Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Lawsuit Update; Why Is Gawker Suing The FBI?

Yesterday, The Tampa Tribune was the first outlet to report that the latest twist in Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea's legal battles with Gawker Media over their publication of a sex tape made without his consent is Gawker filing a federal lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release records of their investigation into the matter. Gawker is claiming that the records are essential the defense of Hogan's lawsuit against them in state court, but the FBI has denied their most recent request on the grounds that they relate to a "pending or prospective" investigation, Gawker is asserting that's untrue. An FBI spokesman told the Tribune that while their own investigation has been completed, another agency is still investigating the matter.

Publicly available filings from the case explain Gawker's side in a bit more detail. Gawker's initial request was denied on privacy grounds. Heather Clem, the woman with Hogan on the tape the wife of Todd "Bubba the Love Sponge" Clem at the time it was made, provided a waiver to Gawker voluntary, while a judge ordered Hogan to comply. Explaining their reasoning in a motion for summary judgment, Gawker stated:

Gawker wanted, for example, to determine whether what Hogan was telling the Agencies was consistent with his position in his lawsuit against Gawker and wanted to obtain the raw materials (video, emails, and the like) that have been determined by the Florida state court to be critical to its case.

More specifically, they were looking into "the credibility of Mr. Bollea as far as his knowledge of the Clems ? Mr. and Mrs. Clem's practices as far as taping or any other ? the credibility of Mr. Bollea, his knowledge, his sense of taping, those kinds of things."

When Gawker resubmitted the request, the FBI confirmed the existence of over 1,000 pages of documents and two CDs worth of videos, Gawker confirmed they'd pay the duplication costs ($50 for four CDs), and then the FBI denied the request by claiming the investigation was ongoing. The U.S. Attorney's Office has previously assured Gawker that "would not be interfering in any way with any investigation if those documents were disclosed or if [it] contact[s] witnesses who may have provided information to the Government."

Also in court filings, Gawker claims that:

* They acquired the tape from an unknown source (as opposed to them knowing and just keeping him or or anonymous).
* "At around the time Gawker published that report, a lawyer from Los Angeles was separately ? and unbeknownst to Gawker ? attempting to sell to Hogan video footage depicting him having sex with Mrs. Clem."