Murdoch to pay Jude Law, 36 others for hacking (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - Rupert Murdoch's media empire apologized and agreed to cash payouts Thursday to 37 people — including a movie star, a soccer player, a top British politician and the son of a serial killer — who were harassed and phone-hacked by his tabloid press.

The four — Jude Law, Ashley Cole, John Prescott and Chris Shipman — were among three dozen victims who received financial damages from Murdoch's British newspaper company for illegal eavesdropping and other intrusions, including email snooping.
Lawyers for the claimants said the settlements vindicated their accusation that senior Murdoch executives had long known about the scale of illegal phone hacking and had tried to cover it up.
News International, the parent company of Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, said it did not admit that senior staff knew of the wrongdoing and tried to cover it up — but it said that "for the purpose of reaching these settlements only, News Group Newspapers agreed that the damages to be paid to claimants should be assessed as if this was the case."

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