Judith Regan files $100 million lawsuit against News Corp over smear campaign

Controversial publisher Judith Regan has filed a 100-million-dollar suit against her former bosses at HarperCollins and News Corp alleging them of launching a smear campaign against her for protecting former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani's presidential bid.

In a 70-page complaint, she claims that a News Corp. executive had asked her to withhold damaging information about former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, which could sabotage Giuliani's campaign.

The suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, said a News Corp. boss advised Regan not to give up any "relevant documents" that could aid the government's investigation into Kerik.

"Because of the damaging information that defendants believed Regan possessed, defendants knew they would be protecting Giuliani if they could pre-emptively discredit her," the New York Daily News quoted the lawsuit.

While representatives of Giuliani's presidential campaign remained tight- lipped over the issue, a News Corp. spokesman has termed the claims made by Regan in the lawsuit as 'preposterous'.

Days before filing the suit, Regan in an article published in Harper's Bazaar said that she wanted her life to "get smaller, not bigger," particularly after the uproar over the scrapped O J Simpson book.

In her lawsuit she alleges that the News Corp. used the uproar to make her a scapegoat, and tried to label her as an "unethical businesswoman devoid of any integrity."

The editor also adds that she is one of the brightest stars in publishing, and seven of the books that she brought to HarperCollins have made it to The New York Times Bestseller List. (ANI)