From: "Bryant, Matthew" [REDACTED] Date: April 17, 2008 12:50:32 AM EDT To: legal@gawker.com Subject: http://defamer.com/380219/exclusive-debunking-the-marilyn-monroe-sex-tape-hoax

April 16, 2008

By Email
Gawker Media, Legal Department
76 Crosby Street
New York, NY 10012
legal@gawker.com

Re: http://defamer.com/380219/exclusive-debunking-the-marilyn-monroe-sex-tape-hoax

Dear Sir or Madam:

I write on behalf of Keya Morgan in reference to the above-referenced post on www.Defamer.com authored, apparently, in part by Mr. Mark Bellinghaus and the website itself. Please be advised that Mr. Morgan has filed a report today with Precinct 20 of the New York City Police Department in regard to recent threats Mr. Bellinghaus' made on Keya Morgan's life in the wake of Mr. Morgan's recent successful $1.5 million brokerage-sale of a Marilyn Monroe film as reported by Reuters, The New York Post and CBS, NBC and Fox. Mr. Morgan naturally will protect himself and his business to the full extent of the law.

Further, Mr. Bellinghaus' recent publication of the above-referenced defamatory post on www.defamer.com constitutes defamation per se and subject its authors and related internet content providers, such as www.defamer.com and Gawker Media, to civil liability under New York and federal law. Mr. Morgan is a distinguished internationally-recognized manuscript and artifact expert. He has built an impeccable reputation over a decade. Mr. Bellinghaus' challenges to the film's authenticity are based on false information, self-serving analysis and speculation. Neither he nor any of his colleagues interviewed Mr. Morgan. Mr. Morgan authenticated the film based on his interviews with the owner, the son of an FBI informant, the FBI analyst who worked on the film, and his personal review of declassified documents and the film itself. Mr. Morgan's reputation and expertise speaks for itself. Mr. Bellinghaus' allegations that Mr. Morgan is engaging in a fantasy PR campaign are absurd and, most importantly, by his own admission backed up by no evidence whatsoever.

As stated, Mr. Morgan will protect his reputation and business to the full extent of the law. Please find a copy of our cease and desist letter to Mr. Bellinghaus of even date. Please retract and cease any publication of defamatory matter from Mr. Bellinghaus.

Very truly yours,

Matt Bryant
Ohrenstein & Brown
[REDACTED]
Garden City, New York 11530

From: Gaby Darbyshire
To: "Bryant, Matthew"
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Subject: Re: http://defamer.com/380219/exclusive-debunking-the-marilyn-monroe-sex-tape-hoax

Mr Bryant,

I simply do not accept that anything written in this piece is libellous. Our source is willing to state under oath that they spoke with Mr Morgan last year and that he told them the things stated as coming from him in the article. This piece is simply a detailed analysis of the claims made by your client regarding this tape, and the writers' view of whether those claims are supported by the evidence. That's called reporting. Your client may not like the conclusions drawn, but this country believes in free speech, last I checked. The material is a matter of opinion, strongly held for sure, but not a matter of libel.

If you can point me to any facts stated that are provable incontrovertibly as facts and not mere opinion, then - as I have said - we are willing to print a statement from your client to clarify his position on those specific points. I've already offered to do that over the age of your client (provable fact, but not libellous) and his denial of making any dating claims (not provable, and not libellous either, but if your client cares about this, I'm happy to do it).

Beyond such minor clarifications, either we accept that people of strong conviction and passion for a subject can vehemently disagree about events and their interpretation of events, let them as grown-ups debate their side of the argument in a public forum as experts in their domain, and let the public decide which version they choose to believe - or we can take this matter to the courts and hash through it all there.

I'm happy to do either. Mr Morgan must decide how he wants to proceed.

Regards,

******************************************
Gaby Darbyshire
VP, Finance & Legal, Gawker Media

******************************************

From: "Bryant, Matthew"
Date: April 17, 2008 5:05:39 PM EDT
To: "Gaby Darbyshire"
Subject: RE: http://defamer.com/380219/exclusive-debunking-the-marilyn-monroe-sex-tape-hoax

Dear Ms. Darbyshire:

Thank you for your response to my letter sent yesterday on behalf of Keya Morgan. At this juncture, I advise you to seek counsel from Gawker Media's in-house attorney or, in if no such person exists, seek outside counsel.

From the outset, Defamer.com, Mark Bellinghaus and Gawker Media are accusing my client of fraud. Your headline boasts, as fact, that the film is a "hoax." The apparent editor asserts, as fact, that it was "fabricated." My client is a business man and well respected manuscript and artifact expert. Your website has not only impugned my client's honesty, integrity and profession, but has accused him of committing fraud. This is defamation, not reporting.

It should be noted that while Mr. Morgan embraces the "market place" of ideas, the freedom of the press has always ended at the expense of a third-party's rights. There is little room for an organization doing business as "defamer.com" to hide behind the legitimate press' cloak of freedom. Your self-described "Marilyn Monroe Expert" (Mark Bellinghaus) has well-documented history. Most recently, he threatened to blow up my client's home and stab him. [ED. NOTE - As of April 23, 2008, this case has been closed.] I have personally spoken to Detective Banville of the NYPD's 1st Precinct; Mr. Morgan's policy report number is 2008-001-02543. If Mr. Bellinghaus is found in NYC, he will likely be arrested. His rantings can be viewed by any reporter wishing to verify him as a source at www.marilynmonroeforall.com as a "cyber-harasser" and self-proclaimed Monroe expert. Your website relies on this man as an expert and touts, as fact, his warped conclusions founded in delusion and animosity. We believe goes well beyond mere defamation and constitutes harassment or criminal menacing. For the record, your claim that this is legitimate reporting rings false — Mr. Morgan adamantly denies ever granting an interview to any such self-proclaimed experts. Further, your reporters cannot even ascertain Mr. Morgan's correct age and the allegations regarding his romantic goings-on are simply false and inserted to further harass and injury my client's business and personal reputation.

Unlike other recent on-line defamation cases where anonymous users post on third-party interactive web-sites, defamer.com controls its own web-site and contributed to this content by identifying these alleged expert sources citing their conclusions as fact. We again invite you to seek legal counsel and protect your own business' interests by distancing yourself from Mr. Bellinghaus and his cohorts. Feel free to post this letter as Mr. Morgan's reply to your invitation below.

Very truly yours,

Matt Bryant
Ohrenstein & Brown
[REDACTED]
Garden City, New York 11530

UPDATE (April 18, 2:36pm):: Here is a link to a statement Mark Bellinghaus made on his blog in regards to Mr. Bryant's letters to us.

UPDATE (April 23, 4:21pm): We just received word that the NYPD has closed this case.

To that end, Defamer worked with a trio of Marilyn Monroe experts in an effort to get to the bottom of Keya Morgan's outrageous claims. The team of Mark Bellinghaus (one of the foremost Marilyn Monroe experts/collectors in the world), Ernest W. Cunningham (author of The Ultimate Marilyn) and freelance journalist Jennifer J. Dickinson to put together the following piece. It's one of the longer pieces that we have ever published at Defamer, but we think that it's well worth your time. And with that, please enjoy. — MDG

DEBUNKING THE MARILYN MONROE "SEX TAPE" HOAX
By Mark Bellinghaus, Ernest W. Cunningham and Jennifer J. Dickinson

On June 26, 1952, Marilyn Monroe testified in court (as pictured) to protect her own reputation from accusations that a mail order pornography ring was selling pictures of her and that she was a participant in this process through solicitation of sales by letter writing. Along with her attorney, she debunked these claims and the pictures themselves, and the two men who created this scam were found guilty of misdemeanor charges, and Marilyn Monroe's name and reputation were cleared.

Nearly 56 years following her own victorious court appearance, Monroe's name is once again being affiliated with a fabricated pornographic claim. Now it is time to have the name Marilyn Monroe cleared once again of false allegations.

Keya Morgan, 38, New York City based memorabilia collector, has spawned a rumor of 16 mm film footage said to be Marilyn Monroe engaging in oral sex with an unknown male participant in the early 1950's when she was just a starlet. Morgan claims that this is an illicit copy of an FBI classified film of which a copy was made before the original was confiscated by the Feds. According to Mr. Morgan, he brokered the sale of this claimed 15 minute lasting reel to a wealthy New York Businessman for $1.5 million.

"You can see instantly that it's Marilyn Monroe," said Morgan—"she has the famous mole. She's smiling, she's very charming, she's very radiant, but she's known for being radiant."

The happy buyer of this supposed film chooses to remain anonymous but says he has no plans to market the tape. Morgan states: "He's just going to lock it up."

This tale of the sex tape follows on the heels of last month's Marilyn scandal, in which a fellow in Las Vegas called a news conference to display an unknown photo of nude Marilyn, but it turned out to be just nude Madonna. Please click here and here to read our reports on this story.

The real "Marilyn Monroe Nude" pictures are well-documented. She posed nude on red velvet for photographer Tom Kelley on May 27, 1949—photos that showed up for years on calendars and in lawsuits. Lawsuits for obscenity usually turned out to be the Kelley nudes, and were dismissed.

About this same time a short nudie film called The Apple, Knockers, and the Coke Bottle, began making the rounds. It's composed of grainy footage of a bare-chested young woman amusing herself -she's Arline Hunter, a Marilyn lookalike but clearly not Marilyn.

When a journalist or a tabloid show stumbles over a nude photo or nude film footage, the immediate response is usually Marilyn! Or Unseen Marilyn! Or Nude Marilyn!

But if it's not a Tom Kelley red velvet photo or Marilyn in the "Something's Got to Give" nude swim, then it's Arline Hunter and her apple.

If it's none of those, then it's pornography, and it's not Marilyn. She didn't go there.

There are too many holes in the Keya Morgan story. Having talked with Mr. Morgan in our own interview over the phone in the summer of 2007, he spoke quickly and non-stop of his planned television documentary, of conspiracy theories into Monroe's death, and about his alleged friendships with all three Monroe husbands. He claims he was one of the last people to speak to James Dougherty and gave the similar scenario about Dougherty's final words as has been rumored about Joe DiMaggio - that both former spouses on their deathbed spoke about seeing Marilyn on the other side.

In general Mr. Morgan was a name dropper, especially when it came to those notorious for supporting the conspiracy theories involved with the story of Marilyn Monroe. However, he wove into our conversation his claim that he dated Mariah Carey and Renée Zellweger.

The most recent sensationalism of this supposedly existing film footage generated by Mr. Morgan, ties in with the usual opportunistic conspiracy theories that are out there. What Keya Morgan is promoting equates to questionable stories generated simply to sell another book or push another cheesy documentary. Just looking at Mr. Morgan's cast list is enough to know that this is more of the same conspiracy rehash. There's John Miner, Jack Clemmons and Thomas Noguchi, who have changed their stories over the years and cashed in on the various Marilyn Monroe murder theories by being featured in books, articles and television specials.

Keya Morgan went on and on when we were on the phone, speaking of this usual cast of characters. At the time of our conversation with him, we immediately discerned that he was one of them only out to exploit Marilyn Monroe and to come up with something new to fuel the rumor mill of her life.

Yet Keya Morgan claims he would not have gotten his name involved in this latest story, if there was harm to Marilyn Monroe. But he is already too late - Keya Morgan himself is causing harm to the legacy of Marilyn Monroe by creating this outrageous and absurd fantasy (he did not participate in it—he created it!).

There are a few questions that one must immediately ask, the litmus test that proves Mr. Morgan's story about the supposed sex tape to be as bogus as the one caused by the perpetrators against Marilyn Monroe in 1952.

· The film was supposedly made of Marilyn Monroe as a starlet. If filmed in this time period of Monroe's life, why would the feds have cared about the activities of a young starlet, considering that Marilyn Monroe had not reached the heights of fame at the time this footage was claimed to have been filmed?

· "You see instantly that it's Marilyn Monroe - she has the famous mole." This is a quote by Keya Morgan, which is one of the flimsiest pieces of evidence ever presented. Just because this alleged film has a person with a mole, it's instantly Marilyn Monroe?

· Essentially Morgan is claiming that this is a bootleg copy of a classified FBI film. So if an original is classified, why would the FBI allow this public brouhaha in the press and not stop this sale from taking place? Why would this film copy not be destroyed?

Keya Morgan claims to respect Joe DiMaggio (it is alleged that DiMaggio tried to pay the informant $25,000 for the film and the offer was refused), and Marilyn Monroe even greater. Then why would Mr. Morgan allow this sale considering his "respect" of DiMaggio and Monroe? If he was such a collector looking to protect Marilyn Monroe especially, why would he not keep this supposed film safely in his own collection?

Stay tuned, but you're sure to learn nothing new from the Keya Morgan upcoming documentary, except the usual repetitive death theories (namely, that she was murdered). And Keya Morgan's time in the spotlight for this recent spin is nothing more than an opportunity for him to do just that - soak up some extra time in the limelight with his invented story about a fake flick, at the expense of the legacy of Marilyn Monroe.

Mark Bellinghaus is the leading Marilyn Monroe expert and official expert witness in the Queen Mary/Marilyn Monroe fraud Class Action Lawsuit; Ernest W. Cunningham is the author of 'The Ultimate Marilyn' and plaintiff in the Queen Mary/Marilyn Monroe Fraud Class Action Lawsuit; Jennifer J. Dickinson is a journalist based in New Jersey and a mother of two.

[Photo: Marilyn Monroe, pictured with her attorney on June 26, 1952 testifying in her own defense in Los Angeles Court, when there were accusations that pictures of her were being sold in a pornography ring. It turned out that the accusations were bogus, as were the pictures, and two men who created this scandal were found guilty.

Credit: The Mark Bellinghaus Marilyn Monroe Collection]