American Media Inc.’s National Enquirer became a Twitter trend Thursday after Amazon chief executive officer accused the company of attempted extortion—but its deputy general counsel could face more serious consequences than jokes on social media, including legal action or bar discipline.

Lawyers with extortion law experience were split on whether or not AMI’s deputy general counsel Jon Fine, who joined the New York-based company in November and allegedly wrote two of the emails published by Bezos, could face charges. In the alleged emails he sent to the Amazon CEO, Fine outlines the terms for an agreement between AMI and Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.

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