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The Feds Get In Touch With ‘In Touch’

We’ve got a penchant for the sleazy camel toe covers on In Touch and Life&Style—we could almost taste Jessica Biel in a memorable issue—but soon we might be left searching at the newsstand. That’s because a federal criminal investigation into celebrity news mags is coming to a head in Los Angeles. Complex has learned “exclusively” that the FBI is coming down hard on the Bauer Publishing gossip rags. Agents have been calling in former staffers in Los Angeles the past few days as part of an ongoing investigation into paparazzi payoffs and pay-for-play placement on those covers.

So much for that cushy gig working for a celebrity news magazine writing on Britney and throwing dirt on Heath’s unburied body. “This ain’t a witch hunt, this guy is dirty” says an insider regarding the focus of the Feds case, a former West Coast editor who’s now at another major rumormonger outfit. And unlike Wesley Snipes, the greedy editor is likely going down for tax evasion on that alleged payola because the FBI may have the goods; “they tapped the phones at In Touch” says our source.