, have published over the years on the phenomenon of “sextortion”—sexual violence that takes place over the internet, usually when the perpetrator obtains explicit images of a victim and uses that material to obtain money or further sexual images. Most sextortion cases we’ve covered have involved victims who were relatively unknown. There are a few exceptions—a former Miss Teen USA, for example. But I think it is fair to say that neither of us expected we would one day learn about the sextortion of the richest man in the world. Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Bezos published a post on Medium the evening of Feb. 7 alleging what amounts to blackmail by the National Enquirer, owned by American Media, Inc. (AMI). Early in January, the Enquirer published what it touted as a blockbuster story alleging infidelity on Bezos’s part; over the course of the month, after Bezos and his wife…
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