David Pecker

David Jay Pecker
Born David Jay Pecker[1]
(1951-09-24) September 24, 1951
Education BBA (1972)[2][3]
CPA[4]
Alma mater Pace University[2]
New York University[5]
Occupation Businessman
Employer AMI Paper, Inc.
Salary $1,750,000 (2016)
(Total Compensation:
$3,187,292 (2016))[2]
Title Chairman,
CEO, and
President[2][6]
Spouse(s) Karen Balan

David Jay Pecker (born September 24, 1951) is the chairman and CEO of American Media. He is the publisher of National Enquirer, Star, Sun, Weekly World News, Globe, Men's Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Fit Pregnancy and Shape.

In 2018, Pecker became embroiled in controversy regarding his involvement in a catch and kill operation to buy exclusive rights to stories that might embarrass his friend Donald Trump, to prevent the stories from becoming public during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Early life

David Jay Pecker was born September 24, 1951,[5] to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York.[2][7] His father was a bricklayer,[8] who died in 1967, when Pecker was sixteen, and to support his mother, he started bookkeeping for local businesses, in New Rochelle and in The Bronx.[4] He graduated from Pace University.[2]

Career

After college, Pecker began his career as an accountant at Price Waterhouse[1] and, in 1979, joined the accounting department at CBS's magazine division, rising to vice president and controller. Eight years later, CBS sold its magazine division, in a leveraged buyout, to its manager, Peter Diamandis, and Pecker continued. Diamandis later sold the magazines to Hachette Filipacchi Médias. After Diamandis's departure three years later, Pecker was appointed CEO at Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S..[1] In 1999, Pecker left Hachette, when he raised capital from Thomas H. Lee Partners and Evercore Partners to buy American Media, publisher of the Star, the Globe, the National Enquirer, and the Weekly World News.[1]

Pecker is the chairman and chief executive officer of American Media, Inc.[9] He is the publisher of National Enquirer, Star, Sun, Weekly World News, Globe, Men's Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Fit Pregnancy and Shape. He has served in his current role at AMI since 1999 and previously served as Chairman and CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Médias.[1]

Pecker serves on the board of directors of the Federal Drug Agents Foundation, where he is president emeritus.[10]

Pecker serves on the board of directors of iPayment Holdings, Inc., Sunbeam Products, Inc., Next Generation Network, Inc, AMI Paper, Inc., and American Media, Inc..[2] In August 2018, after his interactions with President Donald Trump were heavily reported on, Pecker resigned as a director of Postmedia Network Canada Corp., a leading Canadian media company, a position he had held since October 2016.[11]

Involvement with Donald Trump

External image
David Pecker Hosts Playboy's 50th Anniversary Celebration Zimbio

Pecker has described himself as a close friend of Donald Trump. Pecker supported Trump's initial run for president as part of the Reform Party in 2000.[7]

As of April 2018, Pecker and AMI were under investigation for using catch and kill payments in which AMI purchased the exclusive rights to stories that might have been damaging to Trump's 2016 campaign for President but then refused to publish them. Such a tactic might have represented illegal and/or undeclared "in-kind" campaign donations under Federal Election Commission rules.[7]

In March 2018, Karen McDougal filed a lawsuit against American Media in Los Angeles Superior Court, aiming to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement preventing her from speaking about an alleged affair with Donald Trump. Pecker had directed American Media to purchase the exclusive rights to the story for $150,000 in 2016, allegedly to keep it from the public.[12] In April 2018 the lawsuit was settled and McDougal was released from the agreement. AMI also agreed to feature her on the cover of another AMI magazine, Men's Journal, in September 2018.[13][14]

In April 2018 FBI agents searched the office and residences of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, in part to search for evidence of Trump's involvement in the payment to McDougal.[12] On July 20, 2018, a tape became public which confirmed this payment; the tape was secretly recorded by Cohen during a conversation with then candidate Trump in 2016.[15]

In late 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a doorman at Trump Tower, to obtain the rights to his story in which he alleged Donald Trump had an affair in the 1980s that resulted in the birth of a child. Sajudin in April 2018 identified the woman as Trump’s former housekeeper.[16] AMI reporters were given the names of the woman and the alleged child, while Sajudin passed a lie detector test when testifying that he had heard the story from others. Shortly after the payment was made, Pecker ordered the reporters to drop the story.[17] In April 2018, AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard denied the story was “spiked” in a catch and kill operation, insisting that AMI did not run the story because Sajudin‘s story lacked credibility.[18] CNN obtained a copy of the contract between AMI and Sajudin on August 24, 2018, after AMI had released Sajudin from the contract. CNN published excerpts of the contract, which instructed Sajudin to provide "information regarding Donald Trump's illegitimate child", but did not contain further specifics of Sajudin’s story.[19]

Federal investigators subpoenaed Pecker and AMI in April 2018, with Pecker providing prosecutors details about the hush payments Michael Cohen had arranged.[20] In August 2018, Pecker was also granted witness immunity in exchange for his testimony of Trump's knowledge of the payments.[21]

Personal life

In 1987, he married Karen Balan.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "David Pecker". gawker.com. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "David J. Pecker: Executive Profile & Biography". bloomberg.com. 28 August 2018. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "Alumni Network - Previous Honorees". Pace University. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2018 – via archive.org.
  4. 1 2 Jeffrey Toobin (3 July 2017). "The National Enquirer's Fervor for Trump". newyorker.com. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 The International Who's Who 2004. Psychology Press. 2003. p. 1300. ISBN 9781857432176.
  6. ↑ Donnelley Financial Solutions. "AMERICAN MEDIA OPERATIONS INC - 10-K - 20050629 - DIRECTORS_AND_OFFICERS". google.brand.edgar-online.com. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Rutenberg, Jim; Steel, Emily; McIntire, Mike (2018-04-11). "Investigators Focus on Another Trump Ally: The National Enquirer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  8. ↑ Kampeas, Ron (June 1, 2018). "3 Jewish media moguls who dish the dirt — and defer to Donald Trump". Jewish Telegraph Agency.
  9. ↑ "American Media, Inc. Executive Team". American Media, Inc. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Board of Drectors". Federal Drug Agents Foundaton. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Trump insider David Pecker leaving Postmedia board of directors". CTV News. The Canadian Press. August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Shear, Michael D.; Apuzzo, Matt; Schmidt, Michael S.; LaFraniere, Sharon; Haberman, Maggie (2018-04-10). "Raid on Trump's Lawyer Sought Records of Payments to Women". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  13. ↑ Kirby, Jen (April 18, 2018). "Karen McDougal can now talk openly about her alleged affair with Donald Trump". Vox. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  14. ↑ Al-Sibai, Noor (August 10, 2018). "MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explains 'somewhat hilarious' reason why Trump mistress Karen McDougal is on Men's Health cover". Raw Story. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model". Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  16. ↑ Moghe, Chris Isidore, Tom Kludt and Sonia. "Former doorman involved in story of alleged Trump affair speaks". Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  17. ↑ Farrow, Ronan (2018-04-12). "The National Enquirer, a Trump Rumor, and Another Secret Payment to Buy Silence". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  18. ↑ "$30,000 rumor? Tabloid paid for, spiked, salacious Trump tip". Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  19. ↑ CNN, Sonia Moghe,. "Ex-Trump World Tower doorman releases 'catch-and-kill' contract about alleged Trump affair". Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  20. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-michael-cohen-agreed-to-plead-guiltyand-implicate-the-president-1534987372?mod=e2tw
  21. ↑ Pramuk, Kevin Breuninger, Jacob (August 23, 2018). "National Enquirer boss and longtime Trump friend David Pecker gets immunity in Michael Cohen case". Retrieved August 23, 2018.
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