Ex-Publisher Regan Sues Over Kerik 'Smear Campaign'
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Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Publisher Judith Regan, fired last year, is suing her former employer News Corp. and its HarperCollins unit, claiming she is the victim of a "deliberate smear campaign."
Regan asked for at least $100 million in damages in her suit, filed yesterday in state Supreme Court in New York. She claims News Corp. tried to destroy her reputation because she has damaging information about former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik. The information would be harmful to ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his presidential campaign, she said.
"The smear campaign was necessary to advance News Corp.'s political agenda, which has long centered on protecting Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions," Regan said in the complaint.
While head of her own imprint, ReganBooks, Regan became Kerik's lover and publisher, putting out his memoir, "The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice." He was indicted Friday in New York on 16 counts of corruption, mail and tax fraud, obstruction of justice and lying to the government. Kerik has pleaded not guilty.
Regan's firing last December followed the aborted publication of O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It," in which Simpson describes how he might have killed his ex-wife and her friend. Regan had brokered the book deal and an accompanying TV interview, which was also canceled.
