Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Lawsuit Update: Gawker Wins Lawsuit Against FBI, Confidential Emails Made Public
Late last night, Capital New York was the first to report that Gawker has won its lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a topic we reported last month. The FBI had done an extensive investigation into the origins of the Hulk Hogan/Heather Clem sex tape (filmed at the Clem residence without Hogan's knowledge) that Gawker published clips of in 2012, so Gawker filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the records of the investigation to help defend Hogan's lawsuit against them which goes to trial in two weeks. After being denied on privacy grounds, Gawker was able to obtain releases from Clem (voluntary) and Hogan (ordered by a judge). When the second FOIA request was turned down because there was an ongoing investigation, Gawker filed the lawsuit.
Gawker released the following statement to Wrestling Inc. today:
The FBI's tapes and documents should help answer a number of questions relevant to Hulk Hogan's lawsuit ? whether there are still more sex tapes out there, who was taping and why and who all knew about it. We always want to get to the bottom of every story, and now we're a step closer to knowing the full truth here.
Judge Susan C. Bucklew of the Middle District of Florida has ruled that the FBI must turn over everything by tomorrow (Friday, June 26, 2015). The documents will go directly to Gawker while three DVD-R discs containing what are believed to be either additional copies of the sex tape or possible other videos are being delivered to the special magistrate who is overseeing the discovery process in the Hogan-Gawker lawsuit.
Gawker had received letters assuring them there was no ongoing investigation from basically every law enforcement agency they could think of that had jurisdiction on the matter. In court yesterday, U.S. Attorney Erik K. Stegeby claimed that the law enforcement exemption to the Freedom of Information Act was being invoked because there was an ongoing investigation from a non-federal agency...which wished to remain anonymous. He disclosed the agency to the judge in an empty courtroom.
She didn't seem to buy his argument, asking how the "sex tape" videos themselves could be subject to the exemption. "The videotape, in my belief, is about approximately 30 minutes," Stegeby explained. "There may be statements that Mr. Hogan makes on that tape that could potentially be — would potentially interfere with the ongoing law enforcement investigation." Judge Bucklew was a bit incredulous, asking "While having sex he's making statements that would interfere with the law enforcement investigation?"
Stegeby didn't have much for that. "Your Honor, like I said, I haven't seen it. I don't know if they have sex for 30 minutes or for 2 minutes or talk for 28 minutes. I just don't know." He also took issue with the time crunch since normally the FBI would have a few months to go through these, but that didn't get him very far.
On Tuesday, before the hearing, the New York Observer became the first outlet to report on the most interesting of the documents released in filings from the FBI side in that suit a few weeks ago. The big one was a letter from the FBI to David Houston, Hogan's attorney, which stated that the evidence the FBI had collected included:
* Settlement agreements and a transfer of copyrights.
* A check for $150,000 from Houston's firm made out to Hollywood attorney Keith Davidson.
* A black DVD case containing three DVD-R discs, which are labelled "Hogan 7-13-07," "Hootie 7-13-07," and "Hootie." Per the Observer article, "Hootie" was a nickname that Todd "Bubba the Love Sponge" Clem, Heather's then-husband, used for Hogan, then one of his best friends.
There are a lot of inferences that can be made from that information. We'll probably find out more about all that when the Hogan-Gawker trial starts in a couple weeks.